"Lizard Island Day Tour" an event to remember !!!!
Jan 7th, 2006, 11:54 PM
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"Lizard Island Day Tour" an event to remember !!!!
We decided on the day tour to Lizard Island with daintree air charter as well as a day to one of the reefs off of PD.
The Lizard Island day was packed with excitement from beginning to end.
We had a group of just 8 plus the pilot.
We stayed at the Sheraton in PD so had a very early pick up(06.30 am) The driver had us on the door step of daintree air in Cairns by 07.30. We were in the air at 10 to 8.
The flight goes directly over PD onto the Daintree River, New Beach and Cape Tribulation. It seemed as though we could reach out and touch the rainforest, the views of the rainforest meeting the ocean were spectacular.
We then flew over Cookstown (an old gold miners town ) to an amazing landscape with thousands of huge white and orange sand dunes. The aborigines use the sand for their painting (not sure how ) from the sand dunes the airplane flew along a very long beach where we were told to look out for crocodiles. We spotted two crocodiles and numerous turtles and manta rays in the shallow water. We then flew over a couple of small reefs before landing at Lizard Island well before 9am.
During the walk from the airplane to the beach the guide stopped to show us many interesting, unusual, and edible plants, a huge nest of pheasants, several large monitor Lizards and a group of very large crabs with burrows under the mangroves.
My husband is a bird freak and was surprised to see the number and variety of birds he was able to photograph. We were not told any thing about the birds before the tour and were sorry we did not bring gear appropriate for photographing the birds properly in their natural environment. We did however have our small digital with which we were able to photograph egrets, large king fishers diving for fish, bar shouldered doves, sun birds, Torres Strait pigeons, whistling ducks but the highlight of the days pics was a huge black and white sea eagle.
We arrived on the beach well before 10 and spent the rest of the day snorkeling over the gorgeous reefs. We swam with turtles, spent 30 minutes watching an octopus march through the coral, spotted large rays and an endless array of colorful fish. Greg the pilot swam with us to a place where he pointed out a family of piper fish (cousins to the sea horse). We spent 20 minutes just floating a top these tiny creatures admiring their house until the experience was interrupted by a pretty large trigger fish searching for some thing in the broken coral. Greg waved us away, he explained these critters do become a little agro while feeding.
Our lunch was very good with salads, chicken breast, hot bread, a box full of fresh mangoes, off Greg’s tree, yogurts, chocolate coffee cakes and a bottle of white wine to help celebrate my birthday.
The return flight to Cairns was via the outer barrier reef. The waves rolling in from the open ocean were breaking up over the barrier forming a huge line of surf. This really has to be seen to be appreciated.
As we neared Cairns we flew directly across Agincourt reef where we had spent the previous day.
The day with daintree air was for us a once in a life time adventure.
We can not recommend them highly enough.
Thank you to the all for the information we were able to extract from this forum.
The Lizard Island day was packed with excitement from beginning to end.
We had a group of just 8 plus the pilot.
We stayed at the Sheraton in PD so had a very early pick up(06.30 am) The driver had us on the door step of daintree air in Cairns by 07.30. We were in the air at 10 to 8.
The flight goes directly over PD onto the Daintree River, New Beach and Cape Tribulation. It seemed as though we could reach out and touch the rainforest, the views of the rainforest meeting the ocean were spectacular.
We then flew over Cookstown (an old gold miners town ) to an amazing landscape with thousands of huge white and orange sand dunes. The aborigines use the sand for their painting (not sure how ) from the sand dunes the airplane flew along a very long beach where we were told to look out for crocodiles. We spotted two crocodiles and numerous turtles and manta rays in the shallow water. We then flew over a couple of small reefs before landing at Lizard Island well before 9am.
During the walk from the airplane to the beach the guide stopped to show us many interesting, unusual, and edible plants, a huge nest of pheasants, several large monitor Lizards and a group of very large crabs with burrows under the mangroves.
My husband is a bird freak and was surprised to see the number and variety of birds he was able to photograph. We were not told any thing about the birds before the tour and were sorry we did not bring gear appropriate for photographing the birds properly in their natural environment. We did however have our small digital with which we were able to photograph egrets, large king fishers diving for fish, bar shouldered doves, sun birds, Torres Strait pigeons, whistling ducks but the highlight of the days pics was a huge black and white sea eagle.
We arrived on the beach well before 10 and spent the rest of the day snorkeling over the gorgeous reefs. We swam with turtles, spent 30 minutes watching an octopus march through the coral, spotted large rays and an endless array of colorful fish. Greg the pilot swam with us to a place where he pointed out a family of piper fish (cousins to the sea horse). We spent 20 minutes just floating a top these tiny creatures admiring their house until the experience was interrupted by a pretty large trigger fish searching for some thing in the broken coral. Greg waved us away, he explained these critters do become a little agro while feeding.
Our lunch was very good with salads, chicken breast, hot bread, a box full of fresh mangoes, off Greg’s tree, yogurts, chocolate coffee cakes and a bottle of white wine to help celebrate my birthday.
The return flight to Cairns was via the outer barrier reef. The waves rolling in from the open ocean were breaking up over the barrier forming a huge line of surf. This really has to be seen to be appreciated.
As we neared Cairns we flew directly across Agincourt reef where we had spent the previous day.
The day with daintree air was for us a once in a life time adventure.
We can not recommend them highly enough.
Thank you to the all for the information we were able to extract from this forum.
Jan 10th, 2006, 12:57 PM
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Thank you for your Lizard island day report photopro. We are planning an air tour across Australia with daintree air services in May this year.
Lizard Island will definitely be on the itinerary after reading your report. They told us not to finalize the tour plans until the wet season is over as there is always a chance of some destinations being affected by heavy rains and storms during this time.
Did you see any effect of the wet season during your flight with them ??
Thanks.
Jan 11th, 2006, 12:48 PM
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No 54fun, No real effects.
Apparently substantial rain had fallen during the nights in the mountains.
The flight to Lizard took us through the daintree valley and over cape tribulation where we could see some rather large waterfalls on the sides of the mountains.
The rainforest it self is huge.
Seems as though they have lots of clouds over the mountains most of the time which I imagine is natural for rainforest.
Cairns and PD were pretty much clear all the time we were there except for a few clouds late in the afternoons.
We were told the rainy season was late this year, December was the dryest on record. In saying that the whole area was lush and green,much different than other parts of the country.
Apparently substantial rain had fallen during the nights in the mountains.
The flight to Lizard took us through the daintree valley and over cape tribulation where we could see some rather large waterfalls on the sides of the mountains.
The rainforest it self is huge.
Seems as though they have lots of clouds over the mountains most of the time which I imagine is natural for rainforest.
Cairns and PD were pretty much clear all the time we were there except for a few clouds late in the afternoons.
We were told the rainy season was late this year, December was the dryest on record. In saying that the whole area was lush and green,much different than other parts of the country.
Jan 11th, 2006, 01:56 PM
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photopro08; Can you give me the web site for this tour/company? We will be in Oz in November and staying in either Palm Cove or Cairns (haven't found a hotel yet) for 4-5 days. This sounds like something I'd like to do-a unique axperience.
Jan 12th, 2006, 02:05 AM
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Hi Susiesan . We also have been out with daintree air, the reef, the flying, the company, AWSOME !!!!
you will find their very informitive site at www.daintreeair.com.au
Remember most web sites in Australia end with au after the com.
Good luck !!!!!
you will find their very informitive site at www.daintreeair.com.au
Remember most web sites in Australia end with au after the com.
Good luck !!!!!
Jan 13th, 2006, 04:28 PM
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Susiesan, you’r right, the day with Daintree air is just that a very unique experience. The reef/marine life was by far the best we have experienced.
The whole day was just perfect.
I see you have the web site.
Have a great time !!
The whole day was just perfect.
I see you have the web site.
Have a great time !!
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