My husband and I are leaving in early Feb for our first 2 week stay in Australia. The first week is paid for by my company and we are locked into Sydney for 6 nights/7 days. We really want to see the Daintree/Cairns area and do the GBR on the remaining 6 days we have there. We were thinking about 2 days Daintree/Cairns and 4 days GBR. Because it is the rainy time of year, we are nervous about going to Cairns. We wanted to know your thoughts on including this area in our trip. We also need thoughts on lodging in the Daintree- looking at Silky Oaks Lodge and Daintree Eco Resort. Are most excursions to the rainforest cancelled due to rain? Also please recommend an island at the GBR this time of year where we won't get too wet - it just my husband and myself and we are looking for a middle of the road priced island without children and no day trippers. We were thinking about Brampton or South Molle or Heron since they are further south ( thinking it would rain less here). Is this too much travelling between locations?

Hi-<BR><BR>I can address some of your questions, but I cannot forecast the weather:<BR><BR>The "rainforest" of the Daintree is all paved road - think national park. The trails are all boardwalks through old trees- and not the slog through it rainforest of Central America.<BR><BR>Silky Oaks Lodge is gorgeous, but isolated. In the rain I think you will spend a lot of time reading.<BR><BR>Daintree Eco-Lodge has a tea shop nearby.<BR><BR>In terms of rain in Cirns- our first night in December a storm passed through that locals called "cyclonic" I have only seen such rain once before - it was so thick, we couldn't see to palm trees 30 feet in front of our room.<BR><BR>When they say wet, they mean it.<BR><BR>I do not know what that means for offshore resorts- perhaps you can contact them directly- as they are quite far out to sea, they may experience different weather patterns.<BR><BR>Finally skip Cairns the city - it is very honky tonk for accommodations...<BR><BR>

We spent a few days in Cairns in March 1996. Actually the weather was bad 1 day only. We had booked tickets to go to Kuranda in the morning - weather was fine then - and we were going river rafting in the afternoon. It rained in the afternoon, but that was ok - it was very hot and I can't imagine what it would have been like without the rain! We really didn't mind, especially since we got wet rafting anyway! <BR><BR>We had 4 nights in Cairns and while the city is nothing to write home about, I thought the location was good. In addition to Kuranda and river rafting, we also took a day trip out to the GBR for a snorkeling, etc. We also had a couple of nights on one of the GBR islands - maybe Fitzroy? That sounds familiar to me. <BR><BR>In Australia, it seems that the climate really does vary widely between the north and south parts of the country. (Makes sense.) We are planning to go back again to Sydney next year - probably February timeframe. I'm thinking that we'll probably try to combine that stay with somewhere other than the north.

Daintree Eco Lodge really is a lodge (read: not a lot of amenities). It's got a very good restaurant, but the rooms themselves aren't very nice. It's a place to stay if you really want to have a room in the rainforest and are using this as just a place to stay while you're off doing excursions during the day. Silky Oaks is a P&O Resort and all the P&O properties are VERY nice, especially Lizard Island. I'd recommend you stay at Silky Oaks vs. the Eco Lodge. Just bring lots of mossie spray!

Consider staying at Palm Cove or Port Douglas instead of Cairns. Cairns is built on mudflats, and whilst it is a really nice city, you have to travel north to get to the beaches. Trinity Beach (a northern suburb) is also a pleasant place to stay.<BR>