We have only 2 days in the Great Barrier Reef area in March. Do you think that's too short to travel from Sydney? What can we see in 2 days? or Should we not even go there if we can't spend more days?
Please advise!

Not quite sure what you mean by the Great Barrier Reef area. The GBR is 1,250 miles long. However, when most people talk about visiting the GBR area, they mean Cairns or its environs.

In my experience, one pretty much needs one day to take a boat out to the GBR, snorkel or scuba dive in the reef, and return (particularly if one is going to visit one of the reefs in the so called Outer Reef, e.g., Agincourt Reef).

Then, if one is going to explore the tropical rainforest from, say, the Daintree River to Cape Tribulation, one basically needs a day to do that as well.

So, to do the bare minimum that most people do when they go to the Cairns area, one essentially needs 2 days, not counting travelling time to and from Cairns.

Keep in mind also that a non-stop flight from Sydney to Cairns is 3 hours.

Hi neko - what Judy says is correct but with only 2 days you'll have absolutely no leeway with weather. Doesn't matter if it's raining in Daintree as it's a rainforest but if it happens to be a foul day for the reef, it's going to leave you with horrible memories.

hi neko-
what time of year? i think as long as it is fine eather season 2 days is perfect- just book your day tour to the reef ahead of time and you will have a great day out. you will have to skip some of the side trips, but you can still sneak in a visit to the aborigoinal cultural center (very worthwhile for the uninitiated) and stroll around palm cove and have a pleasant dinner under the stars.
i think the main thing is to get out to the reef and you never know about the weather anyway, so you'll have to take the chance- just plan your trip for a non-west time of year.

We spent six days in June and it was somewhat of a rush to fit everything in. There is so much to do in that area with the assistance of a rental car. Obviously, a trip to the reef, babinda boulders, cape tribulation, waterfalls in the tablelands, mossman gorge, kuranda rainforest, etc. Also, I highly recommend a small b&b called trinity on the esplanade. By far the most pleasant stay of our Australia trip.

Thank you so much, everyone!! It sounds like we can do the GBR in 2 days. I hear that you are not supposed to fly before or after diving ... is that true? If that's the case, I don't know how we will be able to dive though ....

To maximise your time on a coral cay perhaps you could go to lady elliot island....more readily accessible from sydney via flights to brissy and a small plne flight.

yes, neko, due to the gas bubbles you cannot plan to fly in a commercia;l (above 3,000 ft) aircraft within 12 hours after diving or you'll get bubbles. i think you will be very happy with a snorkel trip, though.

neko -

No flying "after" diving. So can dive day-1, not day-2.

Assuming you arrive the evening prior day-1, you'll have a good night's sleep, then be ready for pick-up next morning. If, however, you arrive in morning (and thatis your day-1), the GBR trips will probably already be out for the day, and the next day being day-2 is NG for diving. Snorkel instead.

Hi Neko - weather CAN be dodgy in March, it is still within the cylone season (in which case Cairns airport will probably be closed anyway at- least for a short time). Last week I had a visitor who had only given herself one day for the reef (her last day) and I booked her on a small yacht the night before. By the time she got to the wharf the next morning, the skipper took one look at the sky and decided not to go out (we'd had a huge storm and 6" rain in Cairns the day before). the guest was quite peeved with me for suggesting this particular trip as she saw all the other reef boats heading out. They (including the huge cats) got a couple of miles out and turned back as they were heading into unforecast (by the Meteorology people) 50KNOT local winds. One boat didn't turn back - the passengers had a miserable and sometimes frightening time- all duly reported in the local paper. The next day was clear and sunny, but too late for my visitor. Am not for a moment suggesting not to come to FNQ in March, you just need a few more days to avoid possible bad weather for reef. There's plenty to do and see on land whilst you're waiting.