Sorry...I am re-posting this as a seperate thread...

ok....this is the itinerary we have come up with: (Of course, as always, we have a lot of questions for the australian experts of this forum)

Day 1 - Arrive in Cairns. Rent a car and drive to Port Douglas
(Question: Any specific suggestions for renting cars in Australia? This is our first time there.)
We have left this day open to just walk around town.

Day 2 - We would like to take a glass bottom boat or a submarine to see the reef. We are both non-swimmers....so we figured either of these two would be a better option for us. Any specific tour companies we should be looking at. We would like it if the boat is not too crowded. (Spending more for this tour is not a concern)

As of now, this is the only activity planned for day 2. Is there anything else we can squeeze in?

Day 3 - Walking tour of the Daintree forest with Pete Baxendell. We are
assuming this tour will take the whole day.

Day 4 - Visit the Rainforest Habitat

Day 5 - Rent a car and drive to the Cape Tribulation area. Are there any mut dos? We are planning to drive thru Daintree Village. Is this worth doing?
Are the roads good? Is the Daintree river cruise worth doing?
We were thinking of taking the Cape Tribulation and Daintree Rainforest tour provided by Queensland adventure. Was wondering if this would be a repetition since we are already taking Pete's walking tour. If this would be a better way of seeing the Cape Tribulation area (rather than going on our own) and also not much of a repetition, we would go ahead and take this. Any suggestions?

Day 6 - Drive thru Atherton Tablelands. Overnight at Yungaburra. Any must dos here?

Day 7 - Drive thru Malanda and Millaa Millaa and get back to Cairns. Again, this seems to be a half a day affair. Is there anything more we can do?

Day 8 - This would be the last day of our vacation before we fly back. We are trying to decide between taking one of the tours offered by Daintree Air and taking the Kuranda scenic railway. Which one would you suggest?

Also, any suggestions for places to stay in Port Douglas, Cairns and Yungaburra? (At Port Douglas, we prefer to stay in town)

I know, i have asked a lot of questions.... I hope they are all answerable....

Thank you very much!

njwanderer,
Tell me a bit more about your interests and the style of accommodation you prefer and I'll get back to you in a couple of days.

Alternatively have a look at www.yungaburra.com for some of the things to do on the Atherton Tablelands. Their is a good magazine called "Discover" which outlines many of the districts attractions. You will be able to pick it up in Port Douglas.

We drove ourselves to Cape Trib and wish we had taken a tour because we didn't see much (except the "beware of cassowaries" signs, but no cassowaries!) A knowledgeable guide would have explained what we were seeing. I don't know the areas covered by Pete or the other tour you mentioned, but several have been recommended on this site. Do a search. I can recommend a night tour with Dan Irby (http://www.mangroveadventures.com.au/) It was magical. I also recommend a day tour to Lizard Island with www.daintreeair.com even if you are non-swimmers. The views, the walk, the lovely bay are all good, plus the water is so shallow and there is so much to see and Greg is so helpful that I bet you could easily snorkel there. Tell him when you call/write and he will have suggestions for you. In Atherton, you might want to hire Alan Gillanders for the day (we are doing that) to show you the animals, plants and geology of the area. He also has a night tour, and is very reasonable. Here is his website: http://www.alanswildlifetours.com.au/
When do you go? We'll have more to say when we return after Nov. 3, 2007.
Sally in Seattle
p.s. In Port Douglas we have stayed in the Le Cher du Monde which has nice rooms and is reasonably priced ($135/nt) and we liked it and its location so well that we are staying there again.

Sally and Saltuarius,

Thanks for all the useful suggestions. Had a couple more questions:

1) Any suggestions for car rentals in Cairns and Port Douglas?
2) What companies should we be looking at for a not so crowded glass bottom boat trip or submarine to see the reef?
3) Are there any other must-dos in Cairns? We realize we will be reaching Cairns soon enough after a trip around Malanda and Millaa Millaa and hence will have sometime for which we haven't planned anything yet.
4) Is it worth doing both the Daintree Air trip and taking the scenic rail to Kuranda? If we have to choose one, which one would be your choice?

Our interests:
We like wildlife watching, enjoy nature. We are both non-swimmers. As far as the hotels are concerned, we are looking for a decent,clean, not very expensive (but not very cheap) room in town.

Thanks!

The one thing I notice is that you don't have any beach time scheduled. I know you say you are non-swimmers, but you can't go to a gorgeous beach like Four Mile Beach in PD and not spend at least half a day relaxing on it or walking it! You could easily do this on Day 4 because you can do the Rainforest Habitat in half-a-day or less. (Go to Breakfast with the Birds and you can have brekkie, do a thorough tour of the Habitat and still be on the beach by lunchtime.)
If you want to go on a glass-bottom boat tour and not be on a crowded boat, then Sailaway to the Low Isles may be the boat for you. We took them several years ago and there were about 25 people on board (which was just about their maximum). They have a glass-bottom boat tour off the Low Isles and you can also get ferried over to the island to beach snorkel, wander around or just lie on the beach. (Perhaps you might try snorkeling if it's off a beach.) The coral and sealife are not as dramatic as you will find at the Outer Reef, but we did see fish and sea turtles. We had a very enjoyable day trip and this might work out better for you than a big Quiksilver boat trip.

RE rental cars, all the big names are there plus some local places. Here is a website that was recommended on this board. It has comparisons of different companies. http://www.drivenow.com.au/

RE Kuranda vs. Lizard Island there is absolutely no comparison. The train to Kuranda has nice views of the coast and is an interesting old train, but the views from the plane are spectacular, Lizard Is. has the Blue Lagoon (or Bay or something that is beautiful), bats, the Clam Garden, etc. and the views of the sun setting on the way back are gorgeous. Plus Greg can tailor your trip to fit your interests or even doing an overnight somewhere like with some Aborigine people outside of Cooktown. All it takes is money.

Le Cher du Monde hotel fits your description to a T. In Cairns we stayed in a B&B which is no longer in business, but this time we are staying at Pat W.'s Lilybank (www.lilybank.com) which isn't in town but with a car it doesn't matter.

RE boat trips, Pat often recommends Reef Magic out of Cairns and the one to Michelmas Cay which is a sailing boat and then you can take the semi-sub (or glass bottom?) from there or snorkel from the shore. The Reef Magic goes to a pontoon but takes less people than Quicksilver. However, if you are in Port D. you might want to go on the Quicksilver. Even though it CAN take a lot of people, doesn't mean that on the day you go there WILL BE lots of people and the stability of the pontoon is a plus if the seas are rough. We went on it and had a lovely time even though there were quite a few people on the boat. When we got to the pontoon they spread out--the non-swimmers to the seats or underwater viewing platform, the snorkelers in the water, the divers under, etc. It was fine. They had a shower and a head and a nice buffet lunch. And no wave action!
Sally in Seattle

njwanderer - for a reef trip out of Port Douglas with both semi-sub and glass bottom boat, Quicksilver is your only choice. Its the biggest outer reef vessel in area and can take up to 400 passengers.

Haba out of PD to outer reef is also a large boat, it does have a glass bottom boat, (with no roof or shade) and charges an extra $10 pp for its use.

Low Isles is a good suggestion IF weather is calm - today its blowing 30knots there and there's little visibility through churning sand. Generally weather in October is better, but if its windy you'll need the shelter the reef provides. Quicksilver's "Wavedancer" also services it and does have a glass bottom boat.

Reef Magic out of Cairns takes far less passengers than Quicksilver, has a pontoon, semi-sub, glass bottom boats, is less expensive, but doesn't pick up in Port Douglas.

Ocean Spirit to Michaelmas Cay (again out of Cairns) goes to outer reef and has semi submersible, but no glass bottom boat.

Agree with Sally that there is no comparison between a trip to Lizard Island and a trip either by train or Skyrail to Kuranda. Its apples and oranges, but a lot of money I feel to fly to Lizard without snorkelling, which is its major attraction.

Pat, Sally and Longhorn,

Thanks for your wonderful suggestions and information!!

Pat,
Any ideas on the Cape tribulation and Daintree rainforest tour offered by Queensland Adventure? Will this tour be very different from the walking tour offered by Pete Baxendell?

Is the Atherton tablelands part worth doing? Is Undara (or any other place) better?

Thanks!!

njwanderer,
I have trouble understanding not too expensive but not cheap so suggest you check out that web site for Yungaburra. Do not miss out on the Tablelands if you are into wildlife and nature. The endemics of the wet tropics are concentrated in the upland rainforests. Wallabies of numerous species are seen here, platypus, tree-kangaroos and a dosen species of possums. These possums are not closely related to the opossums of the Americas, much better looking!

Walks on the Tablelands can cater for all fitness levels but there is a shortage of whole day circle walks. Still you can walk one place and then move on to the next. Many things are close together.

Sally really does her home work!

Greetings njwanderer

You might want to consider David Armbrusts tour of the Daintree Rain Forest.

http://www.anhs.com.au/

David never takes more than 4 people on his tours and its never rushed. We have taken his tour twice ourselves.

We have stayed in PD twice, Hibiscus Gardens which is a very nice and was very quiet.

http://www.hibiscusportdouglas.com.au/

Then we also stayed at Sun Seeker Apartments which was better accommodations for 4. We had our daughter and my mom along on that trip.

http://www.sunseeker-port-douglas.com.au/

Be sure to have dinner at the Nautilus restaurant under the canopy while in PD

http://www.nautilus-restaurant.com.au/

Cheers

Steve and Andrea

nj,

there's a plethora of day trips to Cape Trib out of Port Douglas and Cairns, but am not familiar with Queensland Adventures - is that the full name? Pete Baxendell, as you probably know, only takes very small groups (as does David Armbrust, recommended by Steve & andrea) and gives you personal attention and off the beaten track experiences. Most of the day trip operators taking larger numbers stick to same or similar format.

Saltarius has already given you excellent information on Atherton Tableland, I might just add that its also a rich farming area - apart from wildlife and scenery its renowned for its coffee plantations, dairies which produce fine cheeses, and a host of other crops which wouldn't handle the much more humid and hot coastal conditions.

Undara is a totally different landscape; much more of an outback experience, you pass through Atherton Tableland on the way to Undara if coming from PD or Cairns. Overnight accommodation there is in converted railway carriages, or more economically, fixed tents with timber raised floors - you can hire bedding at reception at Undara.