Hi all,
Am an American here from NYC & have been working in Sydney for 5 weeks. Have a friend arriving my NYC and we want to take a flight to possibly Cairns, Townsville or Whitsundays for 2 nights. Would like to do a dive in the GBR and have some fun outdoor activities as well as nightlife. We are 2 single girls in our late 20s. A few questions:
1. Where is best place to go this time of year for good weather?
2. Will we be able to do a dive, do we need to book in advance?
3. Could we fly into a cheaper airport & then rent a car to go one of these places?
4. Recommendations of places to stay?
We're working a tighter budget so we're open to nicer hostels, etc.
=

Generally speaking the further north you go in winter, the warmer the weather. Cairns/Port Douglas and Townsville will be 4 or 5C warmer than Whitsundays with daily maximums up to 27-28C. It can be windy at this time of year for any of these places, all are affected by prevailing south easterlies.

Cairns has the busiest airport of the three mentioned, budget flights from Sydney are regular with Virgin Blue or Jetstar. Cairns would have the most nightlife with a big selection of hostels and backpackers. Gilligans is the biggest, but there's plenty more which are also an easy walk to wharf in Cairns for your dive trip.

This is high tourist season in far North Qld, so it would be a good idea to pre-book your dive trip, a google will pull up loads of choices from budget to luxury vessels.

Hello,

Hey, I hope this isn't a trip to be organised at short notice or over a weekend because flights even with Virgin or Jetstar will be expensive.

If you can do it during the week your options pricewise for flights will be better. Otherwise you might find you choose your destination based on the cost of said flights, and, for two nights only, on the timing of the services.

I won't recommend a hostel as although I have favourites in both Cairns and Airlie Beach (for the Whitsundays) they are perhaps aimed at an older age group and are not party places.

Best of luck.

For your flights, check Virgin Blue's Happy Hour fares.

http://www.virginblue.com.au/

Head for Cairns/Port Douglas as it will be warmer and with much more choice in flights and costs and accommodation. There is also much more to do around there too - could you not increase your time by at least another day?