Breakfast TV stars Karl Stefanovic, Lisa Wilkinson and Richard Wilkins brought the eyes of the nation to Port Douglas on Wednesday morning as they hosted morning news program ‘Today’ live at the Sugar Wharf. 

The broadcast was one of the final legs on Today’s ‘We Love Australia’ national tour, and was designed to attract domestic tourism to regions like Port Douglas. 

The hosts interviewed famous Cairns-born singer Christine Anu, who performed her breakout hit ‘My Island Home’ on the Sugar Wharf beach, before sampling Salsa Bar and Grill owner Bill Conway’s luxurious blackened barramundi with kipfler potato salad.

Karl, Lisa and Richard also raced each other on the motorised eskies recently used in Port Douglas Carnivale’s inaugural World Motorised Cooler Racing Championships.  

Karl, who grew up in Cairns and was married in St Mary’s Church, said it was ‘great to be home’ for the broadcast.

“It’s great to be home and it’s great to be promoting places like Port Douglas,” he said. 

“What we really want to see out of this is Aussies realising that they have amazingly beautiful locations like this to visit.

“We had a great dinner at Salsa last night and a great stay at QT Port Douglas.”

Karl’s trademark blokeish sense of humour and laidback attitude was on full display during the broadcast, not only winning the motorised esky race and climbing atop a hay bale to gloat, but also rocking a pair of thongs with his suit.

“See the best thing about filming in Far North Queensland is I can wear pluggers the whole time and nobody is the wiser,” he told the Newsport with a grin.

Bill Conway, who provided the catering for Karl’s wedding many years ago, said the visit was invaluable exposure not only for Salsa Bar and Grill but for the entire region. 

“Karl’s wedding was actually the very first that Salsa catered for in the new Wharf Street location,” he said. 

“You really can’t buy exposure like this, for us and for the area, especially now that we’re heading into tourism season. 

“Weddings are a big thing here in Port Douglas and the more ideas people get for getting married here, the better.”