Cairns mummies - please help me!

[Teley]

We are contemplating a holiday in Cairns sometime during the summer holidays - could any of the mums on here let us know what some good places to go to are?
I am also unsure, can you actually swim at the beach in Cairns?

Thank you so much to anyone who answers! One little side note also - we don't have a car.

[mum3iwish]

Hi Avany

I live in Mossman which is about 45mins drive north of Cairns (just near port douglas)
Swimming at the beaches, there is an esplanade in cairns itself which has a large pool and a park etc, but as for swimming at the beach you will need to go to the Northern Beaches, ie Palm Cove etc which is just on the northern outskirts of Cairns. there are bus tours etc that will take you to Port Douglas where you have 4mile beach.
Cairns and PD have boat tours to the outer reef and either low Isles from PD or Green Island from Cairns.
If you don't have a vehicle in and around cairns there is a bus service.

Hope this helps a bit
Lill

[Teley]

Hi Avany

I live in Mossman which is about 45mins drive north of Cairns (just near port douglas)
Swimming at the beaches, there is an esplanade in cairns itself which has a large pool and a park etc, but as for swimming at the beach you will need to go to the Northern Beaches, ie Palm Cove etc which is just on the northern outskirts of Cairns. there are bus tours etc that will take you to Port Douglas where you have 4mile beach.
Cairns and PD have boat tours to the outer reef and either low Isles from PD or Green Island from Cairns.
If you don't have a vehicle in and around cairns there is a bus service.

Hope this helps a bit
Lill

Thanks Lill, that certainly does help a lot! It's good to know you can swim in Cairns and won't get eaten by crocodiles (wait - you are saying that, right lol?)

I'm not sure if we are interested in boat tours as DS is only 4. I'm not sure how long they are and I would rather go back to the Barrier Reef again when he's much older so we can do the really cool stuff:yes:. He's really into different sorts of plants and habitats so I was thinking of taking him on that skyrail thingy with the gondolas? And the Aboriginal culture museum, is that any good? I also heard that Kuranda is an interesting place to visit.

I'm still a bit unsure about where we should stay if we end up going to Cairns.

[BOSS302WMOM]

The kuranda train is pretty good... it will take you up to Kuranda then you can explore all there is a fair bit to do with nature/ Aboriginal culture we were not interested in most of apart from the reptiles.

I am not sure about accommodation but with kids stay away from sea temple in Port Douglus we stayed there and it was horrid considering the price tag dirty rooms and not very family friendly family rooms.

[Teley]

The kuranda train is pretty good... it will take you up to Kuranda then you can explore all there is a fair bit to do with nature/ Aboriginal culture we were not interested in most of apart from the reptiles.

I am not sure about accommodation but with kids stay away from sea temple in Port Douglus we stayed there and it was horrid considering the price tag dirty rooms and not very family friendly family rooms.

I would assume the Kuranda train would be for older kids? I think mine would find it hard to sit on a train for that long, so I'd rather do it in a gondola!

Thanks for the advice! I am thinking a holiday park instead of a hotel? I'm still a bit iffy if it's a good idea with a child but on the photos it looks good (yeah, I know, photos can be problematic), and they look very family orientated but who knows? Guess you just have to take the risk hey.

[BOSS302WMOM]

my kids are 2 and 5 they loved it, it does get a little boring parts of the way(especially for the return) as its a long journey... My girls love trains though lol.

I have not stayed in a holiday park in a very long time my hubby is a city boy and prefers hotels with all the quirks. They have skyrail to that goes from Tjapakai(no clue how to spell it) to kuranda I am pretty sure if he likes learning about Aboriginal history. I have never been on it but my little brother has he was 5 though and not afraid of heights.

I loved Hartleys creek it has a boat ride and heaps of animals/plants and nature talks. Which holiday park are you planning on staying in? I know heaps of people who holiday in Cairns.

[hayleylea]

Im not from cairns but we went for a holiday there earlier in the year.

We did the kuranda train trip with a one year old and 3.5 year old and it was good. My 3.5 year old loved it...my 1 year old was ok too...she got a bit restless near the end but it was bearable. We did a package..so we went up on the train and come down on the sky rail...the kids were both great in the sky rail and it was lots of fun for them.

We went to Green island aswell - on the boat. It was quite good too, on green island we went on a glass bottom boat - the kids loved loved looking at the fish!!!

Hartleys crocodile adventure park was one of our faves. Me and DF enjoyed it and the kids had a good time too.

We went to lots of places - found it very interesting and heaps of fun. The esplanade swimming pool is great for kids and adults aswell!

Anyway theres photos on my website of our holiday and the places we went. Probably back on the second or third page. Somewhere there! have fun!

ETA we stayed at the coconut holiday resort - it was excellent - we hired a car for half our stay but the other half they we just used the courtesy buses. They can book your tours etc at the resort too and most will pick you up from the resort. Theres heaps of activities just at the resort - big jumping pillows for the kids, mini golf, pools, open air cinema once a week heaps of stuff we loved it!

[BazzasMum]

What do you want to do? Trinity Beach has lots of apartments, 5 min walk to the beach. Palm Cove also has holiday units but more upmarket (TB better for kids I think) or you can stay in town. Lots of backpacker resorts etc and that's who hangs out at the lagoon. Plenty of shopping if that's your thing, and restaurants.

Palm Cove zoo is awesome! Nice and shady, lots of different things to see. Most things have bus transfers, ask at hotel reception and they can organise it, but if you're going to be doing something nearly every day, I'd look at hiring a car for a few days - would cost about the same, then you have your freedom.

The tablelands have lots of lovely drives - wineries, waterfalls etc.

My DS1 is 4 and LOVES Kuranda train. He had a blast on Skyrail too. I suggest train up and Skyrail back, that way when the kids have had enough of walking around you can leave when you want. There's 2 trains up and 2 trains down and tired kids makes for a loooong wait!

In January it will more than likely be wet so be prepared for that. You can swim at the beach, but do it inside the nets. Make sure you wear rash suits so in the unlikely event you get stung by jellyfish (they trawl the nets twice a day and if they find any jellies, the nets are closed) it will only be arms or legs and not hurt as much. Again, don't swim at dusk or dawn and you won't have a problem with crocs or sharks, just like anywhere else near the ocean. Not trying to scare you.... honest!

Port Douglas markets are on every Sunday, nice and big and lots of crafts etc. Other markets vary depending on when you're coming.

Mareeba Wildlife park was fun too - twice the price of Palm Cove but has lions, tigers and bears, oh my! :D Not as much shade though, so gets hot walking around.

It's pretty awesome up here. Lots of different things to see and do, hope you come up and have a blast.

[mum3iwish]

Cairns coconut resort is great, stayed there 10yrs ago and its only gotten bigger with heaps of stuff for the kids, my son is always bugging me to stay there for the weekend (he was only 1 at the time) but its cheaper to drive back home to Mossman!!!

Northern Beaches are great, lots of markets round the place, Port Douglas markets on the sunday are great.

Kuranda up on the train and back on the skyrail, the waterfalls will be great that time of year due to all the rain.

Lots of packages for different tours.

[Teley]

Thanks all for the suggestions!