Questions and Comments for Cairns

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Planing A trip To Cairns, Somtime Between Late July & Late November 2012 For 10 Days.
Would Be Helpful To Hear From Someone Who Has Stayed At The WORLDMARK CAIRNS, Recently.

We stayed there about 18 months ago, and possibly going there again mid this year.

What would you like to know?

My husband and I are thinking of a trip to Sydney and Cairns in late August or early September, has anyone been there recently and could give some tips.

Was just in Cairns last week, a lovely place to visit. We went to to Kuranda a couple times for the Rainforestation site, as well as the Butterfly place & markets. Also got to the Daintree Discovery Centre, and did a Bruce Belcher crocodile cruise.

There's lots to do there, would next time plan to visit Mossman Gorge & go up to the Cape Tribulation area.

Didn't get to the reef this time, but have been there previously, will go again another time.

My wife and I are planning a trip to Sydney and Cairns/Port Douglas for next year in the middle of October. We were thinking of spending 3 nights in Sydney and 5 nights in Cairns/Port Douglas. Would it be better to stay at Sydney first or Cairns/Port Douglas? I have read that the hurricanes can be a problem in late October in Cairns, so I was wondering if we should visit there first.

Also, we are considering either Cairns or Port Douglas resorts. Has anyone stayed at either of these resorts and if so, do you recommend one over the other? We plan to visit the Great Reef,and the Train and Skyrail Tour to Kuranda. Which resort would be most accessible to these attractions?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

A few days either way wouldn't make much difference to the weather, I would base your sequence more on flight & accommodation availability.

We have stayed at Cairns, and love it there. It is about 5-10km out of town, so a car is preferable, and is very handy to the Great Barrier Reef (Green Island, approx 45 ferry trip from Cairns port). Kuranda is about a 25-30 drive away (north-west).

We went to the Port Douglas area, and the resort looks great from the outside, but we haven't stayed there yet. It's about a 1 hour drive north of Cairns, and is better suited to looking around that area (Daintree, Port Douglas etc), and not to visit Cairns, although the drive is very nice.

The Great Barrier Reef (www.greatbarrierreef.org) spans about 3000km in length, there is a reef area off Port Douglas, but I don't know any details.

Hope that helps.

Just got home from Sydney and Port Douglas! We enjoyed the resort, however, being a Worldmark owner we have gotten used to our balcony time - and relativly few have a balcony or patio. We had a two bedroom that was HUGE, we overlooked the parking lot - although from the windows we could see tropical trees which was nice. We grabbed our beverage and sat by the pool for our happy hour instead, which is nice - but bring bug spray at dusk! The restaurant was good and had some resonable specials each day/night. Port Douglas closes up at 6pm (shops) where Cairns goes into the night for shopping and nightlife.
We also stayed at Sydney - a bit confusing with all the choices of units, we stayed two times..and here to tell you there is not ONE particle of difference between a Studio and a Studio Deluxe High floor...EXCEPT you are on a higher floor - same size same everything else, the reservation agent thought it would be larger. Its a hotel and suited us fine. Very centrally located.

Sydney: We were there October 24-November 1 in a one bedroom.
The unit was not up to the standard of North American Worldmarks. The kitchen was very limited, rather like one you would find in a cheap motel. It had an electric range with two small elements, a microwave and a small fridge. No dishwasher. There was a communal washer/dryer on some of the floors. However, it is very centrally located and you could walk to just about anywhere in the downtown area. There is a convenience store next door and a grocery store (Coles) a couple of blocks away. There is a free shuttle bus which runs until about 3pm which will take you down to Circular Quay, for example. There is a train station(Museum) a block away. Sydney is a very liveable exciting city.
Cairns: We stayed there for one week. Worldmark has a few units in the Trinity Links resort, which is a very attractive resort. It is a little out of the way in a suburb of Cairns, but we had a rental car, which we recommend for the area. The unit we had had all the amenities we have come to expect in N. America. The resort is very nice, and the pool is beautiful. Cairns is an interesting place, and we took several tours around North Queensland. There is plenty to do. We then went out to the Reef on a live-aboard for three nights and four days. We went with the Cairns Dive Centre, which was awesome. We snorkeled and I did some scuba but I am a bit rusty, so did not do much diving. You can see a huge amount snorkeling. The dive boat was well organized and they were very strong on the safety aspect. We wore stinger suits but neither of us were stung during the time we were in the water, two or three times a day. We would certainly recommend Cairns Dive Centre.