Has Anyone Taken a Helicopter Flight Over the Great Barrier Reef?
 

This sounds totally cool... but it's expensive, so I wanted to know if anyone out there had done this. I have less than a full day in the Cairns area, so I don't have time to take a boat out to the reef and fly back, etc. -- this is OK because I'm from the Miami area and have spent plenty of time on reefs (I know, I know, it's not the GBR, but I'm trying to make myself feel better!) I thought it would be cool to at least see it from the air.

My problem has been finding a company that will give me an exact booking time (which I need since I have a very tight schedule... need to be at the airport that afternoon at 5:00 pm). So if anyone can recommend a company, that would be great too.

I was hoping to do the helicopter in the morning, then taxi up to Skyrail and do the roundtrip of that, before heading back to Cairns and to the airport.

Any and all input is appreciated! Thanks in advance,
Carol

Is it just you or are you traveling with someone else? Skysafari will schedule a trip with a minimum of 2 passengers (or if you pay 2 fares). We did a heli trip with them last month out of Cairns airport which included flying over the reef and landing at a sand cay with lunch and snorkeling and were able to depart at the time of our choosing. It was fabulous!

Hi Patty,

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately, I'm traveling alone (I'm actually on a business trip with only a day off here & there)... and so I know that is going to be a problem because almost all tours say "2 person minimum." I emailed one tour operator about this to see what the single rate would be (sometimes they don't make you pay a full 2 tickets). I will check with Skysafari -- thanks for the tip!

Was the ride beautiful? I've never been in a helicopter before, so I'm not sure what to expect. (I rode an open-cockpit biplane once and didn't feel so well with all the bumps...) so hopefully this is smoother!

Our ride was very smooth. The views were spectacular! I thought it was expensive but well worth it. I have some pics in this album if you'd like to see them http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US

Patty -- WOW!!!!!! And boy, are you a good photographer, too! Your pictures really made me want to do it; those views are almost surreal... like you're in a National Geographic video :)

Anyway, I've inquired about how much it would cost for a solo traveler. I wouldn't do the drop off of the cay (doesn't seem too romantic to be out there alone!)... plus I won't have time, but hopefully a ride over the reef will make it worthwhile.

I'm really glad to hear the ride was smooth. Does the helicopter "drop" at all on the ride? (Like in turbulence?) I'm just trying to avoid what happened to me on that small biplane... think I might pop a non-drowsy dramamine just in case...

Anyway, thank you so much for sharing your pictures... I'm sure others will enjoy seeing these as well ;)

I didn't notice any turbulence drop but perhaps that's more a factor of the conditions that day. If you're concerned about motion sickness, I'd go ahead and take the dramamine. Thanks for your comments about my pics. Good luck and I hope you get to go!

Fabulous pics, Patty. I've lived in Australia all my life and have yet to see a platypus in the wild ... lucky you :)

Great pics, Patty. Love the wildlife shots on Atherton Tableland, especially tree kangaroos which can be very tricky to spot.

And the birds on Cairns Esplanade, almost in the city. People complain about the mudflats, instead of yet another sandy beach, but wouldn't have that sort of bird visitation without the rich feeding grounds of mudflats at low tide.

Really enjoyed your photos Patty - fantastic.

we used Sky Safari on Christmas day last year. Had an exact time and it was fantastic... defiantely worth doing

Thanks, Bokhara2, Pat & Melnq8!

Bokhara2,
We actually saw platypus twice on our trip! Second time in Tassie :)

Pat,
We couldn't believe the amount of birds right in the city! We thought we were very lucky to get such clear views of the tree kangaroos and we saw a diverse variety of wildlife in the Tablelands including wallaroos, a couple of other wallaby species and 4 possum species.

I'll post links to our other albums in a separate thread.

And thanks Pat and Melnq8 for your help in planning this trip!

Hi,

Have sent three emails over two weeks now to SkySafari about a trip. Haven't heard anything. I sent two through the tirp inquirey site and the last one to the regular email address shown. Any suggestions??

Thanks.

I sent an inquiry through their website and received a reply the following day. The reply came from [email protected] so perhaps try that email.

Thanks Patty,

I will try that one. It is different than the last one I tried.