Cairns Travel Forum

MY DAUGHTER WILL BE MEETING ME IN CAIRNS THE BEGINNING OF OCTOBER. SHE GOES TO SCHOOL A NEWCASTLE AND WOULD LIKE TO HIT BRISBANE, SURFERS PARADISE AND WHITSUNDAY ISLAND (SHE THINKS) BEFORE WE MEET UP IN CAIRNS. PROBLEM IS, SHE IS TRAVELING ALONE. WORRIED IF IT'S SAFE FOR HER OR IF SHE SHOULD JUST TAKE A TRAIN TO BRISBANE AND DO DAY TRIPS OUT OF THERE AND THEN FLY UP TO CAIRNS TO MEET ME. CONCERNED MOM

Hello,
How old is your daughter?
I am thinking that she is studying in Aus from another country? If this is the case she already has experienced travel by herself.
5 days isn't much time to do all these things before she hits Cairns.
If she is a sensible girl, travel savy and has a mature attitude and in her late teens, I think she would be fine safety wise.( Having said that, my son went overseas for the 1st time at the age of 17 and had no idea and survived!!! I was worried, but he had a ball and came home more mature, well sort of:)) I would suggest that she goes to one of her places of choice and do her free time.Then fly/rail/bus it to Cairns,flying is quicker, I would take this one if budget allows.

If she flies to Brissy then she can do surfers as well from there. As Anne said...you'll never fit in the Whitsundays as well as it's way up north and closer to Cairns. Actually, on second thoughts....your daughter is probably better flying to Coolangatta and staying at Surfers for at least 3 days as there's more things to do there for a young one than in Brissy. She can catch a train from there to Brisbane and spend a day or two and then fly to Cairns from Brisbane. That's probably the better itinery.
Cheers,
Ann.

Thanks so much Anne and Ann. My daughter Anna, 21, appreciates the info. I think it's a good idea to have her take the train to coolangatta, stay for a few days and then fly up to cairns to meet me. Still deciding whether to stay in port douglas or cairns. Also any idea which gbr snorkel dive trips are the best? Not really into mass tranportation on the reef.

Hi again. If you don't mind me saying, it's probably cheaper to fly to Coolangatta from Sydney. ....But then I'm guessing that it might be more convenient for your daughter to catch the train from Newcastle. Well, if she does this, the train will arrive in Murwillumbah and from there she will transfer to a countrylink bus for the trip to Surfers.

Lots of Anna/Anne's in this forum:)

I live in Cairns and I always recommend the Quicksilver outer reef trip.
I have been on this many, many times and I see value for money.
You can do snorkling, semi submersable sub within the price. You have morning, afternoon tea supplied also a great buffet lunch.
It is run very well. You can be picked up from your accommodation in Cairns by coach and then taken to Port Douglas OR as it leaves from Port, if you stay there you can either make your own way to the Marina or they also will pick you up from your accommodation.

I love Port Douglas. Have been visiting this area for many, many years...hell!! It's about 30 years now. I finally came to live here 3 years ago.

I would suggest that you do both. Stay in Cairns the day/night you arrive, ( how long are you staying?)First day here in Cairns, do the skyrail/train trip to Kuranda, take the Train up to Kuranda and then the skyrail down, this is the way to do it as you can leave any time from Kuranda as the skyrail goes all day, the train only does a couple of trips.When they book you in they usually ask what time you would like to come down on the skyrail, pick a time, leave about 2 hours plus for your visit there.If you want more time, or less you CAN do this, you just have to go to the Skyrail terminal and tell the booking area.

Then I would hire a car and do the following, you could do these two things in a day.
Also in Cairns you can visit the Botanical Gardens/Lakes area, this is lovely. You walk around the gardens then out the front gate of the gardens you cross the road and do the boardwalk and head around the lakes area. Worth Doing.

Also an area that is lovely, you can swim here as well is the Crystal Cascades, this is out of the mian city area a little, say 15/20 minutes drive. Take drinks and snack as there isn't anything there to buy.

A walk along the Esplanade is great, ther are heaps of restaurants along here.
So 2 days in Cairns....

I would then head to Port Douglas ( hire car) I really think hire car is the way to go as you can go at your own pace.
When you are heading to Port call into Palm Cove and have a look, tis lovely.
Then onward to Port along the coast, this is a lovely trip.
It's about an hour from the city of Cairns centre to Port.

In Port you can then do the outer reef experience, then a day trip to Cape tribulation via Mossman Gorge, leave Port early, about 7am so when you call into Mossman Gorge you won't be with lots of other people, it's much nicer that way:) Then up to Daintree, onward over the river by bardge and up to Cape Tribulation, this is a wonderful trip, stopping along the way for a cuppa or something to eat. The road is sealed all the way to Cape Trib, so even if it is raining you can do it:)

(I say if it is raining as the last week or so has been perfect, BUT today it's windy and they say it will rain Tuesday!! Don't panic the temps will still be great:))

Then you could just spend some time lazing on the 4 mile Beach at Port, it's great.

Port has some great eating places ( I think much better than Cairns) one of my favourite is Salsa Bar and Grill in Wharf street.The Chocolate Souffle is do die for!!

At the moment up here it hasn't been a great season, very down on numbers, SO you should be able to pick up some good accommodation at good prices.
Check out Wotif.com.au

I have stayed at Oakes Lagoons which on this site, it's great, a little out of town, but you can srive or catch a bus into town, 5 minute drive if that. The bus leaves every 15 minutes or so next door to the Lagoons outside Tree Tops.

Ok, I have typed enough:) Check out my Port Douglas Pages and my Cairns pages and you will get a good idea.

Have a wonderful time here...tis Paradise