Destination: Port Douglas, Australia

Port Douglas, just over an hour's drive on Captain Cook Highway north of Cairns, in Queensland, Australia, has been transformed from a sleepy fishing village into a top international holiday resort in recent years, writes Trish Whelan.

The town, founded in 1877 as a mining town after gold was found there, is named after a former Premier of Queensland, John Douglas. While still small, its population can double with the influx of tourists during the peak May-September tourism season.