australianhm

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking for a bit but have finally created a screen name and am posting for the first time. First off thanks for posting all this information, it's already been a great help.

Right now we have reservations in Cairns at the Oasis Resort. Most people on this board seem to prefer Port Douglas vs. Cairns. Is this resort worth staying in Cairns? We have a few day trips scheduled as well out of Cairns. I just don't want to be disappointed or miss anything in Port Douglas.

Comments or suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Mucky

hi and congratulations !!!
When we were planning our 1st Australia trip 2 years ago we too booked the Oasis in Cairns, and a friend who lives near Cairns told us it may not be as tranquil and quiet as we may like, with planes sometimes flying quite low over head and he told us to stay outside Cairns. He suggested Palm Cove. We did so and discovered that PC was a beautiful place, in fact we stayed at the Oasis in Palm Cove.
There is certainly nothing wrong with the Cairns Oasis at all as we went to see it and it looked really nice.
But we concluded that my friend was probably right, for peace and quiet and a fabulous relaxing break after walking hundreds of miles around sydney it was paradise.
I would heartily recommend PC and will definately go there again.
Port Douglas is also lovely and in between size of PC and Cairns but further up the road.
Its worth considering going further north than cairns.
Good luck

Muck

Peteralan

There is nothing wrong with Cairns but if it is not too late to cancel I would recommend that you change to Port Douglas ( I am not really familiar with Palm Cove but I believe it is very nice too). Cairns doesn't have a beach whereas the one in PD is beautiful. The place I would think would be more suitable for a honeymoon and all the trips go out of there. Enjoy wherever you decide!

pat_woolford

hi australianhm and congratulations - whilst it is true that Cairns CBD does not have a beach I think you'll have a great time at Cairns Oasis. After all, most of the year - for at least from October to May or June, beaches in NQ are unswimmable due to box jelly fish (not a problem on nearby GBR). The Oasis has it's own excellent pool and at great expense to the local ratepayer Cairns City Council has recently built an enormous stinger-proof swimming lagoon in the centre of the city which is absolutely free to all (with hot showers and bbq facilities). Cairns CBD is a bit flat through the day, that won't be of concern as you say you're taking trips but it does come alive at night with a far bigger choice of restaurants and nightclubs (you must visit Johnno's Blues Bar which is near the Oasis) than either PC or PD. Granted, Palm Cove is much prettier than Cairns CBD and dare I say PD , but after the sun goes down there and you've had a good meal there isn't a lot to do. I wouldn't worry about aircraft noise there, over the last few years flights are being re-routed and for the most part of the year they come in from the north of airport (CBD is south) and its only the nearby areas to airport such as parts of Yorkeys Knob, Holloways Beach, Machans Beach, Edge Hill and North Cairns (if they're coming from the south) that are affected.

RalphR

australianhm: North Queensland is an incredibly beautiful part of the world. Unfortunately, it has been "discovered" - big time. Cairns and PD are now highly developed tourist towns, hardly typical of Australia in any sense. I've heard more than one person say they were disappointed in their visit to NQ and my belief is that, in sticking to the well trodden tourist path, they missed out on some of the more exotic and unique places there are to see.

Sure, visit PD for a day, but you might want to consider staying somewhere a bit further off the beaten path. Mission Beach (south of Cairns) comes to mind - a lovely spot, not overly commerciallized. I've always wanted to go up to Cooktown - not sure what the accomodation options would be or how you would get there, but my impression is that it would be a beautiful, off the beaten path, and more "authentic" place to stay, close to the Reef.

Or an island...Hinchinbrook, Dunk or Lizard (big $ though)?

Neil_Oz

Ralph, I've visited Cooktown once and enjoyed the experience. You can drive the coastal route by 4WD, or the less taxing but longer inland route. Pat or others can probably comment on your chances in the Wet - I went during the dry season. Decent accommodation is available too, and an interesting museum housed in an old convent which contains items from Cook's HMS Endeavour (it was there that she put to shore for hull repairs after striking a reef). I'm not sure what you'd do in and around Cooktown after a day or two, though. I think that most visitors may be yachties.

pat_woolford

Ralph, I'm not too sure what you mean by a typical Australian town - are Sydney and Melbourne typical Australian cities? Main problem is that many tourists do not give themselves nearly enough time in area so they stick to the well known spots - most Americans I see allocate 3 days and 4 nights! So its a day reef trip, a whip up to Kuranda and maybe a day trip to Cape Trib. These short stays leave little or no leeway with weather which can be dodgy even in dry season. I hate to see people spending a lot of money on a reef trip in a 25-30knot wind , knowing they'll see very little and probably be seasick.

I haven't driven up to Cooktown for a few years, it's an amazing drive along the Bloomfield Track from Cape Trib (4WD only) - Neil, you're right, only in dry season. The inland road is not as interesting and the last 26 kms to Cooktown are still to be sealed, it's said to be the next tourist spot in the North but there's a long way to go yet. The locals may take some convincing - some time ago one of the passing passenger cruise boats decided to stopover at Cooktown to show their passengers the town, the locals shut their shops and hid!

Agree with you about Hinchinbrook and have mentioned in many times on these postings - never get response, maybe because there is very little tourist infrastructure there. Certainly no Club Med.

RalphR

Pat: My problem with places like the Gold Coast and, increasingly, Cairns and PD is that they now exist almost entirely to cater to tourists - chain hotels, motels and restaurants, t-shirt arcades, souvenir shops, theme parks. My point was to say if you're going to fly half way around the world on a honeymoon, you might want to consider spending time in places that are more unique to the country. Otherwise, in the case of Americans, just stick closer to home - Florida or Hawaii - and save yourself a lot of money.

Sydney and Melbourne do not cater entirely to tourists and are centers of Australian culture. So yes, they are indeed "typical Australian cities". They are well worth seeing.

AndrewDavid

Hi,

If you want a non chain alternative in Cairns if you are doing day trips from there you might try (our own Pat Woolford's) romantic Lilybank B&B in leafy Stratford at the top end of Cairns. This is a tiny oasis, w/ pool and smashing breakfasts, convenient, but out of the bustle of downtown Cairns. You are also walking distance to the Garden Room, one of the culinary highpoints of our 5 weeks down under.

We really enjoyed our time on the Atherton Tableland above Cairns. Lovely waterfalls and beautiful Lake Barrine with its fauna and flora spotting boat ride .

The wildlife park at the entrance to Port Douglas is also quite wonderful.

We spent 3 days up and around Mossman and Cape Trib. This is spectacular territory even enjoyable in the rain. Above the Daintree River you are off the grid which has put somewhat of a break on development. There are nice hikes into the rainforest ( world heritage listed) on a couple of boardwalks and walking at Cooper Creek. Walking trails have been laid out at Mossman Gorge by the local aboriginal community and you can pick up local guides there for an insight into their culture.

Any time you want a good natter w/ the locals, walk into a bar and bring the discussion around to land conservation ( that's a 4 beer subject)

AndrewDavid

pat_woolford

Thanks again, Andrew, for the kind words and Ralph, there is absolutely no necessity to stay in chains and motels when visiting either Cairns or Port Douglas, or for that matter, the Gold Coast, which is so often judged by the high rise and associations of Surfers Paradise, etc. As you are judging Cairns by a few blocks in the CBD which caters to tourists of many nationalities. Certainly there's a proliferation of didges and all the other associated bits of Oz tourist kitsch that can just as easily be found in major capital cities. The area does attract a lot of Asian tourists, well, no wonder, it's a relatively short flight for them. As it is for us Australians when we become tourists in Japan, Bali, Thailand, Vietnam, etc. and why shouldn't these visitors buy toy koalas if it is their wont.

Having spent nearly all my life in Sydney I'm well aware that it does not "entirely cater" to tourists, albeit that it has more overseas arrivals than anywhere else in the country. But neither does Cairns, for a small city/town with a permanent population of only 130,000 it has a thriving local art and theatre scene and the infrastructure of hospitals, schools, a university, world-class tropical botanical gardens, farming and other industries and facilities which have very little to do with tourism. It's certainly as typically "Australian" as any place I've ever lived and within very easy access of some of the most beautiful and diverse parts of the country. Which is why I choose to live in the area and why many other ex-Sydney and Melbourne residents have done the same

RalphR

Pat: No doubt, in the Grand Scheme of Things, Cairns is still a great place. I'd live there in a heartbeat. And it serves its purpose as an international gateway to North Queensland. But, for anyone on vacation/honeymoon in Australia, I still stick to my guns that you would do better to get out of the sprawl, away from the maddening crowd, to some of the less well known and yet still very beautiful places that NQ has to offer.

I've been to NQ on three occassions, averaging about 10 days each time. The first time, in 1984. Cairns was pretty small and PD was just a fishing village.
There was just the train to Kuranda, no Skyway. What a difference in 2002 when I last visited. Cairns has practically extended all the way down to Gordonvale. Long boulevards with kilometers of hotels/motels/gas stations/McDonalds etc. I have no doubt there are non-chain alternatives for eating and sleeping. However the pletora of chain establishments would hardly make anyone think "wow, what a different and exotic place this is". More like: "I flew all the way over here for this???"