BarbaraS

We’ve been back from our once-in-a-lifetime trip to Australia for about a week now and all I can think about is returning. The day after we got back I said the flight was too long, and I didn’t think I ever do it again. But then I look at my pictures and think about our wonderful apartment in Port Douglas, the beautiful beaches, the tropical climate, all the cities and islands in Queensland that I didn’t get to see, and I know I’d go back in a heartbeat. Next time I’d have to stay longer though.

I want to thank everyone on Fodors that helped me planned our trip. I did a lot of lurking for many years. I’m going to try to include in my report details that were helpful to me in planning my trip, in the hopes that they will also be helpful to someone else. I’m happy to answer any questions.

My husband wanted to go to Australia to dive the Great Barrier Reef for his 50th birthday and he wanted to bring our four kids, ages 24, 17, 11 and 11. We had planned on making the trip a year earlier in November 2007, a few months before he turned 50, but because of my back surgery we were unable to go. During the year that followed, my daughter got married and so now it became a trip for seven!

We left Salt Lake City at 11:00 Friday morning and flew to LAX. Since our Qantas flight wasn’t until 10:30 pm, and we didn’t want to spend hours at the airport, I booked a room at La Quinta LAX for the day. It has a free airport shuttle and the Ocean Express shuttle to Manhattan Beach stops right outside its door. This worked our really well.

We enjoyed our time at Manhattan Beach. We ate lunch at Wahoo Tacos, which was fresh, fast, delicious, and affordable. Before returning to LAX, we picked up sandwiches at the Subway across the street, and brought them to the airport with us. This turned out to be a great idea since there was very limited food choices at LAX.

Our Qantas flight was nice. We flew on the new A380. The kids all loved having their own entertainment systems, and I loved the little pouch for your feet. The food was just okay.

We landed in Sydney early Sunday morning and caught another Qantas flight to Cairns. We took a maxi taxi to our hotel the Coral Tree Inn. I booked this hotel because it was one of the few places I found that could accommodate seven of us in two rooms. The staff at Coral Tree Inn were great, the hotel was just okay.

By the time we got to Cairns, it was only early afternoon and I knew it was best to just keep going until bed time, so we threw on our swimming suits and headed to the Lagoon. I was impressed with the Lagoon. I was expecting it to be more of a natural lagoon, but it’s basically a huge swimming pool, but it’s really well done. We enjoyed our time there and it was a great way to cool off. I knew it was going to be hot, but I was still caught off guard by how hot and humid it really was.

For dinner that night we couldn’t agree on what to eat, so some of us ate kabobs from a take-out place along the esplanade and others had Chinese from the Night Market. The Night Market is a sort of flea market that sells tourist items. We didn’t find anything we wanted to buy. Perhaps we would have enjoyed it more if we weren’t so jetlagged.

BarbaraS

The next morning, we were picked up at our hotel and delivered to the Spirit of Freedom for our three night live aboard dive cruise. While researching diving the GBR, the Spirit of Freedom’s name came up over and over again as a great experience and our experience was no different. The crew was attentive and wonderful, the food was delicious, the boat was clean and comfortable, and most importantly the diving was great! We took lots of great dive pictures which you can view at http://picasaweb.google.com/barbaraandmarks/Australia.

After our three days on the Spirit of Freedom, we were taken to Lizard Island and given a low level flight back to Cairns over the GBR. It was so beautiful to see the reef from above. Truly an amazing sight!

Next up on the agenda was five nights in Port Douglas. We rented a nice van from Sugarland Rentals - I was really impressed with their great customer service. We drove the hour from Cairns to Port Douglas and checked in to our beautiful three bedroom apartment in Port Douglas at Mandalay Apartments http://picasaweb.google.com/barbaraandmarks/Australia.

wlzmatilida

Hi Barbara!

I'm enjoying your trip report and WONDERFUL photos! I never even heard of a "leaf fish"! Very cool.

Next time you visit you should fly from SLC to LAX and spend the night in LA to break up the flying time (if you can afford the time).

I cracked up with your Thanksgiving picture -- I thought "what kind of dinner is she making with Jello, pineapple chunks and pumpkin pie spice?!" And where's she going to find a turkey? (not exactly an Aussie staple). Then on the next shot I see you went to David Jones'.

Everyone looks happy and having fun - can't wait to read the rest of your report!

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Aussie Specialist

Melnq8

Enjoying your report Barbara - keep it coming please...

BarbaraS

Thanks for the encouragement!

Melodie - It's great that you noticed the turkey from David Jones. I have a post about that on my blog - http://barbarabakes.blogspot.com/200...nksgiving.html


I can’t say enough good things about our apartment. It was beautiful, with a huge balcony and comfortable furnishings. It was well located and an easy walk to shops, restaurants and the beach. We ate breakfast each morning in the apartment and several dinners, which with seven people, saved us a lot of money. We enjoyed wood-fired pizza one night at Rattle and Hum; meat pies for lunch at Mocka’s Pies were a big hit; and the fish and chips at the fish and chips place on Macrossan St. were delicious.

While in Port Douglas we spent one day at Cape Trib enjoying the rainforest. In addition to enjoying the wonderful walks, we had delicious tropical ice cream at the Daintree Ice Cream Company and tasted exotic fruit at the Cape Trib Exotic Fruit Farm http://www.capetrib.com.au/fruittasting.htm, But the highlight was definitely Jungle Surfing http://www.junglesurfing.com.au/. It really was fun flying through the trees in the jungle. I’m a little afraid of heights, but managed just fine, even with the upside down section at the end.

We spent another fun day at Kuranda visiting Koala Gardens, The Butterfly Sanctuary, and Birdworld. The cost of riding Skyrail to and from Kuranda was too much for seven, so since we had a rental car, we decided to drive. The road was windy, but a great road and much better than the road in Cape Trib.

While Kuranda is definitely a bit of a tourist trap, I felt it was definitely a must do. We loved holding the koalas and feeding the kangaroos and birds. We did a little shopping and had great hamburgers at Banjo’s Café. Then we drove over to Barron Falls trail and walked down to see the falls. I can only image what it would look like during rainy season. It must be magnificent.

We spent another day at Mossman Gorge. It was one of the boys’ favorite stops on our trip. There is a great rainforest walk and then we all went for a cool, refreshing swim in the river. The boys loved scrambling over the rocks and climbing up the river. Port Douglas was so hot - the river was perfect for cooling off.

I loved Port Douglas. It was small enough to feel like an escape from the city, but large enough that there were plenty of shops and restaurants to choose from. Definitely a little bit of paradise!

Next up Sydney!

Peteralan

Glad it worked out Barbara. Interesting report. Keep it coming!

amsimon

Barbara,
Thank you so much for this amazing trip report-- it is so helpful to me since I am going on my honeymoon and doing a very similar trip!

Did you find it easy to drive around Port Douglas- to cape tribulation, mossmon, etc.

Did you pre-book tours ahead of time or just plan and do it yoursel when you got there?

Thanks!!!

cawhite

Hi Barbara,

Your report is great... I'm assuming you're going to come back and tell us about your stay in Sydney, as well?

We're planning a trip to Australia for June 2009 and we'll be doing many of the things you did. So nice to see actual pictures of the places we also will be visiting (it's like having a preview!).

We'll be going on the Spirit of Freedom, we'll stay in Port Douglas a few nights to visit the rainforest (also going to do jungle surfing), and we'll be staying in Sydney as well.

How many nights total were you in Australia?

Bushranger

amsimon,
"Did you find it easy to drive around Port Douglas- to cape tribulation, mossmon"
PD and Mossman are only relatively small in population and there'll be limited holiday traffic as though quite a few aussies still risk the weather Cairns way in summer, the economic conditions will likely make it less than usual.

The highway is just one thoroughfare, opposite direction lanes just divided by the white lines and not even that in some places, so main issues will be to JUST KEEP TO LEFT and remember A RIGHT TURN TAKES YOU ACROSS PATH OF ONCOMING TRAFFIC.

Be aware of any local conditions like flooding and tropical rain intensity if you have never driven in the tropics comes in fast, heavy and hard so keep a good eye out for what is happening in the sky and for pull off the road places where you can park safely if possible.

AS for bookings for mid January, it'll not be so essential and you should find plenty of options available to you in booking once you get there.

JohnFitz

Lovely photos and they show a very nice family I think . Isn't Mossman Gorge lovely especially that swim in cool water !! And free !

BarbaraS

Thanks for all the nice comments!

amsimon - It was very easy to drive in Port Douglas, Mossman and to Cape Trib. The roads are very well marked and even remind you to stay left, etc. There were lots of roundabouts that we weren't use to, but I just kept reminding my husband (since I'm the navigator) to go as straight as you can and that seemed to keep us going in the right direction. Bushranger is right about the right turn being the most difficult part of driving on the other side of the rode. The roads in Cape Trib are a bit narrow and windy, but not anything to stress about.

I did prebook the jungle surfing and fruit tasting before we left. With seven of us, I didn't want to miss out.

cawhite - Yes, I hope to finish the report this weekend in between shopping. We had 16 days, including travel days - we spent 6 nights in Sydney. You're going to love Spirit of Freedom!

John - Thanks! Mossman Gorge was definitely great. The water in addition to being cool and refreshing, was so clear. Will the water be too high/swift in June for cawhite to swim in? It looked like it could be a mighty river.

cawhite

Thanks Barbara - similar time spent to our upcoming trip too... we're doing 15 nights w/ 6 Sydney, 5 Port Douglas, 3 SOF, and 1 Yungaburra. We're stopping over in Fiji for 5 nights on the way over.

7 people on the SOF... and I think it's going to be expensive for 2 (our 1st trip without kids). It appears from your picture titles that it was a 1st time dive for some? If so, were they good with 1st time divers? My husband is OW certified but I'm not. I might try to get certified at home in San Diego prior to our trip since we'll also be in Fiji.

Carole

cawhite

Oh, another question. We have so many things we want to do up in Daintree Rainforest / Cape Trib... at least 2.5 days worth of activities (in addition to our Pete Baxendell tour day). Did you wish you had stayed any nights further North... or were you happy to have stayed in Port Douglas? We like the looks of the Cape Trib Fruit Farm B&B and the Cape Trib Beach House... but also like the very inexpensive cash and points reservation we have at the Sheraton Mirage in PD (not to mention my hubby doesn't like to change accomodations too many times).

Thanks.

BarbaraS

Carole - I would have loved a stopover in Fiji. Lucky you! Definitely get certified before you go. You'll be so glad you did. The crew on the SOF took such good care of our group. As you can imagine, I was a little nervous taking 12 year olds diving, but we had someone from the crew with us on every dive and that was very reasssuring. The diving was not difficult at all, and you were free to dive as much or a little as you liked.

BarbaraS

Carole - It would have been nice to have spent a night in Cape Trib. There is so much to do there. We wanted to ride horses on the beach and we didn't get to do a river cruise. It was a long day driving there and back and we didn't get home until after dark. But for us, the hassle of changing hotels would not have been worth the extra time in Cape Trib.

BarbaraS

The Qantas flight to Sydney arrived on time and we caught a maxi taxi to the four bedroom house we had rented in the Rocks. We had rented the house for a week, but left after only one night because, among other things, there were roaches.

We were lucky enough to rent on short notice a wonderful three bedroom apartment from Above Darling Harbour Apartments http://www.abovedarlingharbour.com/. I found myself singing the old Jefferson’s song “Well we're movin on up, To the east side. To a deluxe apartment in the sky.” Our apartment was on the 16th floor of the Mantra hotel in a great location to walk to most of the places we were going.

Once we got settle in, we headed to the Harbour Bridge to the Pylon Lookout http://www.pylonlookout.com.au/. Since the Bridge Climb was not in the budget, this was a great alternative. There is a nice little museum, with a short film about building the bridge, and the views were spectacular.

We stocked up on groceries at the IGA in the AMP Building near Circular Quay. We also ate lunch at the food court in the AMP Building twice. There was a great variety of places to choose from and the food was quick, fresh and delicious, so everyone was happy. Later, we found a larger grocery store, Cole’s in the AIG building, just up the street from our apartment on George Street.

One of our favorite places to shopping was David Jones Food Hall. They had an amazing selection of gourmet foods – I especially loved their chocolate covered strawberries! We were able to purchase a turkey there and I cooked a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner for our family in the apartment.

BarbaraS

The next day we made good use of the ferries. We purchased a day pass and visited Taronga Zoo in the morning. It is a beautiful zoo and the views are amazing. We enjoyed watching the animals being fed and the seal and bird shows.

After lunch at the AMP, we took a ferry over to Manly. The day was overcast and gloomy, but we enjoyed Manly. It would be a great place to spend a week during the summer. It was too cold for the adults that day to get in the ocean, but nothing could stop my twins from jumping the waves. I remembered to bring beach towels, but not dry clothes. Luckily they had jackets to help them warm up.

Dinner that night was at Steersons Steakhouse on Bridge Street. We had been eating a lot of quick meals, pizza and pasta, so everyone was excited to sit down to a nice steak dinner and Steersons did not disappoint. Our waiter was wonderful! He was entertaining and funny. He joked with the kids and even brought out an extra plate of “chips” for the table to share when he notice us sampling the kids’ fries. The steaks were tender and delicious. Dinner was about $250 for seven of us with drinks, so it was the most expensive meal we had on the trip, but it was definitely the best too!

After dinner we took advantage of our ferry passes and took a ferry to Darling Harbour. It was beautiful to see the city, the Opera House and the Bridge all lit up at night.

The next morning was beautiful. It was Thanksgiving morning and the plan was to go Bondi Beach in the morning and have a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner in the evening. We bought our tickets at the information booth in front of McDonalds at Circular Quay and hopped on bus 333 to Bondi. We took the Bondi to Bronte walk and it was gorgeous! This was the best weather we had while we were in Sydney and I’m glad it was a beach day. I would to have loved to walk further, but the kids were anxious to get in to the water. So they played in the waves and sand for a few hours at Bronte Beach, we ate lunch, and then caught a bus from Bronte Beach that dropped us off at Hyde Park.

We returned to the apartment, put the turkey in the oven and went shopping at the Queen Victoria Building. It is so beautiful and it was decorated for Christmas with a huge three story Christmas tree.

After a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner we headed over to a theater at Circular Quay to watch the movie Australia. It seemed fitting to watch the movie Australia in Australia.

margo_oz

Thanks for the trip report. Good pics.

Come back soon!

BarbaraS

On the schedule for the next day was a trip to the Blue Mountains. But since the forecast was for rain and no one was up for a long drive, we decided to stay in Sydney instead. We visited the amazingly beautiful Botanical Gardens in the morning before the rain started and spent the afternoon at the Powerhouse Museum. The kids really enjoyed this hands-on museum. I found it interesting, but after an hour or so was ready to move on. We made a quick visit to Paddy’s market and the kids bought some souvenirs, including a didgeridoo for my 12-year-old. Isn’t a noisy toy every parents’ idea of the perfect souvenir?

The East Ocean restaurant on Dixon Street in Chinatown was recommended by Songdoc in her trip report and we had a delicious dinner there. The table had a turntable and it was fun to spin around and sample the different dishes. Our favorite was the lemon chicken.

Our last full day in Sydney we spent the morning exploring the booths at the Rocks Market. It was a fun place to pickup last minute souvenirs. The boys’ favorite booth was the one that sold all the different flavors of licorice.

The afternoon we spent at the Sydney Aquarium. It is a beautiful aquarium with a nice variety of fish. We enjoyed seeing the different species and saying, “I say that one diving.” The walk through tunnel with huge sting rays and sharks was definitely the highlight.

I saw a cute little Italian restaurant, Caminetto, while shopping the Rocks Market and we returned there for dinner. They sat us outside partially under an umbrella, but it started to sprinkle and we asked to be moved. They moved us to a table inside, upstairs, and just as we were getting settled, a downpour started. We would have been drenched.

The next day our Qantas flight didn’t leave until 3:30 pm. so we had a nice leisurely, delicious breakfast at Baker's Oven Café and then took a nice stroll along the harbour in the Botanical Gardens. We stopped and sat on a bench along the way and it had a little plate on it with an inscription that read: "His place in the Sun" This bench was placed here for Mark (somebody) for his 50th birthday. It seemed like the perfect ending to a great trip to sit on Mark’s 50th birthday bench.

One mistake I did make, was not to call Qantas and verify that our flight home was on schedule. When we got to the airport, they had canceled our 3:30 pm flight and rescheduled us on the 8:00 pm flight. So we spent an unnecessary five hours at the airport. Qantas did leave us a message on our home phone to notify us, but it would have been more helpful if they had also sent an email, since I had been checking that regularly. They gave us each $20 in food coupons and the airport had free internet computers available, which helped to pass the time.

Of course we also missed our connecting flight from LAX to SLC and had to spend another five hours at LAX before we could get on a flight to SLC. So it was a really long 30 hour day! Luckily, this happened at the end of an amazing trip and not at the start.

The Australian people that we met were so lovely and kind. When we bought tickets to the zoo, the ferry, the bus, etc., all of the workers were so helpful and tried to figure out the least expensive way to ring up the tickets for us – most places offered a family discount. We used discount coupons from the visitor’s guides at the Visitor Information Center in the Rocks, which was a helpful first stop and near the steps up to the Pylon Lookout.

Thank you to everyone who shared their trips and advice with me, and helped me to plan such an amazing trip. We definitely made memories to last a lifetime. Thanks for all the encouraging comments. I’m sure I left out plenty of details, so if there’s something you’d like to know more about, please feel free to ask.

Barbara

pat_woolford

Thanks for the report, Barbara, glad it all went so well for you (except for the Qantas departure bit).

asimon, you won't need to pre-book most tours in mid January, unless its something like Daintree Air to Lizard Island. If you choose Pete Baxendell's (mentioned in cawhite's post) excellent Daintree/Cape Trib trip (he picks up at PD), he does need some advance notice and not always available for this trip as he guides tours in other areas. So worth checking. www.nqhit.com.au/