Where to stay for Great Barrier Reef
Discussion
Mrs Goatboy and I are off to Australia in the autumn for a 3 week tour...
The plan was to have a few days somehwere we can see the great barrier reef and generally have a bit of a relax before heading off again for more touring type activities.
Obviously the reef is huge and it leaves loads of options open as to where to stay.
Options I've looked at so far are Port Douglas, Hamilton Island, and Fraser Island.
Port Douglas looks easy to get to and fairly cheap, Hamilton Island looks fantastic but harder to get to and very expensive. Fraser Islands looks not too bad to get to and medium priced but looks like a long way from the reef...
Can anyone recommend any of the above or anywhere else I can get a half decent hotel, nice beach and trips to the reef? I'm not on a super tight budget but would prefer not to pay £600 a night for a hotel...
There is sooooo much choice I'm a bit confused and need PH guidance
The plan was to have a few days somehwere we can see the great barrier reef and generally have a bit of a relax before heading off again for more touring type activities.
Obviously the reef is huge and it leaves loads of options open as to where to stay.
Options I've looked at so far are Port Douglas, Hamilton Island, and Fraser Island.
Port Douglas looks easy to get to and fairly cheap, Hamilton Island looks fantastic but harder to get to and very expensive. Fraser Islands looks not too bad to get to and medium priced but looks like a long way from the reef...
Can anyone recommend any of the above or anywhere else I can get a half decent hotel, nice beach and trips to the reef? I'm not on a super tight budget but would prefer not to pay £600 a night for a hotel...
There is sooooo much choice I'm a bit confused and need PH guidance
Port Douglas definitely. We got to the reef in 15 minutes on the Reef Sprinter, a cheeky 600hp 80km/h rib which runs out of the main jetty. The bloke that runs it was a good laugh too.
We stayed here which I would recommend, but there are plenty of apartments which could be better value.
http://www.peninsulahotel.com.au/ Think it was about £150 a night.
Worth doing the Daintree track to Cooktown from there. Rent a 4x4 in the town.
Fraser was the highlight for me but you wouldn't do the reef from there. We flew from Cairns to Brisbane then got a car and worked our way back up. Lovely view of the reef on that flight too.
We stayed here which I would recommend, but there are plenty of apartments which could be better value.
http://www.peninsulahotel.com.au/ Think it was about £150 a night.
Worth doing the Daintree track to Cooktown from there. Rent a 4x4 in the town.
Fraser was the highlight for me but you wouldn't do the reef from there. We flew from Cairns to Brisbane then got a car and worked our way back up. Lovely view of the reef on that flight too.
Take a overnight boat if you want to see the reef in its best, i stayed in Cairns and took the Taka 2 and had a fantastic 3 day diving trip, that said ,this was almost 15years ago so forget the boat and try to surf for the overnight trips, way better than the day trips that cram as many people on board as they can including the snorklers to splash about !
Another vote for Cairns here, Cant help with hotels as I was staying in $40 hostels but the reef trip I would recommend going on the Ocean Free its a sail boat rather than power boat so nice chilled day with a great crew. The Captian is a Scottish bloke called Gordon. If you decide to use them let me know nearer the time and I will give you some contact details.
http://www.oceanfree.com.au/
http://www.oceanfree.com.au/
I've been lucky enough to visit the GBR on two separate trips. First time I stayed in Cairns as a single lad and the second at a place called Hayman Island (you fly into Hamilton Island and they pick you up directly from the hotel in the hotel boat) which is a hotel on a private island and is just the absolute dogs b
ks.....if there is one hotel in the world worth paying the money for that's it. End of.
I wouldn't stay in Cairns as it's a bit of a khazi....Port Douglas is an option as is a place called Palm Cove which is between Port Douglas and Cairns. It's a small place but it's right on the beach. The only thing about all of these is that whilst you are in the vicinity of the GBR I would absolutely 100% recommend you go to see Whitehaven Beach (which is a long way from Cairns) ....it's absolutely incredible, pure white silica sand http://www.goingtravels.com/2011/04/whitehaven-bea...
When visiting the reef I would also say that it's an absolute MUST see it from the air...most firms that have boat trips out to the reef let you take helicopter trips from the pontoon at the reef or to/ from it (I'd recommend that option). What would be especially good would be to do a trip where you can see the GBR and Whitehaven from the air and stop at both.....you can do that trip in a seaplane which is an amazing thing to do http://www.flickr.com/photos/alancookson/310269311...
ks.....if there is one hotel in the world worth paying the money for that's it. End of. I wouldn't stay in Cairns as it's a bit of a khazi....Port Douglas is an option as is a place called Palm Cove which is between Port Douglas and Cairns. It's a small place but it's right on the beach. The only thing about all of these is that whilst you are in the vicinity of the GBR I would absolutely 100% recommend you go to see Whitehaven Beach (which is a long way from Cairns) ....it's absolutely incredible, pure white silica sand http://www.goingtravels.com/2011/04/whitehaven-bea...
When visiting the reef I would also say that it's an absolute MUST see it from the air...most firms that have boat trips out to the reef let you take helicopter trips from the pontoon at the reef or to/ from it (I'd recommend that option). What would be especially good would be to do a trip where you can see the GBR and Whitehaven from the air and stop at both.....you can do that trip in a seaplane which is an amazing thing to do http://www.flickr.com/photos/alancookson/310269311...
Can't wait!Please remember that it is box jellyfish season on the GBR from october to April, so sitting on a beach will mean just that, and the chances of you getting in thwe water along the mainland may be limited. Much better to be on an island off shore if you wanted to swim in the sea. On the reef itself it is not an issue, as the jellies like coastal waters more.
Fezant Pluckah said:
Please remember that it is box jellyfish season on the GBR from october to April, so sitting on a beach will mean just that, and the chances of you getting in thwe water along the mainland may be limited. Much better to be on an island off shore if you wanted to swim in the sea. On the reef itself it is not an issue, as the jellies like coastal waters more.
Hmmm.. thats a shame but not the end of the world... thanks for the heads up!I have stayed at Cairns in 2002 and have done the 3 day diving trip out on the bommies, amazing experience and great fun.
Then in 2004 my wife and I got married on Hamilton Island, well worth the extra money, stay at the Beach club hotel and be pampered by the staff. Excellent resturants and bars.
But my vote would be for Port Douglas, we stayed there on route at some kind of jungle style hotel which was pretty good, eating breakfast 4 feet from a 10" Golden Orb Spider in it's massive web was....interesting.
The town is really chilled and one of the nicest locations I have been in Aus (although I have not seen anywhere near enough).
It has great resturants and some good bars as mentioned by someone else. The town also has an interesting history, the developer was a bit of a st by all accounts and conned his way through life.
There is also a zoo nearby and the various Daintree Forest walks which are excellent.
Oh yeah and there is a farm nearby which does the best ice cream I have ever tasted, obviously not reason on it's own but it is a nice bonus.
Then in 2004 my wife and I got married on Hamilton Island, well worth the extra money, stay at the Beach club hotel and be pampered by the staff. Excellent resturants and bars.
But my vote would be for Port Douglas, we stayed there on route at some kind of jungle style hotel which was pretty good, eating breakfast 4 feet from a 10" Golden Orb Spider in it's massive web was....interesting.
The town is really chilled and one of the nicest locations I have been in Aus (although I have not seen anywhere near enough).
It has great resturants and some good bars as mentioned by someone else. The town also has an interesting history, the developer was a bit of a s
t by all accounts and conned his way through life.There is also a zoo nearby and the various Daintree Forest walks which are excellent.
Oh yeah and there is a farm nearby which does the best ice cream I have ever tasted, obviously not reason on it's own but it is a nice bonus.
Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff