We are 5 friends and want to join a private tour in the rainforest (cairns, daintre, cape tribulation area)(max 8 people). Can anyone give us advise. Which is the best?

Options are:
billy tea bush
pete's heritage safari
tony's tropical tours
Wilderness Eco Safari's

Don't know Tony's but can recommend Pete's and Billy Tea. For more specialised bird watching in small groups try Dell Richards at Fine Feather tours. Wilderness Eco Safari doesn't go to Daintree - Steve covers the Cairns hinterland area west of Cairns - rainforest, Australian bush and outback and has permits to use "restricted access" roads in his 4WD. For Cairns use City Sights Plus - (don't be put off by the name - Andrew has incredible knowledge of flora and fauna) -at the moment there are peregrine falcons nesting in the penthouse verandah of a 4 star hotel near Cairns Esplanade (world renowned by bird watchers for migratory wading birds) and curlews nesting in a busy building site - he'll take you on guided walk to Flecker Botanical Gardens, the best scenic lookouts and tour of northern beaches with sunset nibblies at Palm Cove. Only AUD$49 for a half day.

Hi Edgar - I just returned from a trip to Australia, and did the Heritage Bushwalk with Pete. It was awesome! I know he also offers private safaris where you can pick your spots and destinations. He takes you in a gorgeous Land Rover, and is a very friendly, fun, and knowledgable person.

I have some pictures from our trip, if you'd like to see them. The Daintree is a beautiful area, have fun!

http://community.webshots.com/album/93505742dPurWH

Keith

Sorry i don't know anything about the companies you listed, but we really liked BTS Tours. The hubby & I had a wonderful time. Our tour guide was excellent and a very good cook!

we did tony's tropical tours about 3 years ago. Our guide was named Peter and was excellent. He took us all through the rainforest, pointed out Boyd's rainforest dragon, monitor lizards, all sorts of birds, insects and plants, took us swimming in clear lakes, took us to waterfalls, had a nice lunch and 4 wheeling in the backroads. I'd highly recommend it!

Hi Edgar
We did Tonys Tropical Tours only recently and can highly recommend it.
Its small and personalized which unfortunately wont suit you, as its maximum 6 people per vehicle although I believe there are 4 vehicles so maybe he'll take you in two cars. Tour was great,one of our party is vegetarian and he even made sure there was a veg.meal prepared for her. Brand new Lancruiser,great lunch and Tony is very ,knowledgable and quite witty, had the best day

For something not too demanding but still interesting, I highly recommend Trek North's Cape Tribulation tour (http://www.treknorth.com.au/cape-tribulation-tour.htm). It includes some easy walking through the forest, 2 opportunities to swim (once in a mountain river and once in the ocean) and a very good cooked lunch. Our guide was called Craig, who was not only highly knowledgable but obviously cared deeply about the rainforest environment. Try to get on a tour with him if you can.

Completely agree with Steve - Trek North to Cape Trib will pick up at Cairns or Port Douglas (or points in between) - all their guides are good and Craig is excellent -just last month he's been nominated twice for Cairns Tourism Awards. Lunch is in a tropical fruit orchard.

Our family with three teenagers used tony's this past July-they were fantastic-the best tour we did in Oz.

Don't do a day tour! We did it this Sept. w/ all the places you mentioned in one day. It was such a big rush and I didn't feel like I had seen anything. Do an overnight trip instead.

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.

We loved our tour with Pete last May. It was informative and fun...

Edgar,
With five of you it would be a lot cheaper, more flexible and personal to hire a people mover or small bus and your own guide. Try Ellen Terrel or Alan Gillanders who are brilliant generalist guides. Ellen is based in the Daintree and Alan on the Atherton Tablelands. You might even get them to split your tour and do a day or two each.

Ellen Terrell
E-mail Address(es):
[email protected]

Alan Gillanders
E-mail Address(es):
[email protected]
www.alanswildlifetours.com.au

Another option is www.cairnswildernesswalks.com that take a maximum of 6 people per day in the Cairns local rainforests. They are very reasonably priced in comparison to some other tours.

Things change after 4 years, which is when this post originated; I think Edgar by now will have well and truly completed his rainforest trip.

But whilst I'm here can thoroughly recommend the abovementioned trip - www.cairnswilderness.walk.com for anyone staying in Cairns area.

Sorry, typo on website but the correct one is in post above.