Great Barrier Reef: Where To Stay?
 

I'll be visiting the Great Barrier Reef for the first time in June. I don't know much about the "character" of the various islands & would like to hear what people have to say. Suggestions on which island(s) to visit & where to stay? Thanks.

Depends how much you would like to spend. You can stay in Port Douglas which is not a populated as Cairns. You can stay at Palm Cove or Cairns. You then take days trips to the reef. The other option is to stay in the Whitsundays. There are bigger islands such as Hamilton or Great Keppel or smaller islands like Daydream. Club Crocadile on Long Island is really nice and not too expensive.

I assume that you are talking about the whitsundays so I'll give you a quick run down - I'll probably have forgotten a few. <BR> <BR>Lizard, orpheus - very expensive but world class <BR>Dunk - families, cheaper end of the package market, good rainforest walks <BR>South molle - very much family orientated <BR>daydream - packaged for couples <BR>Brampton - reasonable price - couples <BR>Green - expensive and mainly japanese tourists <BR>hamilton - more like a town than an island, lots of different accomadation, restaurants etc - reasonably expensive, very 'yachtie' <BR>hayman - expensive but up market <BR>great keppel - backpackers and young kids <BR>long island - cheap (backpackers?) <BR>fitzroy - cheap - adventurous types, bushwalkers etc <BR> <BR>it depends on what you're into as to which is best. personally I like hayman but it depends whether you are looking for a 5 star experience or not. <BR>keppel is best for the party crowd and places like long island are good if all you want to do is just hang out for a while with 2 star accom and services <BR> <BR>if you don't want to stay on a particular island and would be ok just daytripping then places like port douglas near cairns are much cheaper and I believe have heaps more atmosphere than the islands and you can take day trips out to places such as the low isles out on the reef and come back to very good standards of accom at a fraction of the cost of staying on one of the islands. <BR> <BR>

Charlie; We are just back from 3 wks. in OZ. On the Reef we did a Coral Princess cruise instead of staying on an island. I'm really happy with our decision. After visiting some of the islands, I think I would have gotten really bored staying any length of time on just one. With the 3 night cruise, we visited lots of dive and snorkel sights and saw a lot of the reef. We also took a day trip with Poisiden from Port Douglas while we stayed at Silky Oaks Lodge in the rainforest. If you decide to stay in a town, I would definately recommend Port Douglas as the only one worth the effort. We were not at all impressed with Cairns and Palm Cove is a real snooze. What ever you do, DO NOT stay at a resort called Double Island at Palm Cove. Their web site looks wonderful, but they don't mention that they're bankrupt. Unfortunately we got suckered in to two nights here. Don't let it happen to you.

It's not quite clear from your question whether you know, so this could be just to dispel some misconceptions for other readers. The assessments above are pretty spot on about the islands. One thing that should be clear though is that the "islands" are not on the GBR proper which can be anywhere from 30-80 km offshore .... most of the Queensland island resorts are only a few kms off the coast, generally far enough not to have to worry about stingers but you wont have the reef proper at your doorstep. A few (Lizard in the north; Heron, Lady's Musgrave & Elliot in the south) are on/near pristine reef, although technically the southern ones are in the Capricornia/Brunker Group not the Barrier, but the reef's pretty good here. <BR>While each island resort usually arranges daytrips to the "outer" reef (and other activities) they'll usually go to the same spot ... in the Port Douglas/Cairns area you'll have more choice on destinations (as someone else has recommended) <BR>Dont get me wrong, the islands can be a great escape, but at the same time you can feel a bit captive if you see the antithesis. Also be a bit wary of Whitsunday islands resorts who often include photos of Whitehaven beach (turquoise water over brilliant white sand) in their publicity (mind you, the northern ones also use coral sand cays out on the reef in the same way).... this is a favourite day-trip excursion but it does not reflect the resort beaches which can be effected by low tides and drab sand/rock <BR>I think maximising the variety is the key if time permits..... in fact there are major differences between the reef's north, central and southern sectors, so much so that there are different ref books for each ..... unfortunately, many visitors only get to sample one. <BR>Have a great trip

TC is right on about Coral Princess Cruises. I HATE cruises, but our three nights on the little 50 passenger or so Coral Princess was the absolute highlight of our two months in New Zealand and Australia. It was a perfect way to explore the Great Barrier Reef, and had absolutely none of the horrible characteristics that I find in cruises in general.