Hartzog

We are staying at the Hilton in Cairns for 6 nights in April 2007 with a 5 year old. I have 3 extra nights to play with in my itinerary around the Cairns area and am trying to decide between Dunk Island, Thala Beach in Cape Trib, or Kewarra Beach Resort. I'm thinking my 5 year old would enjoy Dunk the best, my husband and I might enjoy Thala the best. Kewarra may be too close to the Hilton Cairns. Any advice you can give? I need to make sure we stay somewhere that allows children.

pat_woolford

Hard question - they're all different, so depends on what appeals to you. However, Thala Beach resort isn't at Cape Trib - its about 15 mins south of Port Douglas. Lovely spot but rather isolated without a car.

pat_woolford

Meant to mention Muddies playground s whilst you're at Hilton. Its about a 10 minute stroll along Esplanade front from Hilton - kids love it.

Hartzog

Thanks everyone. I will definitely check out Muddies playground. I still haven't decided yet but I'm sure any of the options will be great. I forgot to mention that we're kind of locked into staying at the Hilton for 6 nights becuase we're using Hilton Honors points. Also we will have a car.

Karen246

Dunk Island or Mission Beach would be great - Thala is near Port Douglas and fairly isolated. Depending on the time of the year stingers wil be an issue but they all have pools.

TreeRoo

As you have a car, I imagine you will have checked out most of the Cairns and environs things while there. If that is so then the question is what do you need of the other place. Is it beach and relaxation, then I would go to Dunk. If it is a change of scenery then I would go to the Atherton Tablelands though April is often wet up there. Not a lot of rain but a lot of wet days. You could even go further west to Chillagoe or Undara. It would seem shame to travel all that way and only see the beaches.

Hartzog

We are going to Australia the first two weeks of April 2007. Yes, we will have a car while we're staying at the Cairns Hilton for 6 nights so I figured we would see most of the sites up and down the coast. That's why I was maybe leaning towards Dunk. The kids club would be a plus for us but all the post about the day trippers really turns me off. I did see some posts about the Atherton Tablelands. It's funny but I can't find too much information on them in my guides. I will definitely do some more searching on the internet. Anything particularly great to do with a 5 year old child?

SnRSeattle

I would think your 5 yo would like the caves at Chillagoe (although I haven't been there, it sounds great and both Pat and Liz have recommended it). Here is a website: http://www.chillagoe.com/caves.htm
I just did a google search for Chillagoe caves and got a lot of hits. It sounds wonderful and we are planning on going there ourselves (my husband likes things that a 5 yo would! LOL)
Sally in Seattle

pat_woolford

Hartzog, you won't find much information about Tablelands in guide books, because most don't seem to know it exists. They concentrate on highly touristed areas, and by doing so, make them more highly touristed. A very good example of this is poor old Kuranda, used to be a lovely quiet spot, and much of the time still is, in undeliably beautiful setting, and is as quiet as you could get after the last train and Skyrail leaves at 3.30 pm. A google search will reveal Tableland attractions which are vast in terms of wildlife and scenery, check under Atherton Tablelands - although some marketing guru has decided to call it "Cairns Highlands", enough to make locals wince.

Same goes for Dunk Island - its close to mainland and does get daytrippers, but really nothing that should disturb a stay there on a lovely little rainforested island, but do remember, its still some way from GBR.