doroalan

we will be in cairns in december and expect one day to be at the great barrier reef. what should we do on day two? choices are white water rafting on the tully river, or a day of scenic railway/skyrail plus tjapukai aboriginal cultural park. What do our fellow travelers suggest? thanks much. dorothy

alliegator

We took a tour up to the Daintree & Cape Tribulation with BTS Tours. It was a really wonderful day and chockful of information about the region. I'm not sure how the weather is in December though. It might be rainy in addition to bug season. Someone else may be able to give you that information.

SusanInToronto

We were there in March 1996 and did both white water rafting and the trip to Kuranda on 1 day. It was hectic, but really fun. We probably should have given ourselves a full day at Kuranda, but I was also keen on the rafting. It was a bit scary - 2 man rafts! - but fun.

dindle

I would say the skyrail to Kuranda is definitely the way to go. You can take the sky rail up, the train down if you wish. Although Kuranda is a bit "touristy", the ride up is so beautiful. You won't forget it. Also, up in Kuranda, the butterfly gardens were wonderful. Have fun!

alice13

It depends on whether u have ever seen a tropical rain forest before. If u haven't - then there is ABSOLUTELY no contest. Kuranda is nice (but a bit of a tourist trap). Can't vouch for the white water rafting, except it's a fair journey to the Tully River (2 hrs+). And didn't go to the Aboriginal Culture Park (again depends on what else u will be doing in Oz - I assume u are not coming for 2 days only, so maybe you will have the chance to investigate that aspect of Australia elsewhere).

The Daintree is magical - don't miss it!. You take what comes in December weather-wise.

RJames

Regarding the GBR, make sure you go to the outer GBR, since the colors are better than the reef areas closer to the mainland. I had taken a helicopter to join the boat on the outer reef - I would definately recommend this.
Kuranda was ok - I wasn't crazy about it , I took the Skyrail up and the train down. I prefered the train.
The day tour I took to Daintree was excellent, it was with a company called Adventure Tours.
Hope this helps.

hotandsweaty

i'll vote for daintree/cape trib first and then kuranda second and i'd base it on the following: if you are from the west of the us and prefer outdoorsy type activities and nature and making your own fun- rent a car and drive yourself.

if you are more the scented candle gift shop//guided tour type, or are older you will enjoy the day at kuranda...it is more structured and less "unplanned" feeling. as for the cultural park- you can breeze through in a very satifying hour and can do that maybe when your flight lands it's right near the airport...

debusa

Dorothy, Hi. If you can, you should definately plan a trip to the northern reef island of Lizard Island. There is a company called Daintree Air that takes a 10 seater very nice plane up for the day. There is a very exclusive resort on the island (just over the hill, which we didn't even see), but we couldn't affort it so decided to have Greg fly us over. We left pooring rain in Cairnes and 40 minutes later, landed in beautiful, sunny, warm Lizard Island. The one on one attention and reef knowledge Greg has was soooooo wonderful. It was the highlight of our trip to Australia, really. Not very expensive, either, for the trip includes gear and lunch! Check out his web site at Daintreeair.com. We also went over to Silky Oaks for lunch. What a wonderful place!. Have a great time. We sure did. Deb

JamesA

Kurunda plus Tjapukai is enjoyable. It is NOT easy to see Aboriginal culture in many places in Australia, and down south I think impossible, so I should not miss the chance, it is very well done and interesting, I recommend it. You see a visual presentation, hear about the 'old' way of life, you can throw a boomerang, then watches the dance/show. Add that to the train + cable and it makes a great day out.

Don't know if you have sorted place to stay, I stayed at Coral Cay Villas( studio type rooms/apartments) on Lake Street which was cheap / clean and just a short walk into the center.

drb

Two days in Cairns. One on the reef-we
went with Calypso out of Port Douglas. The second has to be the rainforest and Cape Tribulation (Gary's Safaris was fabulous with Reece as our guide) I'd definitely do these two with Kurunda a distant third.