mindgame

I'm wondering is it better/cheaper (as I am renting a car anyways) to drive from Port Douglas to Mossman Gorge and take a natives tour there, and then drive other rainforest places and take local tours, or go on a 4wd tour where they pick me up at the hotel (Sheraton Port Douglas), such as Tony's Tropical Tours or Billy Tea Bush Safari, etc.?

As I will have a car anyways, perhaps I can drive partway and then take tours once I cross the river/ferry or if I drive directly to Mossman Gorge. Will this be cheaper?

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

pat_woolford

Costwise it will hardly make any difference, if any at all - Mossman Gorge is only about a 15 minute drive from Port Douglas. For Daintree and Cape Tribulation from Port Douglas don't think you won't do better than Pete Baxendell at Heritage and Interpretive Tours - www.daintree-specialised-tours.com who can certainly pick you up at Sheraton Mirage. Talk to him about possibility of including Kuku-Yalangi walk at Mossman Gorge.

myaustralia

Hi
couldn't agree more with pat. Yes, you can drive up there yourself, but you will have to stick to the "touristy" places that are open to the public. Tour operators have access to private properties in the rainforest.
I would highly recommend Pete Baxendell's tour! He offers great, exciting, educational and fun charters into the Daintree/Cape Tribulation NP. He can create an itinerary that suits your requirements and interests. If you want a more hand-on tour, he also offers great bushwalks in the rainforest. I would recommend to email him with your interests so he can provide an itinerary for you. You will love it.

mindgame

thanks so much for the advice!

Can anyone provide experience/references/reviews of Billy Tea Bush Safaris' 1 day tour?
http://www.billytea.com.au/tours/1day/
It seems decent, but I'm wondering how it compares to the other suggestions that Pat etc have made.

mindgame

Daintree-Specialised looks good, but so expensive for a 4wd tour! I'm looking at the others for now...but thanks!

pat_woolford

mindgame, hi - Billy Tea Safaris is good, so is Trek North, but they both take about 14 passengers and you obviously won't get the personalised itinerary that Pete Baxendell can provide, so its a lot more than "just a 4WD trip". With the first two, you go where they are scheduled to take you, and in Billy Tea Safari's case they add a little more and take you slightly north of Cape Trib to the beginning of Bloomfield Track. Nice company though, never heard a bad word about them.

pb_and_j

We did self-drive and it was a nice day. I don't agree that you're stuck to the "touristy" parts as you have a lot of freedom and can pick and choose exactly what appeals. Our helpful B&B owner marked off at least a dozen worthwhile stops (way more than a day's worth) and told us if we saw tour buses parked at a place, skip it so we'd be off their schedules.
I assure you, our day was substantially cheaper than going on an all-day tour.


As for "local tours" do you mean guided rainforest walks? There are lots of places where you can safely do unguided rainforest walks, on trails or boardwalks. We went to the Rainforest Discovery Center which gave us all the info we could ever want on rainforests, and then some, as we walked through and above the rainforest. The Daintree River cruise we took flooded us with info on Mangrove systems.
We didn't get to do the Kulaki-Yulangi tour at Mossman Gorge since it's not offered every day, but we did do some nice hiking there.

myaustralia

mindgame - To clarify one thing. All tours use 4x4 vehicles, but they actually do not go offroad on a real 4x4 Safari. Tours like Billy Tea (so called Standard tours) stay mainly on sealed roads. The road up to Cape Tribulation is sealed and the part north of it is a gravel road. So no real "offroad".
If you are looking for a real 4x4 tour, Pete can offer this to you.
In the end, it doesn't really matter which tour you take, they all go to the same area and often you see them lining up at the different sites (Daintree River, Cape Tribulation, Lookouts). Billy Tea - as Pat said - has a good reputation, but is one of the larger operators. Tony uses 6 seaters only. You can't go wrong with either option. But - again - it is not a 4x4 tour.

wlzmatilida

Hi Mindgame,

As Pat and MyAustralia both recommended, Pete....here's the skinny:

You can take less expensive tours - there are tons of tour operators all over this area - the bottom line is "you get what you pay for".

Driving yourself == you are NOT going to know where to go, or what you're seeing. Yes, you can have guidebooks, the internet etc, but there is nothing as good as a guide who knows this area like the back of his hand.

Larger tour groups, like Billy Tea: a very good tour operator but it's not the same thing as having a personalized tour with 6 passengers with a guide who will stop, answer all your questions, be flexible, etc.

If you want the ultimate, best day experience, then you want a smaller tour group. If you're cost concious, then go for the more "cookie cutter, mass produced" tour. It's really your call / budget.

I can only tell you that as 15 years as a travel agent, 11 of them as an Aussie Specialist when I put my clients on the smaller tours it often turns out that I hear" "this was the best thing of our trip".

Hope this is helpful!

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Aussie & Kiwi Specialist

pat_woolford

So true Melodie - I've driven around the Daintree for yonks, we used to have land there and thought I knew it pretty well. It was only when I went with a small tour that I discovered so much that I didn't know, and I'd read quite a lot. The guide was just so knowledgable and enthusiastic, it gave the area a whole new meaning.

mindgame

Thanks so much!! This has been quite helpful. I haven't figured it out yet, but your replies have certainly brought more clarity. I appreciate it!