From the Sheraton Grand Mirage to SEA Gallery: Our Port Douglas Story

In 2026, the hotel that first brought us to Port Douglas asked us to create a collection of artwork for its walls.

The Sheraton Grand Mirage approached us about a collaboration celebrating Port Douglas through local artwork inspired by the reef, rainforest and natural environment surrounding the resort.

For SEA Gallery, it was an exciting project. But for Dave and me personally, it meant much more than that.

The Sheraton was part of our story long before SEA Gallery existed. In fact, it was the reason we came to Port Douglas in the first place.

To explain why walking back through those doors carrying our artwork felt so significant, we need to go back to 2013.

How we ended up in Port Douglas

Dave and I were living in the UK while I finished university and, when it came time to move back to Australia, we had no real idea where we wanted to settle.

The travel bug was still itching.

Then a friend working in Port Douglas sent Dave a message:

“Hey mate, any chance you're looking for a bar manager role? We're desperate for your skills.”

Dave had been running hospitality venues for a few years by then, mostly bars and fine dining, and a role at a large resort sounded like a good next challenge.

All I saw were palm trees and blue skies.

I didn't need much convincing.

A Skype interview, a few negotiations and suddenly it was decided. We packed our bags, hired a car and headed north from Sydney.

Neither of us had ever set foot in Port Douglas.

The job was at the Sheraton Grand Mirage, an institution of the town since it opened in 1987. Built by the now-infamous Christopher Skase, the resort played a major role in putting Port Douglas on the international tourism map.

For countless visitors, the Sheraton has been their introduction to Port Douglas.

It was ours too.

Picking up the paints again

At that point in my life, I hadn't been painting much.

During the little spare time I had at university, I'd occasionally paint the beaches and surfers I grew up around on Victoria's Great Ocean Road. Living overseas, it was a small way of pining for the Australian lifestyle I missed.

Our job at the Sheraton included accommodation, so the resort became our first home in Far North Queensland.

Once we'd settled into life here and the busy tourist season eased, I began painting again.

I bought a watercolour set and an A4 pad and, on my days off, I'd find a spot around the resort pool or head down to Four Mile Beach and paint.

It was heaven.

Before long, we were venturing further afield too — into the Daintree Rainforest or out on the Great Barrier Reef — discovering landscapes and wildlife completely unlike anything I'd painted before.

I'd spend the day exploring and come home wanting to put it onto paper.

Slowly, without really thinking about it, the colours and subjects that would later become such a big part of SEA Gallery were beginning to appear.

From a hotel room full of art to SEA Gallery

There was just one problem.

I kept painting.

Before long our hotel room was overflowing with art. Canvases leaned against walls, sketches covered every available surface and we were constantly stepping around whatever I'd made that week.

Eventually, Dave cracked.

“Enough is enough,” he said. It was time to find out whether anyone actually wanted to take one home.

That decision led to me dragging a suitcase full of artwork down Four Mile Beach in the November heat to the Port Douglas Markets.

I had no marquee, no real display and very little idea what I was doing.

Thankfully, some very kind strangers at the markets helped me with a chair, table and shelter — and that slightly chaotic day became the beginning of something much bigger.

We've told the full story of that first market stall in Where It All Began: The SEA Gallery Port Douglas Journey.

Markets became pop-ups. Pop-ups eventually became a permanent gallery. Dave's photography grew alongside my painting, and the reef, rainforest and coastline around Port Douglas became an increasingly important part of both our work.

But in 2013, none of that was part of the plan.

We had simply come north for a hotel job.

Back to where it began

That is what made returning to the Sheraton in 2026 feel so special.

After months of planning, Dave and I walked back through those doors carrying the finished collection.

The Sheraton gave us our first home here.

It gave Dave the job that brought us north, and me the time and space to pick up my paints again.

We had no idea where any of it would lead.

Thirteen years later, to return with artwork shaped by the place we'd discovered because of that first move felt like a lovely full-circle moment.

We came to Port Douglas for a hotel job.

We stayed because we fell in love with the place.

And somewhere between the Sheraton, Four Mile Beach, the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest, SEA Gallery began.