Rockwiz Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Well we’re off to Cairns in June, hopefully, and I’m trying to plan our activities. There’s 4 of us and the kids are in their late teens so tickets are a bit expensive! It’s going to cost $600 plus just to do the Barrier Reef and another $400 for Kuranda train and Skyrail. We want to do the Daintree Forest / Cape Trib.as well. Any suggestions on the best cost effective tour? Is there a way we can do the bulk of the driving ourselves and pick up a tour there? I’ve seen some tours which will set us back another $600. Obviously doing these 3 key things are top of the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mose Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 What do you want to see in the Daintree? We did rain forest/beach/icecream shop in 2018 from our rental car with no dramas.It is 20 years since we did the formal Daintree tour and I don't remember it covering anything else much....but that could be a memory failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charli73 Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 I was disappointed with the Daintree tour. It’s so commercial now and you can’t go up without stopping and taking the bus and I didn’t enjoy it at all compared to when you could just walk up yourself. Kuranda was nice, we just drove up and looked at the markets and had ice cream. I thought the sky rail up was nice, I took the kids and DH drive up the top and met us because up and back was too expensive Barrier reef I would just do maybe a half day trip to green Island on one of the boats. It really is expensive unless you get locals rates. Definitely drive up to Paronella Park it’s a beautiful spot. Make sure you walk around with the tour lady to get the history, lovely old grounds. There are also another two waterfalls inland a little if you have time.There really isn’t much at Cape Trib that we found anyway just got more remote, more locals and less tourists. We couldn’t do much in a hire car anyway so came back (it’s 4WD only past some points). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie3Girls Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Hire a car.You can do a day drive north, go across the river on the car ferry. We drove up to cape trib, saw the beach etc there. There is the Daintree rainforest centre, which has a treetop rainforest walk, which was nice to see the rainforest. If you have a car, you can then also drive down around the waterfall trail, and down to Paronella park. We did waterfalls in the morning, grabbing lunch along the way and picnicking by a waterfall. Then the afternoon at Paronella park which we all loved. (3 teenage girls)The only paid tours we did was the day out to the reef, and the day at Kuranda (Train going up in the morning, skyrail down in the late afternoon). Both so worth it. We waited until we got there to buy our tickets - went to the tourist information centre the first morning, and booked based on the best weather and least crowded day, for the reef day. We were also able to get a good deal by booking both together, much cheaper than booking separately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwiz Posted April 4, 2021 Author Share Posted April 4, 2021 Hire a car.You can do a day drive north, go across the river on the car ferry. We drove up to cape trib, saw the beach etc there. There is the Daintree rainforest centre, which has a treetop rainforest walk, which was nice to see the rainforest. If you have a car, you can then also drive down around the waterfall trail, and down to Paronella park. We did waterfalls in the morning, grabbing lunch along the way and picnicking by a waterfall. Then the afternoon at Paronella park which we all loved. (3 teenage girls)The only paid tours we did was the day out to the reef, and the day at Kuranda (Train going up in the morning, skyrail down in the late afternoon). Both so worth it. We waited until we got there to buy our tickets - went to the tourist information centre the first morning, and booked based on the best weather and least crowded day, for the reef day. We were also able to get a good deal by booking both together, much cheaper than booking separately.Thanks for that. I see the Daintree Rainforest Centre has an aerial walk which also looks interesting. Would you recommend this or just a walk in the forest around Cape Tribulation? Being based in. Cairns it will be a 4 hour round trip to get to CT so we’re obviously limited on what to fit into our day. We want to see the beach at CT, do some sort of walk into the rainforest and maybe visit the ice cream place there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwiz Posted April 4, 2021 Author Share Posted April 4, 2021 I was disappointed with the Daintree tour. It’s so commercial now and you can’t go up without stopping and taking the bus and I didn’t enjoy it at all compared to when you could just walk up yourself. Kuranda was nice, we just drove up and looked at the markets and had ice cream. I thought the sky rail up was nice, I took the kids and DH drive up the top and met us because up and back was too expensive Barrier reef I would just do maybe a half day trip to green Island on one of the boats. It really is expensive unless you get locals rates. Definitely drive up to Paronella Park it’s a beautiful spot. Make sure you walk around with the tour lady to get the history, lovely old grounds. There are also another two waterfalls inland a little if you have time.There really isn’t much at Cape Trib that we found anyway just got more remote, more locals and less tourists. We couldn’t do much in a hire car anyway so came back (it’s 4WD only past some points).DH really wants to see Cape Trib. I’m more interested in the rain forest. So I t sounds like the tours aren’t really worth the money when you can do a lot of the driving yourself. I’ve never heard of Paronella Park but a lot of love for it on here so I may have to add it to our list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amdirel Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 I loved our Daintree tour. It was years ago, but I think it might have been this one...https://www.discoverytours.com.au/tour/daintree-cape-tribulation-premium-rainforest-tour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwiz Posted April 4, 2021 Author Share Posted April 4, 2021 I loved our Daintree tour. It was years ago, but I think it might have been this one...https://www.discoverytours.com.au/tour/daintree-cape-tribulation-premium-rainforest-tour Looks fantastic but unfortunately it looks too expensive for our needs. But thanks for sharing as it gives me a better idea of itineraries and what’s to see up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwiz Posted April 4, 2021 Author Share Posted April 4, 2021 I loved our Daintree tour. It was years ago, but I think it might have been this one...https://www.discoverytours.com.au/tour/daintree-cape-tribulation-premium-rainforest-tour Looks fantastic but unfortunately it looks too expensive for our needs. But thanks for sharing as it gives me a better idea of itineraries and what’s to see up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banyan Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 I wrote out some great, cost effective ways to see the reef in BKK's thread. Summary: Frankland Islands; Falla and Passion. I put in a link there for cheap rates via a website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie3Girls Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 Hire a car.You can do a day drive north, go across the river on the car ferry. We drove up to cape trib, saw the beach etc there. There is the Daintree rainforest centre, which has a treetop rainforest walk, which was nice to see the rainforest. If you have a car, you can then also drive down around the waterfall trail, and down to Paronella park. We did waterfalls in the morning, grabbing lunch along the way and picnicking by a waterfall. Then the afternoon at Paronella park which we all loved. (3 teenage girls)The only paid tours we did was the day out to the reef, and the day at Kuranda (Train going up in the morning, skyrail down in the late afternoon). Both so worth it. We waited until we got there to buy our tickets - went to the tourist information centre the first morning, and booked based on the best weather and least crowded day, for the reef day. We were also able to get a good deal by booking both together, much cheaper than booking separately.Thanks for that. I see the Daintree Rainforest Centre has an aerial walk which also looks interesting. Would you recommend this or just a walk in the forest around Cape Tribulation? Being based in. Cairns it will be a 4 hour round trip to get to CT so we’re obviously limited on what to fit into our day. We want to see the beach at CT, do some sort of walk into the rainforest and maybe visit the ice cream place there.We did the aerial walk at the Daintree rainforest centre .. self guided tour, everyone got given a hand held audio device so you could listen to the audio at each stop along the walk, it was nice to be able to see the rainforest at different heights, and having the tour. Did this in the morning, before continuing north (we came from palm cove) Cape trib stop was a stop at the village before you get there to grab some hot chips and a drink, then drove to the beach at cape tribulation. Wasn’t a huge amount of walks right there - was one path that went around the beach to a bit of a lookout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKK Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 We are up in port Douglas at the moment.In cairns we stayed at the big 4 Ingenia coconut resort. Best resort and so much to do.We hired an ASX which is a great sized car.On the first day we went to Josephine falls were you swim in the pool below the waterfall and can waterslide down the waterfall. Lots of fun. This is near Paronella park which we didn’t get to.Also went to the rainforest station and did the truck/boat trip which was informative and fun.Crystal cascades in another waterfall and swimming area that we loved.We tried to get out to a reef pontoon with magic reef cruises but they cancelled the cruise twice and once when we were on board. The staff are loverly and the boat is very nice. They stoped at an island on the way over that looked really good.The city centre has the lagoon pool, a loverly port front and muddys cafe and playground. All worth a visit.We went to palm cove for lunch one day and that’s just a beautiful beach and cafe area with a netted swimming zone.Kuranda- I dropped the carb off at freshwater station after I had left the others at the armoured museum next to the sky rail. The taxi fair back was only $22. We then took the sky rail up to Kuranda and had lunch and walked around. Very pretty little village. We then to the railway back to freshwater station.Today we went to Mossman gorge. This was well worth it. You park at their visitor centres car park and pay for a shuttle bus up to the gorge. We went swimming here as well.The highlight has been waterfall swimming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qak Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 It's a long time since I've been, but the hire car companies used to have a rule you couldn't go past the Daintree, so check that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HypnicJerk Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 We are going in June too! I want to go to Tamarind, but I'm the only one who eats seafood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwiz Posted April 5, 2021 Author Share Posted April 5, 2021 We are up in port Douglas at the moment.In cairns we stayed at the big 4 Ingenia coconut resort. Best resort and so much to do.We hired an ASX which is a great sized car.On the first day we went to Josephine falls were you swim in the pool below the waterfall and can waterslide down the waterfall. Lots of fun. This is near Paronella park which we didn’t get to.Also went to the rainforest station and did the truck/boat trip which was informative and fun.Crystal cascades in another waterfall and swimming area that we loved.We tried to get out to a reef pontoon with magic reef cruises but they cancelled the cruise twice and once when we were on board. The staff are loverly and the boat is very nice. They stoped at an island on the way over that looked really good.The city centre has the lagoon pool, a loverly port front and muddys cafe and playground. All worth a visit.We went to palm cove for lunch one day and that’s just a beautiful beach and cafe area with a netted swimming zone.Kuranda- I dropped the carb off at freshwater station after I had left the others at the armoured museum next to the sky rail. The taxi fair back was only $22. We then took the sky rail up to Kuranda and had lunch and walked around. Very pretty little village. We then to the railway back to freshwater station.Today we went to Mossman gorge. This was well worth it. You park at their visitor centres car park and pay for a shuttle bus up to the gorge. We went swimming here as well.The highlight has been waterfall swimming.Sounds like you’re having a great time. Thanks for the report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKK Posted April 6, 2021 Share Posted April 6, 2021 Today I drove back to cairns with my son, so that we could do the reef magic cruise. I was the third time we had tried to get out to the pontoon and this time we were lucky. Really enjoyed our day and fly home tomorrow.Cairns and port Douglas are well worth visiting with so much to do or so many ways to relax.Hope everyone else enjoys their trips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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