heh

I'm looking for people that have used Tony's Tropical Tours http://www.tropicaltours.com.au/, specifically their Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation tour day tour. Would you recommend it, and is it worth the money? What other tour companies have people used to explore the rainforest near Port Douglas/Cairns? I'm staying in Port Douglas and looking for a day trip tour.

lane

We used Billy Tea Bush Safari last week. It was a great day visiting Daintree and Cape Tribulation. I would highly recommend them.

Stachi

I hated the tour we took to Cape Trib and Daintree (Australian Wilderness Safari). We spent 10 hours on the tour and about 7 of it on the bus, driving around picking up and dropping off people or driving around and looking out the window of the beautiful views and not being able to stop and take pictures. Fodors says this company is one of the best and I'm not sure I totally blame the company - I think most tours suck. But, it was touted as a 4WD vehicle so I thought we'd do some cool offroading - no. Supposedly max 12 people - oh no, way more. Who wants to spend 3 hours in a bus, get out for 15 mintues, spend 2 hours in bus, get out for 20 minutes...get my drift? I'm not kidding, we only had 20 minutes at the beach of Cape Trib! Our bbq lunch was uninspiring in a nothing special location and they wouldn't let us wander off and see anything. Part of the problem for us was that the tour departs from Port Douglas or Mossman but we were staying in Cairns, so we were picked up even earlier and dropped off even later than the rest (what should have been an 8 hour day was over 10 - you won't have this problem). Oh, and the boat ride on the Daintree was absolutely nothing special, we didn't see squat. In general area is beautiful, but for pete's sake - spend your money on a rental car and drive it yourself instead!!! Driving is so easy there and there are so many beautiful places to stop and enjoy the scenery and wildlife.

drb

We were there in July and used Gary's Tour Service for Daintree/Cape Trib. Our guide-Reece-was phenomenal. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

Janewtravel

We used Tony's Tropical Tours, it was great. We had a great guide,knew heaps about the rainforest and wildlife, saw cassowaries and did a Daintree River Cruise, all inclusive in the price.
Lunch was great, highly recommend it.

Port_princess

Hi there.
Australian Wilderness runs a tour and is owned by P and O, it comes out of Silky Oaks.
I have been on quite a few of the cape trib/daintree trips and a lot of them are not the best.
The two operators i like vehicle, guide and time out of the car wise are:
www.queenslandadventure.com
these guys do an amazing daintree and outback tour that allows you to see kangaroos, brumbies and wallabies in the wild. they go to private properties so you get away from the madding crowd.
You can always hire a car, but then you are limited to go where all the other companies go- mass numbers.
If you want to drive to the rainforest look at www.ccwild.com
they have a private proeprty in the jungle and you can join them for a great walk that takes 2 hours. At the end of the walk you can swim in their waterhole in the jungle which is very tarzan and janeish.. ha ha
They also operate a day trip as well that includes a river cruise to see the crocs.
Tonys tropical tours is a great trip too, they go to private property as well.
Avoid companies that dont go to private properties, that means they dont have special permits so then you may as well hire a car and do it yourself.
cheers

boiler

Our family of six really enjoyed our 4WD private party tour with Tony's Tropical Tours on 07/23/2007 to Daintree and Bloomfield Falls. Tony was our most professional and knowledgeable guide in Australia. We enjoyed his driving, humor, and home-prepared muffins, caramel bars, Daintree tea, and steak lunch with damper bread and Vegemite. We saw a southern cassowary, a Boyd's tree dragon, and a Kookaburra, and learned much about local fruits and poisonous giant seed pods. He brought us to special locations and we highly recommend his tour to everyone.

SnRSeattle

Port Princess, I just got an email from Chris at queenslandadventure.com and he said that they only do private charters now and wouldn't be running tours in October (when we wanted it.) Any other recommendations for a more active tour than just sitting in the 4WD and looking out the window? We particularly want to see a cassowary.
Sally in Seattle

dmacdog

My wife and i used Tony's in the beginning of July. We had a blast. David our guide was great--he really knew his stuff. Great lunch, great sightseeing, great learning experience. Only negative was taking turns sitting in the back of the landcruiser. Highly recommended.

Matej

Dear Sally
I was recently down at Etty Bay,approx 1 hour 20 mins south of Cairns and saw 2 cassowarries each day for a week, on the beach, crossing the road and roaming about the forest. They are an amazing bird. The south of Cairns is not as well known as the north and is far less commercial. There are beautiful, quiet, rainforest walking tracks, picnic areas, waterfalls to visit on the way down.