tour groups
 

It seems that the Ocean Freedom would be a good choice for the Reef Tour. Does anyone have experience with this group and is this a good choice for us? For the rainforest it seems that both the train and cable car would be good choice for us. A little bit of nature and walking would be OK the kids are not going to be thrilled with too much animal watching. Would appreciate any comments.

What area of the planet are we talking about here? And hard to tell if this is a comment or a question?

And what is it that your kids would actually LIKE to do?

vjf,

Not sure if you're aware of this but you've started a new thread rather than posting a subsequent question on your existing one and, no-one knows what you're talking about. For the benefit of anyone else stumbling onto this thread, original one was as follows:

"Does anyone have suggestions of good one day tour operators. We will have one day on the Barrier Reef and one day at the Rainforest. There are so many different options for these tours it is very confusing as to which tour to book. I have two teenagers who will be traveling. We are staying in Cairns in July."

I haven't done the reef etc, just Cairns and Mission Beach. If you're staying in Cairns and haven't organised accommodation, I'd recommend Southern Cross Atrium Apartments. Good, clean, reasonably priced, well-run.

Cheers.

Which Ocean Freedom trip? There's the schooner which only takes a max of 30 and sails to the far side of Green Island and keeps away from the hordes of package tourists at the other end of the island. Its a very pleasant trip. But if this was my only crack at the GBR I'd rather go to outer reef, which is why I mentioned Reef Magic on another thread.

Ocean Freedom also has a motor catamaran to Upolo Cay. This is a small sand cay which practically disappears into the sea at high tide, although there's good snorkelling on outer edge of its reef around the cay.

Both Ocean Freedom and Reef Magic are locally owned and operated and Reef Magic, and don't market to Asian package tour groups.

Don't expect to see much wildlife on Skyrail/Kuranda Train trip, this is for scenery. In Kuranda there's a small wildlife park, Rainforest Station is nearby with koalas, etc and Kuranda has a butterfly sanctuary and a couple of large, walk-through bird aviaries, cassowarys. Koalas are not found in the wild in FNQ, so if seeing these is a priority, you'll need a zoo or wildlife park. You'll need a guide to spot native animals in the wild successfully and many are nocturnal.