I am looking at a two week honeymoon to the Cairns region of Australia in August/September of 2005. I am curious about the weather and the best places to stay. We are looking for a resort where we can be pampered - sit by the pool and beach, enjoy drinks in the sun. How are the beaches? I have heard they are wonderful, but having never been... Are there good dining options? Any advice anyone can give would be very helpful.

FYI - I am interested in the Cairns area, and not necessarily the city... So anything within an hour or so would be great, in fact, we would like to find somewhere that is a little more quiet than the city.

We stayed in Cairns 2 years ago for our honeymoon, and I regret staying in Cairns. None of the tours depart from the city, and it's a hard city to get around in if you don't want to walk. There are no beaches, and personally, I'd wished we would have stayed in one of the smaller towns further north(I think it was north). I would suggest looking at Port Douglas or Palm Cove. Port Douglas was very quaint! And we were there 3 times for our snorkel and rainforest tour. Also, I'm going to put my plug in for our snorkel people. They were AWESOME!!! Very small group, and much more individualized than the big tour groups. The company is Wavelength www.wavelength.com/au Good luck planning!

tyler - Cairns is situated adjacent to a large tidal mud flat. You would be better suited, to the northern beaches outside of Cairns, eg. Palm Cove, Ellis Beach, etc, even up to Port Douglas.
August/September would probably put outside of the "stinger" season (I think Pat Woolford could comment on this matter better than myself), and as for the weather, expect somewhere around 25-27 degrees celius.
If you are not interested in seeing the rainforests of Cape Tribulation or the Daintree Area, etc, and you only want a pool and beach, then why not opt to honeymoon on the one of islands off the Qld coast?

While Cirns may not have the beauty of some of the nearby beach towns. It is a lively , entertaining place with friendly people and excellent restaurants. Since you may be coming in and out and in need of an overnight or 2 as we did, I'd recommend Pat Woolford's Lilybank B&B located in leafy N. Cairns ( Stratford) and conveniebnt to the airport. A short walk is the fabulous Garden Room Restaurant. Great and reasonable by US standards seafood feasts are available at Red Ochre ( seafood platter for 2 feeds four). Pat is exteremely knowledgeable about N. Queensland. We especially enjoyed being up on the Atherton Tablelands and hiking at Mossman Gorge.

enjoy,

AndrewDavid

Thanks yet again, Andrew> I don't want to nag either, but we are all looking forward to parts 4 and 5 of your trip to Oz.

Tyler - the beaches of North Queensland are not to be compared with the world famous surfing beaches in more southern areas. The Great Barrier Reef is just that - it creates a barrier to the surf.
However you surrounded by two vast World Heritage Areas - the Wet Tropics as well as GBR. Outback areas are also accessible - the Undara Lava Tubes are an example. If you're looking at 5 star beach check Palm Cove, a suburb of Cairns. August-September is stinger-free and safe for both reef and beach swimming. For more information look at www.divethereef.com

Tinkerbell - because Cairns is the gateway to almost everything in the north, there are hudreds of tours which leave the town or nearby DAILY. Between 30-40 go to GBR on day trips (they all cater to snorkellers), others go further. Cairns has a deepwater anchorage for overseas and local passenger ships and these passengers need to be serviced with a choice of trips for their short amount of time in port. Many tours leave from Cairns to Cape Tribulation in Daintree others go further to Cooktown and in the dry season beyond to Cape York. In a westerly direction day tours from Cairns take you via scenic train or Skyrail to Kuranda, and to the Tablelands and Undara beyond. Hot air ballooning trips leave from Cairns as does bungy jumping, skydiving, parachuting, parasailing, kite surfing. In a southerly direction they go to tropical rainforests, Frankland Islands, whitewater rafting etc. That's just a few, there's too many to list here.

yes, the city of Cairns was built long before it became a tourist destination and is beside a tidal mud flat. This mud flat is one of the most ecologically stable migratory water and sea bird habitats in the country - whilst it mightn't look too pretty for tourists - it attracts serious birdwatchers from all over the world visit. Cairns has recently built a huge, landscaped, stinger-free swimming lagoon on esplanade in town.

I love Cairns and all the action. Mud flats and all!

I would say though you are looking more at Palm Cove or Port Douglas for your needs. Palm Cove is very quite with beautiful resorts that are built in a stylish low rise manner. Though quiet it is technically a suburb of Cairns so you have fairly easy access to all Cairns has to offer.

Port Douglas is a bit busier with a real main street with shops and restuarants. Nice town.

Then you could also consider Airlie Beach which is way way further south, serviced by Prosperine Airport. It is gateway for the Witsundays.

When you choose your spot then start talking the resort you need.

Also if $$ are no object then you mst consider Lizard or Bederra Islands.

Hi Tyler,
Congratulations !
One of the most suitable honeymoon destinations in that area has to be Palm Cove.

www.palmcove.net

As the other posters have said it is a quiet paradise, the accommodation is excellent and you will certainly relax and find all the pampering you deserve.
It is not far from Cairns and Port douglas and we found it makes a good base to explore the surrounding area.
Of course there are many beautiful tranquil perfect places in that area, so you have lots of choice. Check out the website above and you will undoubtably find the right accomodation for your honey moon.
Good luck
Muck

I can't speak for the weather in August/Sept. It rained A LOT while I was there in March of this year, but I still had a great time.

I stayed at Lilybank B&B, and it was fantastic. The breakfasts were wonderful, and I got great advice on things to see and do in the area. I never would have known about "Play Postie for a Day" without them, and that may well have been the high point of the entire trip!

All the tours I went on picked up directly from the front of Lilybank.

It's not really a "resort" where you are pampered. It's more like staying with good friends.

Thanks for all the good advice. It sounds like Cairns is wonderfule, but for this specific trip, we are probably better suited for Palm Cove or Port Douglas. As for the eco side of the trip, we would definitely want to take a day to see the reef and a day to see the rain forests, but the beach and R&R would be the focus of our trip. As for Lizard and Bederra, they are a tad out of our price range. So, does anyone have any specific places they recommend in Port Douglas or Palm Cove. I have looked at Kewarra and Thala...

tyler - have a look at Angsana at Palm Cove, also Sea Temple which is due to open any day now. They are both on beach and nearly everything else in PC is just across the very pedestrian- friendly road. There is no high-rise in PC and has magnificent old melaleuca trees (paper-bark eucalyptus) on its esplanade. Thala and Kewarra are both a bit isolated - Thala (15 mins south of PD) has fantastic views over Coral Sea - its where our very own Natalie Imbruglia spent her recent honeymoon and Kewarra is in a quiet residential area with little or no tourist infrastructure.