Advice on our Tentative Itinerary and is Heron Island expensive in April?
 

I wrote a few weeks ago asking if we could put together a trip on short notice. Well, thanks to support of those who answered here's the itinerary so far for 2 1/2-3 week trip staring last week in April---reactions?

*Sidney 3 nights (place to stay? $200-$250)
*Heron Island for 3 nights. we are taking the helicoper one way and the launch back. (is the hydrofoil worth it rather than the launch if one is prone to get seasick?--can't afford helicoper both ways) We are looking at the meal package (is there any other way to get food without doing the meal package?) I've heard from friends who went a few years ago that all of this wasn't as expensive as it seems to be (about AUD2800) We're booking helicoper, lauch , rooms, meals, etc. through the resort. Are there any other less expensive booking options to book these features?
*Cairns then Cape Trib for 2 nights at Daintree Heritage Lodge (tried to get the Fruit Farm but it was booked)--better alternative places to stay?
back to Cairns for flight to Ayers Rock
2 (3?) night Ayers Rock (places to stay?)
back to Sydney for 2 nights (alternative "must sees" rather than 2 more nights in Sydney
Anythings else we shoud add on? and spend less time in any of these places?
Also my husband is staring in Perth for 1 week beforehand........should I join him there or wait and meet him in Sydney? (i.e is Perth a place or surroundings worth the visit?)
Any advice would be appreciated since I'm busy watching my grandson and have little time for the research I would normally do
Thanks!.

A few comments:

In adjusting your itinerary, I wouldnt consider going to Heron Island for anything less than 3 nights, two full days. Rough seas are always a possibility when considering the boat to Heron though, in the 5 times I've been there, it was never so rough that people were getting seasick.

As for Cairns and Cape Trib, 2 nights is awfully short. Maybe steal a night from Sydney at the end? Or not go to Ayers Rock?

Join your husband in Perth. I hear it's a great city (the only Aussie capical city I haven't been to). In my opinion the longer you can spend in Australia the better!

I'd recommend taking the meal package on Heron Island, as it is cheaper bought in advance. We were on the Island this January and noticed the charges are quite a bit more if you pay by the meal. There is some food sold in the bar, but they are snacks really. The shop only sells icecreams and water that kind of thing.

I haven't heard of a hydrofoil, I think there's only the launch or the helicopter. We have always gone by the launch, but the view from the helicopter is apparently spectacular. In terms of sea-sickness , I have been very sick once (out of 6 times) going out when it was very rough, but I think you would be unluck. Take the pills they have on offer (Quells not the herbal one) and sit outside facing the wind if you are feeling queasy. Also it's always rougher going out than coming back, so if you book the helicopter going out would be the direction to do it.

For Uluru (Ayers Rock), the hotels at Yulara (the name of the resort nearby) are all run by Voyages (who run Heron Island), see if there's a discount for booking two resorts. Or if it's possible join as a past guest for the second resor--that delivers a 10% discount throughout the group.

We stayed at the cheaper option Pioneer Village (?)(can't recall the exact name), it was basic but fine. You only really need an overnight at Uluru if you have most of two days. Don't miss the Cultural Centre near Uluru.

Just to cut down on your husband having excessive travel and seeing as if you went to Perth that would be extra travel you initially did not want to do and would you have to cut back on something else?, another alternative for you would be to meet him at Uluru.
So you fly to Sydney and on to Uluru and he Perth to there.
Then Uluru to Cairns.

As an alternative to Heron Island you could consider the extra time for being based in Cairns area, a couple of reef trips including a helicopter flight, maybe a live aboard a boat reef trip and/or a stay over on www.fitzroyisland.com.au , all which would be a lot cheaper than cost of Heron and also getting there/away.

From Cairns you would just have to get a direct flight back to Sydney.

And if you're looking to minimise your flying, I would not rate Perth itself as a must see city and you really have to travel well away to get to interesting areas and that'll just suck up more time if that is at a premium.

With the helicopter flight you'll also get as good an experience if not better up off Cairns.

Join your husband in Perth! There's loads to to here. The city is very easy to get around in via train, bus and on foot. If you stay in the CBD, you can walk to the Barrack Street Jetty and take the ferry to Fremantle for the day, or take the ferry to South Perth and visit the zoo, etc.

You can also walk to/around the Swan River from the CBD, as well as walk to Kings Park, which is a fantastic place to spend several hours. If you're a shopper, you'll enjoy the Hay Street Mall, which you can easily reach on foot.

There are tours to places like the Swan Valley, the wildlife park, etc.

You can easily fill your week here while your husband is doing his thing (working?).

Perth is a fantstic city IMO and that's high praise from me as I don't even like cities!

Also prepare yourself for a bit of humidity in NQ for though wet season is nominally over by end of April it has been a good one and not unknown to have late rains but regardless I've experienced quite humid times in May.
Get yourself some Bushmans insect repellant [no connection] too and have long legged/sleeved wear for evenings and beware mosquitoes for Dengue fever has been at record levels this past summer and aside from making you feel not too good it can be fatal.

Population of Cairns region approx. 150,000
Total confirmed cases of dengue fever in Cairns region : 675
% of people who have contracted Dengue in Cairns region :0.45%

That's right not even a half of one percent.
Hardly an epidemic & hardly worth advising upcoming visitors to Cairns that they may die;

"Get yourself some Bushmans insect repellant [no connection] too and have long legged/sleeved wear for evenings and beware mosquitoes for Dengue fever has been at record levels this past summer and aside from making you feel not too good it can be fatal".

Next you will be suggesting that they should wear a full body beekeepers suit! Then they would feel the heat!

There is a big difference between advising people to adopt sensible precautions than being deliberately misleading & attempting to scare them.

That's one strange post in my book DD for I have not called it an epidemic and I'd let the officials in the government health department determine how they would have it described or perhaps it is just the media that coins the phrases for them.

Regardless of what it may be called, where have I mislead and though I am wanting to alert people to prevailing situations they may experience and so they take precautions so as not to be overly concerned and still enjoy their holiday, if by alerting people I was ever to save one person from contracting something I would be far happier in that thought than I am on people who seem to see it OK to want to dismiss such knowledge.

Some links on the situation marsha.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news...842468730.html
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.as...ntentID=128560

There is much more information available hypatia and other misquito borne diseases too, perhaps you also having some down Florida way though Florida is not quite at same latitudes in respect to the equator and true tropical conditions, more sub tropical.

Do ignore any playing of it down and take precautions, be alert for mosquitoes about including checking near furniture outside and inside anywhere you are staying and you should be fine but be ignorant of a situation and like anything you can be exposed to, it'll just increase risk for you.

In printing the up to date statistics regarding the outbreak I believe that I have advised potential visitors to the region of any inherent risk.
Nothing strange about that.
To state that dengue can be fatal in response to what had aready been written was unnecessary & didn't explain the current situation or the disease.
All you said was that "aside from making you feel not too good it can be fatal."
What a great message to send to anyone intending to visit the Cairns region.
And to then advise them to check near furniture , inside or out, made me laugh aloud!
I have a vision of 2 misinformed tourists rabidly looking under their table at dinner & then advising other diners that they should BEWARE OF MOSQUITOS.
I have not played down, nor have I dismissed knowledge of the outbreak & am happy to discuss it.
You on the other hand move from the ridiculous to the hysterical..........quite smoothly!

If there's any hysterics going on DD, it is quite clearly and historically you and you seem to be rapidly and eratically losing it with lapses you have for I posted at post #3
" Get yourself some Bushmans insect repellant [no connection] too and have long legged/sleeved wear for evenings and beware mosquitoes for Dengue fever has been at record levels this past summer and aside from making you feel not too good it can be fatal."
and with you being in denial you come up with
"Don't know what this has to do with your original post though
hypatia?"
And now
"That's right not even a half of one percent.
Hardly an epidemic & hardly worth advising upcoming visitors to Cairns that they may die;"
followed by
" Next you will be suggesting that they should wear a full body beekeepers suit! Then they would feel the heat!

There is a big difference between advising people to adopt sensible precautions than being deliberately misleading & attempting to scare them."

Quite absurdly eratic all because in the first instance you seem to have this problem with making visitors aware of local conditions

And through your own scrambled way you have a relapse and put forth information that you seem to think is not worthy of advising visitors.

Have a good look at the nature of your posts and perhaps you could see your way clear to one attitude I always adopt in being prepared to provide travellers with relevant advice but that would be wishful thinking given your history and what appears to be deeply ingrained.

Ask yourself for instance, would you rather have visitors sufficiently alert to minimise any risk of contracting a potential illness and be able to go away and relate to others that yep, despite some tropical conditions to be aware of we had a great time or would you rather have them in greater ognorance and perhaps place themselves at greater risk, possibly resulting in a situation that could have them forever detesting somewhere?

Somehow I do not feel you have the ability to be honest with yourself let alone anyone else and so you stick with your visions and I'll have my approach.

Thanks for that, & I hope you feel better now.
I haven't heard you talk about crocodile attacks in Australia yet but if you aren't up with the news perhaps you better start surfing, because it appears that when travelling to Australia this year you are 3 times more likely to be taken by a crocodile than you are to die from dengue fever.
Perhaps you should start mentioning this with every one of your posts.
Must tell everybody everything you know.

I'm off to bed, however I thought I should let you know that I have checked under & above all furniture in & around the house, both inside & out & I think that we are safe.....for tonight anyway!
:)

Bushranger, the aedes aegypti mozzie which may or may not carry dengue, doesn't bite at night. Normally daylight hours and often inside residential dwellings surrounded with bad property maintenance.

So not much use covering yourself from neck to toe when you go out to dinner on a warm tropical night, unless you want everyone to fall over laughing.

Glad you posted the Qld Health site, if you check the maps there you'll see there is no dengue outbreak in Cairns CBD or the touristed area of Palm Cove and very little in Port Douglas, at least at this stage. These areas already hit hard with insecticides, some tourists have a nervous breakdown at the sight of a few ants, let alone, God forbid, a cockroach.

Your other media links refer to the 82 yo frail old lady lived in Manoora, a suburb hardly frequented by tourists, and she did have other medical problems. The other death, in 2004 was from a woman from Torres St, already very ill with dengue and flown down to Cairns Base hospital.

Whilst its very admirable of you to warn people here on Fodors of their impending doom if they visit the area, please be assured that everyone here is letting tourists know of the situation and most of us are supplying our guests with free repellent, just in case.

Seems like you are joing the hysterical hordes Patsy for no doom has been broadcast by me.

And people laugh at loose cool appropriate wear!, then let them laugh.

And yes the government site I posted refers to day time attacks but if anybody has that nice pale skin and blue blood that mossies love, in my mind they are well advised to cover up and protect for evenings too [ of course depending on where they are staying], do their checks etc.

Good to hear that you're advising.