Going to Aussie land, need some advise

[atcguy]

I worked on reef-jet out of airlie beach for a bit. 2 hours by high powered jet boast/ferry/ So reefs are not close to land. Live aboard if I were to do it again. you would also go to the coral sea . further off the coast equals better diving less impact from tourists than closer sites.

[Delphinus]

If you haven't seen this thread over at RC, give it a look. I guarantee after seeing these pictures you won't pass over going on a dive trip there.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=980833

It took me a solid hour to go through all 15 pages and that was averaging 2 to 5 seconds per photo. This guy is a prolific photog But so much the better for crack, er, reef addicts like us.

[Willito]

Man!! That guy's living the live...if he wasn't a student.

Thanks everyone for the great info. I had no idea the reef was that far off shore. I guess the northeast coast is where the reef is most accessible, so I'll plan my trip there. If snorkling was my only option, what would you recommend? A day trip out or a live-aboard? Can you explain what a live-aboard is and how much would I be looking at?

There seems to be way too many things to do/see on one visit, we will have a tough time deciding. I was browsing online and came across a load of tour companies, each varying in location, duration, price etc. My dilema is, are they worth the money and time? Has anyone been on one, what did you think of it?

Also, driving, did anyone rent a car while they were there?

[Delphinus]

Well, not to further complicate things for you, but I hear the snorkeling off the shore is better on the west coast (ie. Perth area). I've never been so I can't speak from experience, but from what I'm told, the west coast is not mountainous so there's no rain run off like there is on the east coast (which makes the water brownish). (Unfortunately this is where places like Samoa, Fiji, Tahiti, Vanuatu, etc. have the "edge" - those places you CAN just snorkel off the beach and see South Pacific reef. It's just that generally speaking you pay dearly for that extra.) But the west coast is definitely a hard thing to fit in, I would think, it's like spending 3 weeks in Canada and planning on seeing Halifax AND Vancouver.

Anyhow, back to the GBR.

I'm not a diver (no certification - I want to get it "some day" but I don't yet have it), but the dive companies can still take you out to areas where you can snorkel. The place I used (I used them twice), one was out the "Low Isles" (sadly that's basically the spot where Steve Irwin met his match), and the other was just to some random reef spots. Both trips you could either dive, or snorkel. In fact the outer reefs trip took us to 3 different locations, and you could either dive for real (if you had your certification), dive with an instructor (even if you've never dived before - they give you a cursory lesson and you're in a group of no more than 4 people to an individual instructor and you don't go deeper than about 15 feet), or you could snorkel. I ended up trying the dive thing once, then snorkeled at the next, and then decided I would dive again on the third outing. The water was 26 degrees, to a Canadian this might have been a nice warm bath. But they give you wetsuits if you want (to the Aussies it was cold).

Anyhow the lack of depth on the rudimentary dive isn't really an issue because most of the most colourful stuff is up there right at the surface anyhow.

A liveaboard dive trip simply means they take you out there on the boat ... and you stay out there for a couple of days. Meals and sleeping is all on the boat. It'd probably be a wicked cool adventure and I have some friends who just did a few days sail trip around the Whitsundays (oh. Right. The Whitsundays. Add that too to the list of "places I have to go see"). They weren't divers either (no certifications) but were able to do some diving on the GBR on this trip.

So generally speaking, even if don't dive, it's not a showstopper, it just means you can't go out and do some of the more advanced things offered.

I think the company I used was "Quicksilver". I don't know if they still exist, I was there in 2001 and I guess that was a long time ago now.

.. Oh, Ok, I see they still operate. Here's their website. I see that the two trips I did with them are still offered: Low Isles and Agincourt Reef. Here's their website: http://www.quicksilver-cruises.com




(Oh man, looking at the pictures on their website, I sooooo want to go again. Sigh, set up a new tank, or go traveling??? What to do, what to do..)

... Anyhow, we did rent a car for the time we were in Queensland. When I was in NSW, I just kinda stole one of my sisters family's cars since we were crashing at their place anyhow. Right-hand driving isn't too bad, it doesn't take that long to get used to, the pedals are the same and if you have a stick shift, it's still mapped out the same and everything. The biggest thing I found was that some brands of cars switch the turn signals and window wiper levers (but not all makers, so it's inconsistent). I found I was *constantly* turning on the wipers everytime I went to do a turn... Oh, and roundabouts. They're pretty big on roundabouts down there (much like any British-ish place, I guess). The only real scary moment I ever had was when I was on a bus coming back from Port Douglas back down to Cairns (the Quicksilver company sends a bus to pick you from where you're staying), there was a moment where we rounded a bend on the highway and there was a a car on the wrong side of the highway coming up towards us. The driver slammed on the brakes and the bus fishtailed a bit, but other than a lot of people needing new shorts, an incident was averted.

Anyhow I found a trick to help you remember what side to be on, is that, if you're driving, you're on the side of the car that should be nearest the centre of the road.

Cairns also has other things to do, there's Tjapukai (an Aborginal cultural centre), there's a steam train and a gondola that goes up into the mountains (the tropical rainforest there is really worth seeing, it's like everything you ever imagined what a jungle looks like.. except it's a real jungle, not your imagination). Check it out, they offer package deals to do the train, gondola, and Tjapukai as a day trip: http://www.skyrail.com.au/

Sorry for the long winded reply. I guess I could go on and on about this place. As far as cities go, Cairns may as well be Okotoks or Airdrie, or Brooks, or maybe Red Deer. (I'm not knocking those cities, but I guess what I'm saying it's not a sophisticated large urban centre, it's very much a small town. But it just happens to be in the tropics and near to perhaps the most awesome reef there ever was, sooooooo.... really, how can you go wrong?? )

[Willito]

Westcoast seems intriguing, maybe next time.
Getting certified is something I am sure is a must do after returning from a trip like this, I got the details just not the time right now. That's good to hear that snorkling is still a consulation option but I will definately try diving wherever possible. Did you book with Quicksilver in advance or while you were there? By the way, thank you for spending your time sharing your experience, much appreciate.

[Delphinus]

We did book in advance. Seems to me there are plenty of operators so you could probably find something when you're there too, but I was paranoid that with only 1 week to work with that I was going to find that they were all booked or something. I had heard about this Quicksilver through ANZA travel, we booked our flights from Sydney to Cairns through ANZA and booked the two boat trips through them.

Anyhow that might be worth looking into, they're in Kensington, they might have info/brochures on other companies too. I do sort of regret not having done a liveaboard trip, although my wife wasn't too keen on that and we were sort of on a shoestring budget, so I guess it wasn't really an option, but boy do I want to go spend a few days out on the reef. I guess one ought probably think about getting their dive ticket done first though.. Ok, I think I know what my 2008 New Years Resolution is. Anyone want to come take diving lessons with me??

I can't seem to find a webpage for ANZA but here's something I did find for them: http://www.profilecanada.com/company...Ltd_Calgary_AB

[Delphinus]

Just had a thought ... sorry for all the long posts btw ... If you do go, maybe look around now and see if you can find an underwater housing for your digital camera. You'll probably be happier with the photos you'll get, compared to if you just use those disposable waterproof 35mm cameras. That's all I used (the 35mm cameras I mean) and the pictures are not bad but they don't compare to those taken by "real" cameras. Plus you have to wait to see how they turn out before you know how many pictures didn't turn out and so on.

[pinhead]

I have spent a lot of time in Australia. I originally went backpacking there for 8 months where I met my wife. We now go back every couple of years to visit her family so I have spent in excess of a year there.

If you have only 3 weeks what you do will depend on where you fly in and out. A couple of things to take in consideration is Australia is expensive, January is school holidays, it is a big place and it will be summer there so it could be hot.

There are certain things you can only see in Australia so you will have to prioritize and plan ahead. If you don't plan you may have troubles getting flights, accomodation and tours because of the school holidays.

If you are flying into Sydney, you will have to decide whether you want to go South or North after you are done there. South you have Canberra, Melbourne and Tasmania. If you are driving, It is about 900km and and 11 hours between Sydney and Melbourne. Melbourne reminds me quite a bit of an English city and Tasmania is more for people who want to hike and have a wilderness holiday. One thing that Melbourne does have is a colony of fairy penguins that that come back from feeding in the evening and go into their burrows.

My advice however would be to head North. Brisbane is about a 12 hour drive or about a $100 flight on Virgin Blue or Jetstar. If you do drive or bus it. there are all sorts of little towns along the way. My favorites are Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay. All throughout Australia, an option for accomodation is the Caravan Parks that will rent you a little cabin and RSL or Surf (Lifesaving) clubs will usually let you sign in as a guest and get a reasonably priced meal. Some of the larger ones have casinos and stage shows.

Just south of Brisbane is the Gold Coast which is sort of like the Miami of Australia. Retirees, theme parks, night clubs and tourists. You will be in peak season in January but if you want to play in the surf this is the place to do it.
I personally find the beaches south of Surfers Paradise to be less crowded and is possible to walk along the beach all the way from about Burleigh Heads into Surfers Paradise. There are flights from Sydney into Coolangata which is the beginning of the Gold Coast. Around Brisbane are Stradbroke Island and Fraser Island. You can do a day trip to Fraser Island but it would be worth staying here if you could afford it. It is a big sand island covered in lush vegetation. No snorkeling yet but you might see Dingoes along the beach and some Manta Rays in the ocean.

About 4 hours north of Brisbane is the town of Bundaberg. This is the southern limit of the reef. I have walked along the seashore here and seen some extremely colourful zoos. You can take a tour here and snorkel at Lady Musgrave Island. The snorkelling here is surprisingly good and I actually prefer it than around Cairns because you get out and walk around looking at the corals in the surrounding tidepools. The snorkeling in tropical Queensland is off of a boat or basically a sandbar unless you go to Green Island which will be very busy.

From here north you will come across, Mackay, Rockhampton, Airlie Beach, the Whitsunday Islands, Townsville and finally Cairns. All of them are interesting places to stop but its a long way up and you don't have a lot of time. If you can afford to fly up to Cairns book it soon and expect to pay a lot for the flights and accomodation. The one thing you can see here is the unspoiled tropical rainforest in Cape Tribulation and the reef.


Our dollar buys a lot right now but things are very expensive especially food in Sydney. Do your research, book flights and hotel rooms soon and any tours you want to do in Cairns a week ahead of time.

I'd be envious but we will be back in August when it will be cooler and not quite as crowded with schoolchildren