inus03

Hi,
I am planning to stay in Cairns for three days, with one day for Daintree, one day for diving & snorkeling. I heard about slow flying planes which gives ariel tour of the barrier reef.
I would appreciate any help in this matters especially recommendations, tips & pricing info

Thanks

ALF

My suggestion would be to combine a flight with the day that you go diving or snorkeling. Some of the boat tours that go to anchored pontoons include a helicopter option, which we did once, and it was fantastic! I have some great photos that resulted from that flight. Because you are already on the reef, this flight is very short and not too costly (as far as helos go) - about Aus$100. Here's one choice:
http://www.cairnsholiday.com.au/What...er_Cruises.htm

Judy_in_Calgary

Inus03,

I highly recommend getting an aerial view of the GBR. However, you would not need to tip the pilot.

inus03

Thanks ALF, I am actually staying in Port Douglas and taking poseidon outer reef cruise for snorkeling and diving. But I will check out your recommendation.

jules

inus03,

you could also hire daintree air (www.daintreeair.com.au)to take you out for an hour or so too if you didn't actually want to (or have the time to) spend the day snorkelling etc at lizard. greg (one of the pilots) told us that he often takes people for short scenic flights over the reef (BEAUTIFUL!)then goes back down the coast over the rainforest (SPECTACULAR). i think something like that would be approx $100-150 AUS but you can e-mail him for additional info re: specifics/prices etc at: [email protected]

as far as tipping goes, it's certainly not mandatory but if whomever you go with does an above par job, then anywhere in the world (whatver continent!), i'm sure a tip would be appreciated!

Judy_in_Calgary

>>>>>>as far as tipping goes, it's certainly not mandatory but if whomever you go with does an above par job, then anywhere in the world (whatver continent!), i'm sure a tip would be appreciated!<<<<<<

In Australia we actually had the experience of people refusing to accept our tips. The first instance was at the coat check of a fancy dinner-dance. When we collected our coats at the end of the evening and my husband put a tip on the counter, the coat attendant slid the money back across the counter and said to my husband, "You're in Australia now, mate. You don't have to do that." That happened in Melbourne in July 1997.

After being rebuffed like that a couple of times, we stopped giving tips. The exception to that was that we continued giving tips in restaurants. Waiters never rebuffed our tips. But our Australian friends were not in the habit of tipping, even in restaurants.

What I'm describing covers our residence in Australia from July 1997 to January 2000, so the information possibly is dated.