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Great Barrier Reef/Queensland
DH and I are going to Australia in mid-August and have the first half of our itinerary fairly planned out (3 nights in Sidney, 3 in Alice Springs for Uluru) but then we have 6 more nights to spend in Queensland. This is where we've come to a standstill. The region is just so big and there's so much to do. Too many options is becoming a curse because we don't want to end up some place and then realize we should have stayed somewhere different. Does anyone have any personal recommendations?
I'm currently thinking 3 nights in one place (maybe near Cape Tribulation) and then 3 somewhere near Cairns. But where specifically? I've read good and bad things about Port Douglas, same with Palm Cove and many other options. I'd love to hear whatever you have to say-good and bad. The "musts" are snorkeling (maybe twice at two different places but at least once), visit the rainforest (can be either on boat or hiking or both), cuddle a koala and explore Kuranda (will likely be the same time we koala-cuddle). The potential activities if it works out are kayaking and jungle surfing. We'd also like a day to just relax on the beach. Anyone have any recommendations for either places to stay, tours to take advantage of, or any other useful advice or tips? TIA
Re: Great Barrier Reef/Queensland
We were there in November and based ourselves out of Port Douglas. We enjoyed it there -- it was nice to be able to walk to dinner/drinks, the beach, etc. It is touristy, but we knew it would be, so that didn't really bother us.
We went out to the GBR with Wavelength Reef Charters. They run a smaller (~30 people), snorkel-only day trip. It would have been great except that I got terribly seasick. In retrospect, I should have known better and tried one of the bigger boats. I'd still recommend them if you're not prone to motion-sickness.
We spent a day up in the Daintree rain forest. We did a 4WD tour that was okay. We probably could have done it ourselves, especially since it was the end of the dry season and none of the stream crossings really required 4WD. We also did a sunset tour on the river with this guy that was very cool.
I went in April/May 2011 for 3 days/nights flying to Cairns from Sydney and stayed in Trinity Beach at Bellevue At Trinity Beach which was so great - modern condo with space and a lovely view, pool, and accross the street from a beach. We visted the rainforest and rode the Skyrail, snorkled/scuba'd at the GBR, and went to Cairns Tropical Zoo to cuddle a koala (love, love, loved it!), feed kangaroos (surprisingly super fun, but go very early since they are most active in the morning when its cool and they are hungry) and seeing the other AU animals, like huge crocodiles. These attractions were not far at all from the condo, maybe 10 miles in either direction. We rented a car for the trip and I highly reccomend that.
http://www.bellevuetrinitybeach.com.au/
http://www.cairnstropicalzoo.com.au/
Go to Hamilton Island if you can, one of the best places I've ever been in my life! And if you can stay at the Beach Club. Amazing, one of my favorites in the world
http://www.hamiltonisland.com.au/beach-club-hotel-resort/
That's gorgeous. Diving the Great Barrier Reef has been on my wish list... but, I have not started looking at which part of it or where we would stay. Thank you for sharing this. I'm saving it in favorites for my wish list.
Newlyweds since 2007
We stayed in the Daintree in 2008, this allowed us to do the Daintree/rainforest area and Cape Trib as well as Cairns and the GBR. You can see my trip report here.
We also recently did Wilson island, which is on the southern side of the GBR. Might been too cool in August.