KC

Hi There! <BR> <BR>This forum was such a tremendous help to me when I was planning our trip that I thought I would return the favour. <BR> <BR>We spent one week in Sydney and one week in Port Douglas. If you have any questions, please feel free to post a message. <BR> <BR>We were very money-conscious when we were planning, so we stayed in top-star hostels which were great (we had our own private room). As far as the activities, we did a lot and enjoyed every minute of it. <BR> <BR>I hope I can be of help to those of you who are planning to go. <BR> <BR>KC

Mary Ann

Hi KC <BR>We (2 couples) are leaving for OZ and NZ Friday, the 3rd. We are spending 5 nights in Sydney and 4 in the great barrier reef area. Did you go to the Blue Mountains? Any thoughts? Also at the reef area, did you visit Kuranda? We are spending a day in the Rainforest/Outback on a 4WD tour, and doing a snorkel trip with Posiedon. Our last day is open for Port Douglas and or time in Kuranda or 1/2 day to Green Island. We are staying in Palm Cove. Any thoughts? Thanks for your help.

WMR

Where did you stay in Port Douglas? I'm planning a July/Agust trip and am looking for suggestions. Thanks

KC

We did not go to the Blue Mountains when we stayed in Sydney so I can't comment on that, but we did go to Kuranda when we were in Pt. Douglas. We went with Reef & Rainforest Connections. The day started out at the Rainforest Habitat. We had "Breakfast with the Birds" and then a 1 hour tour of the habitat. I highly recommend this. The birds are so tame and very, very colourful and friendly. The tour was good as well, but 1 hour wasn't nearly enough time. After the habitat, we went to Kuranda (with a 10 minute stop at the Opal Mine). We took the cable car up and the train back down. The experience was awesome. The views and birds we saw in the cable car were great (lots of cockatoos in the rainforest canopy). In Kuranda, please realize that the main street where the shops are, isn't the "Kuranda Markets" that you go there to visit. When we went, we thought the main street was the market, but at the very end, you turn a corner and there are plenty of markets which are the original markets. We did buy most of our souvenirs on the main street, though! All in all, I highly recommend this trip. It is something that you can't experience anywhere else. <BR> <BR>As for the GBR, Poseidon was our first choice, but they were booked for the day we wanted to go, so we went with Calypso. It is family-run and they take small groups only (like Poseidon). We had a fantastic time with them. I think that if you go in small groups and you get to visit a few different sites on the reef, you really can't go wrong. <BR> <BR>For the rainforest, we did a 4WD tour with Deluxe Safaris. It was great also. There were only four of us in the group plus our guide, so it was very personal. We went to Mossman Gorge, Cape Tribulation and Daintree Rainforest. The tour included a Daintree River Cruise, morning and afternoon tea, lunch and a swim. <BR> <BR>While in Port Douglas, we stayed at Port o' Call Lodge. It was great. Please keep in mind that we were only there for dinner and sleeping-we were either at the beach or "on tour" all day, every day!! The food at the bistro is excellent. The locals go there for dinner because of the value. The rooms are very clean and quite large. They have a lagoon-style saltwater pool, which we frequented everyday! The location is perfect-3 minutes to the beach and 10 minutes to Macrossan Street (the main strip). I would definitely stay there again.

Marcia

How do you find the top-star hostels. Are there directories of them?

KC

I found the hostels at the following address: <BR> <BR>http://www.yha.org.au/ <BR> <BR>They give a star rating to each hostel. This web site is very informative and I relied on it heavily. <BR> <BR>Good luck! I wish I was going again!!

Howard

We'll be on the gbr in April, and I'm checking out different dive companies. Tell me about Calypso and Poseidon. We're looking for companies that take small groups out to the reef; so far the smallest we've found take 25-30, which we consider large (TUSA, Deep Sea Divers Den). Thanks for any suggestions. <BR>Howard