qld coast shore tours and attractions

[wombat50]

hi, we are going on the dawn princess 14/10/10 up the qld coast , now besides doing the ship tours, what other things have people done as in arranging their own tours, things worth seeing in the towns and so on. we will be stopping at Airlie Beach, Townsville, Yorkies (cairns), Port Douglas and Cooktown, all are tender ports

 

ross

[thied]

you can have a look at this link its a bit of hunt through it to find what you want.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=77

[thied]

you can book through TA in cairns to do the kuranda railway and skyrail. way cheap then on the ship.:D

[The Fox]

hi, we are going on the dawn princess 14/10/10 up the qld coast , now besides doing the ship tours, what other things have people done as in arranging their own tours, things worth seeing in the towns and so on. we will be stopping at Airlie Beach, Townsville, Yorkies (cairns), Port Douglas and Cooktown, all are tender ports

 

ross

 

 

Hi Ross,

 

How you going?We have done the QLD coast twice but never been to Cooktown.In Cairns its a great trip out to the reef.....really worth while the snorkling is supurb if you get a good day.Kuranda is good as is Green Island.Airlie beach is a minature Cairns ..not a greatdeal to do in town ..its a backpackers heaven.We did the 3 island tour to Hamilton,Long and daydream.White haven beach is a gr8 spot if its not windy.

 

 

 

Port Douglas is just like an overpriced fishing village with plenty of coffee shops and markets.A motorcycle tour to the highlands is really good.

 

 

Have fun

 

Col & Di:)

[sherri3802]

I am off on a similar cruise on Saturday, on the Pacific Dawn.

We have booked a couple of ship excursions.

At the Airlie beach port, we will be going to the Great barrier reef.

The reason we chose a ship's tour for this was it was the one excursion that was much the same price private or booking throught he ship, plus there is the fact that a lot of the private tours didn't get back in time.

 

There seem to be a lot of other things you can do at Airlie though. Even if you read through the ship excursion list, it will give you an idea of possible activities you can do privately.

 

At Cairns we are doing the gondola/railway thing to Kuranda. We booked this through the ship as the other couples we are with wanted the peace of mind of knowing we got back in time etc but you can do it privately.

 

Now, Port Douglas.

Here is a site that may appeal to you.

http://douglas-shire-historical-society.org/port_douglas.htm

 

What happened was I looked though the ship tours list for Port Douglas. One listed a guided walking tour of Port Doulgas-at $99 per person, mind you!:eek:

It was for about 2- 2 1/2 hours.

 

I thought-a walk around town is something we could do by ourselves at our own pace.

Now, on the website above, go to the section called 'walks'

 

http://douglas-shire-historical-society.org/walks.htm

 

This is in fact the very walk the ship books you on, but if you look at that site, you will see they show a brochure, with all the walk mapped out.

Plus they give details of each spot. It is so detailed it even mentions the most suitable spots for the best photos.

It also tells you-and wait for this-that the brochure is available free at a lot of spots around town.

I have taken screen shots of all the pamphlet info and printed it out, and we are going to take ourselves on this walk.:)

 

On the web, there is also a lot of information about attractions close to Port Douglas, just a 10-15 minute drive away. Everything from tropical fruit wines to rainforest walks.:)

I copied out some details about that too, if you are interested.

[cazz0069]

The problem is the ship have you by the short and curly`s when it comes to going out to the reef. As you have either do a ships tour and get back on time or risk doing it yourself and being late....I found all the tours on the Qld tour exceptionally expensive. :)

[Rasa Sayang]

Port Douglas is just like an overpriced fishing village with plenty of coffee shops and markets.

 

And thats just what it is. There was a time when it was a beautiful little fishing village - 2 pubs, a pie shop and a small restaurant on top of the hill where you could sit on the verandah of an evening and watch the cane fires over a beer.

 

And then Skase and the other developers got their grubby hands on it. :mad:.

 

As for Cooktown - all Australians should see this little piece of our history before the developers do the same there.

 

Once accessible by road only with a 4WD, Cooktown is now at the end of the bitumen and more people are visiting it.

 

Good to see the cruise ships visiting.

 

Lots to see without going on a ships tour, and most of it walkable in the town area.

 

The James Cook Museum in the old Catholic convent is well worth a visit.

 

 

As is the lovingly restored Bank of NSW in the centre of town.

 

 

There are several monuments to Cook and the early gold miners along the small esplanade and most things in the town are within easy walking distance - though you will need a car to get up the hill to see the spot where Cook climbed to try and find a way out through the reefs.

 

Also grab a Barrmundi Burger at the little waterfront cafe by the small dock if one is on offer - magic tucker.

 

If you are in town for most of the day it would probably pay you to hire a smal 4X4 and check out the area more thoroughly.

 

Lots to see in the immediate area [30-40kms] including Endeavour Falls, and this charming and rather wild bush pub on the road which becomes the famous "Bloomfield Track".

 

The Lion's Den is One of Australia's noted "Outback Pubs" and quite accessible from Cooktown if you hire a small 4X4.

 

 

As for 4X4 hire, I found this place through Google this morning. It may pay you to book early in case someone else on the ship has a similar idea. :p

 

http://www.cooktown-car-hire.com/

 

Apologies for the photo quality - they're a few years old

[cazz0069]

We had to miss Cooktown due to bad weather, which is a shame as i doubt we will ever get that far north again. The pics look lovely :)

[Fascist]

We did the trip out to Low Isles from Port Douglas about 5 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. So much so, that we've booked it through the onboard excursions. One word of warning though, just about every kid onboard 5 or over spewed...

We loved Cairns so much last time we were there, that we're planning on heading in to Cairns on our own and just hanging around on the Esplanade etc. and the Lagoon:

[thied]

the Low Isles from Port Douglas is worth it but it is still not cheap but its good we have done it and great for the kids. bye the way thats were steve erwin had his last day.:(

The boat we went wasthe same one the photo wavedancer and a great trip

[Fascist]

Okay.... a question for you guys that have done the Queensland cruises before: How bad does the weather need to be in order to stop the tender transferring passengers to and from the ship at tender ports (pretty much all of them)?

[thied]

Okay.... a question for you guys that have done the Queensland cruises before: How bad does the weather need to be in order to stop the tender transferring passengers to and from the ship at tender ports (pretty much all of them)?

very every very very windy

[Fascist]

very every very very windy

 

Great! Thanks for the reply... wouldn't want to book something ourselves and find out we can't get of the ship.

[thied]

Great! Thanks for the reply... wouldn't want to book something ourselves and find out we can't get of the ship.

realy it like any where else that you or any one chooses to holiday or cruise the wearther is up to gods

[rkmw]

Great! Thanks for the reply... wouldn't want to book something ourselves and find out we can't get of the ship.

 

if you book a tour thru the ship and they cant tender because of the weather you get your money refunded

[thied]

if you book a tour thru the ship and they cant tender because of the weather you get your money refunded

so true how hard can that be:D:rolleyes:

[Fascist]

so true how hard can that be:D:rolleyes:

 

True, but there's no "Let's book a limo with baby seats from Yorkeys Knob to Cairns and hang out for the day" tour. Taxis are out because you can't book them ahead of time and Cairns taxis don't supply baby seats. The plan is to watch the weather reports and book before we go, to minimise as much as possible the likelihood of being stuck on the ship with an already paid for transfer...

[thied]

True, but there's no "Let's book a limo with baby seats from Yorkeys Knob to Cairns and hang out for the day" tour. Taxis are out because you can't book them ahead of time and Cairns taxis don't supply baby seats. The plan is to watch the weather reports and book before we go, to minimise as much as possible the likelihood of being stuck on the ship with an already paid for transfer...

 

sorry i can not coment about yorkys knob as we have all been docked in cairns. you can all ways take your own baby seat as we have done on other cruises:D its not hard to do:D

[Sandielle]

Do the ships have any tours to Green Island from Cairns? That used to be lovely, but it's a good while since I've been there. There is an underwater observatory, and other things to do there.

 

http://www.green-island.com.au/activities.html

[sherri3802]

Great! Thanks for the reply... wouldn't want to book something ourselves and find out we can't get of the ship.

 

Hey fascist, I think we are on the same cruise!:)

 

We have been watching the weather too.

All the stuff I looked up months ago said this was a great time for cruising up in the north, but Qld is getting a real soaking at the moment. Just hope it clears up a little and we have some warm days on the cruise.

[thied]

from the P&O australia web site and hot off the press.

YES they do a tour Green Island Day Adventure Adult AUD $149.00 Child AUD $99.00 from the ship prices.:D

Its a Approximately 7 hours 30 minutes tour.