Best tour groups
 

My family is planning a trip to Australia, August of 2001. We have 10 days in Sydney and 6 days in Cairns. We would like to spend one day or more in the Blue Mountain area and would like to take a hike we heard is near the Three Sisters area. Do organized tour groups allow time for that ? Should we take the Blue Mountain Explorer Bus and how to get to it? Also, what is a good tour to take to do snorkeling and first time dives at the GBR? Can anyone suggest a good tour group for the Daintree forest or is that something we can and should do on our own? We do not want to rent a car and try driving on the opposite side of the road. I would really appreciate any help that I can get. Our childrens ages are; one son 21, one son 17, a daughter 13. Thank you so much. Kylie

My husband and I just returned from a two week vacation in Australia (1 week in Sydney and 1 week in Port Douglas). While in Port Douglas, we went out first with Quicksilver (really big group, ~300 people) and then with HABA (small group, ~30 people). <BR> The Quicksilver tour is ideal for those people who don't want to get wet. The boat they run out to the Outer Reef has plenty of closed, air-conditioned cabin space. They dock at their pontoon on the Outer Reef, and run their activities from there. These activities include snorkeling, diving, semi-submergible boat rides, and underwater observation areas. <BR> The HABA tour is for those people who do want to get into the water. The boat is not as fancy as the Quicksilver one, but it is still quite comfortable. The smaller group size allows for more relaxed exploration of the area, since you don't need to worry so much about swimming into other people. The fish are also more relaxed. <BR> My husband and I enjoyed both tours, but we liked the HABA one better because we got to see more and bumped into fewer people as we snorkeled. <BR> Hope this helps.

Kylie: <BR> <BR>We also just returned from one week in Sydney and one week in Port Douglas! We snorkelled and dove for our first time and we used Calypso. They were great! We were in a small group and it was very personalized. For the Daintree tour, we used Deluxe Safaris. We went in a very small group (us and another couple, plus our guide!) We visited Mossman Gorge, Cape Tribulation, Daintree Rainforest and went on a Daintree River Cruise. <BR> <BR>We really enjoyed both tours.

Thank you for the suggestions. Both were exactly what I wanted to know. I appreciate your help. I am now much more confident in my decision to go with the smaller tours you both suggested. Thanks!

Gooday Kylie, <BR>The Blue Mountains is just awesome. The website for the tourist office is <BR> <BR>www.bluemountainstourism.org.au <BR> <BR>They have bushwalks on there as well. <BR>I live not far from there. The tourist office is usually very helpful. If I can help you with any questions you can email me direct if you like.