Hi,
I am going for one week to Cairns next month to attend a conference.
Any suggestions about bargains or what to do.
Thanks
Holiday to Cairns - Suggestions Please
DiLs on 27/04/2019 - 06:37
Comments
https://www.groupon.com.au/deals/ga-sunlover-moore-reef-day-… combo it with a groupon discount and cashback
Here are some Cairns deals…
Dining:
https://www.bookme.com.au/things-to-do/cairns-port-douglas/d…Activites:
https://www.bookme.com.au/things-to-do/cairns-port-douglas/h…Worth a look:
https://thepiercairns.com.au/
Rustys markets in the city for cheap fruit and veg
Stay at Riley CrystalBrook, best hotel here by far. Not the cheapest though.
Here's a summary of info. sent to couple from USA:
In the centre of Cairns, you may enjoy Cairns aquarium,
Rusty's market (open 7 days)
if you want to see a crocodile, there is apparently an aviary on the top floor of the (reef hotel) Casino - with a croc!
If you want to travel ~ 140km south of Cairns to Etty Bay, the birds hang around the camping ground, easy to see
-Night market
-Kurunda Koala Sanctuary
-Kuranda Skyrail
-wild life dome
-Ocean Freedom reef tour
-waterfall wanders
-wait-a-while rainforest night tour
-Billy Tea safaris daintree & Cape trib day they also have a reef tour.By birds at Etty Bay they mean the amazing Cassowary which walks on the beach sometimes.
That’s terrible advice and I’m gonna neg you (aarn)
Rusty’s is open Friday Saturday Sunday only
The cairns night market is really bad, like a shitty food court, made in China aboriginal souvenirs and loads of massage touts, there is a couple of good cheap food outlets on the back street though
I got a good tip for saving cash on the Skyrail and Kuranda train
Pm me for that. I gotta go back to the bar and my battery is lowwhoaaah, wot a night. Im in big trouble
WTF, which one of yoo losers negged me?OK so this is the deal
http://www.skyrailfoundation.org/membership, you gotta apply 3 or 4 weeks before you go though.Cheap car hire from Apex (pay attention Atlas are next door and no good) they do free and quick airport pickup cos they not on site, just at end of airport rd drive.
Cruising car Rental is a good company, I trashed their cars with no extra insurance and all good, hire a 4WD and drive to Cooktown via the coast through Cape Trib. Seriously only a fool wouldnt do this trip.
Between Cow Bay and Cape trib stay at Daintree peak Eco Stays, theres a true blue bloke running the joint who charges too much but its great, book through a third party site with a discount code to get it for about $135 with breakfast. Noah Beach campground through QLDNP is $6.55 a night, no showers, its awesome but the wife wont do it.
I got a few more tips for that area but your into Cairns so wont go on and on and on.Cheap places to stay in Cairns for one night, both only car only but only a few kms from Cairns city (too far to walk and bus service abysmal) Cairns Sunland Caravan Park, its in a dodgy area next to housing commission but a real nice cabin is $45/night only thing is a share bathroom with skinny people whos heads twitch (I think they live there long term), you need to wear thongs in the shower. Theres a sink in the cabin which is multi purpose.
If you wanna splash out go to Bohemia Resort you can get a ensuite room for $60-65, they call it Colonial Queen Room (theres no way any queen I know would stay there), all the rest are share bathroom, its not a real resort, the pool looks like soup and the staff are great but total bogans. Again its often cheaper on a third party site, these places are one nighters, if you book for longer, you'll hate me. They are cheap and spotlessly clean though.
Cairns is a big kak hole on mud flats, stay at the northern beaches like Trinity Beach (not Park) or Palm Cove.
Like holdenmg is saying use bookme, you can get cheap tours. Frankland Island is a budget reef trip thats on there. You can usually get it for $100-110. Its 45 mins drive south of Cairns but thats wot you gotta do for a bargain.
The best reef trip is Ocean safari from Cape trib. Ive done it 3 times and snorkelled with turtles twice (I did it last week). Its about $150, only takes 30 people, you jump off the boat, only 30 mins to the reef. They will always try and get you to wear a stinger or wet suit, I refuse, no need.
This is my second best tip, its my fav bar in the whole of Australia, you can get a bus or drive (its still legal to drink drive in the FNQ), right at Smithfield but tricky to find cos its in an industrial area Close to Maccas, Bunnings and Hungry Jacks so a real OZB delight, in a warehouse overlooking cane fields (out on the patio we sit)
MacAllisters brewery, look at the google photos, they dont even do it justice.My best OZB tip is the airport bus (for those not hiring a car). Its expensive to get the airport shuttle bus. The airport is accessed from a long windy rd from the north end of the city. The same bus will drop you at the bus stop on the main rd for $6 (if you stay at a backpackers you can get door to door for $10)
https://www.cairnsairport.com.au/travelling/parking-and-tran…
Then you can walk or pick up the public bus and cos its the real Australia they still take cash on the bus (imagine that).I'll stop now.
Where would you go with kids for a trip of a length of a week to 10 days?
Looking for a combination of value for money and comfort.
Interested in splitting the trip between Cairns area and Daintree area.
Thanks!
@coolrunnings: You didn't ask me, but late last year we did pretty much exactly what you're planning. We stayed drove from Cairns to Mowbray (near Port Douglas) and stayed at an Airbnb there for three nights, then headed over the Daintree and stayed at Cow Bay for another two nights to do the Cape Tribulation area, then headed back down to Palm Cove where we dropped off the car and stayed for about five nights at the Sanctuary to just chill - great hotel/apartments to stay at with kids. Mine are 12. We did:
-Port Douglas Wildlife Habitat (lots of interaction with kangaroos and wallabies, fairly nice and you can revisit within I think five days for no extra $).
-Walk around Port Douglas shops and a day on the beach.
-Croc Cruise on the Daintree River with Solar Whisper. We saw one big one - they don't come out as much during summer because the weather is warm enough. They do offer a second cruise free if you don't see any crocs on your first one.
-Mossman Gorge - pretty busy but beautiful. If your kids are walkers, you can do the longer walk and hunt out Wurrmbu Creek, a swimming hole where we saw only two other people.
-Over the Daintree, don't miss the Jindalba Boardwalk (Cow Bay), Floravilla Ice Cream Factory, Daintree Ice Cream Company, Marrdja Boardwalk (further north at Noah Beach), and Dubuji Boardwalk, further north again at Cape Tribulation. We saw a cassowary family with three chicks at one of the boardwalks (sorry, I've forgotten which one).
-Ocean Safari snorkelling tour out of Cape Tribulation. We snorkelled with several turtles. It's a small tour, max 30, but we had only 12 others on our day. Only half an hour max - the other trips out of Cairns etc are more likely to have a couple of hundred people and you'll spend at least two hours on the boat. Nice people host it.
-Hartley's Crocodile Farm - I enjoyed this far more than I expected to. Don't miss all the crocodile shows and the cruise, plus some of the other animal talks (you can feed cassowaries at that one). Kids loved it.
-Kayak to Double Island off Palm Cove. Harder work than I expected, once the water got more active, and one of my kids somehow got seasick the entire time - take tablets beforehand if you think this could be an issue. Still fun.
Apologies for the length. We loved this trip.
Would recommend Great Barrier Reef and Daintree. Fantastic natural wonders!
Thank you all
understand you have said you are going for a conference, but.
as others have said, check out Groupon etc
we stayed at http://www.coconut.com.au/ cairns coconut resort - great place, we stayed in a Cabin, they do movie nights, pancake day and other things, fantastic kids water park etc
We did the Kuranda trip - https://www.kuranda.org/getting-here/kuranda-scenic-railway/
went up via the Gondola's and back down via the train - well worth it.
also the Butterfly place was quite good.We also went snorkelling at https://www.sunlover.com.au/great-barrier-reef-cruises/moore…
this was pretty good, large boat, i.e. less movement for those that get sea sick.. food was pretty good.
just need to make sure you are on the ball so you don't miss out on anything.with all the things you can do and research, reviews etc, there are positive and negative stories by many people.
Just balance it out as most people have a positive experience, others expect too much and others maybe just plain unlucky..Its also worth the drive to Port Douglas, they have a fairly large market day too.
We went with our 5 and 7 year olds (at the time)- they had a ball.
Since you're trying to save money, do you want close to the conference or walking distance. Cairns is not a small place. You better say where the venue is.