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Alternatives to boat trips in Cairns, for snorkeling?

choochoo — Thu, 21 May 2009 09:59:17 -0800

Alternatives to boat trips in Cairns? We are going to Australia next week and heading up to Cairns to check out the Great Barrier Reef. Or, at least, for my husband to spend time at the Great Barrier Reef. This is my problem: Although I don't dive, I would love to snorkel...BUT I have a real problem with motion sickness.

Dramamine in the past has helped for maybe ONE hour and then faded away. The boat trips from Cairns out to the GBR usually are all-day trips so if I get sick I'm hosed and am stuck on the boat all day.

Aussies or anyone else who's been to Cairns, is there anywhere I can go where I can get some decent snorkeling in without having to take a boat all the way out to the GBR and risk being stuck all day seasick? Has anyone been to Whitsunday Islands, and if so, can you go snorkeling there without boating all the way out? Are there any similar options closer to Cairns?

Suggestions to help with motion sickness are also welcome (if I do decide to do the boat trip, I'll probably take Dramamine and wear motion sickness wrist bands, which have helped me in the past--please do not tell me they only work via placebo effect, I need all the positive thinking I can get!).

Thanks everyone!

What can you tell me about Cairns?

zardoz — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:50:36 -0800

The wife and I are finally going on our honeymoon, and we've finally decided on a place: Cairns, Austrailia. We'll be there in March, roughly the 10th til the 16th. What can we expect? What can you recommend? I've done some research and have a good overview of what we can do. Some plans and questions:

1) Train ride and gondola ride to Kuranda.
2) Snorkeling at Green Island and/or the Great Barrier Reef.
*due to an ear condition (can't equalize), I can't really scuba dive, but are there any outfits that have full helmet scuba equipment? Also, what about taking a large sailboat with a group out to the Reef?
3) How are the beaches in Port Douglas? Best beaches?
4) How's the Daintree rainforest?
5) Are local/shuttle buses convenient, or am I better off renting a car?
6) I want to try some "adrenaline" activities--whitewater rafting, jetboat rides, zip lines, etc.
7) I'm pronouncing the city "CARENZ". Does this sound silly to you Aussies?

We want this to be a pretty relaxing trip, so doing everything is not on the table. We voted against going to New Zealand, because it seemed like there was too much to do there, and just chilling out in a few places would be a bit of a waste. Cairns seems like a place with plenty to do, but not overwhelmigly so and quite chill.

Don't let me miss the boomerang exhibition!

antifuse — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:02:00 -0800

Help me not miss anything on my "once in a lifetime" trip through southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand! Ok... in just under a month, my new fiancee and I are leaving for a 6 week trip - we're moving back to Canada from Ireland and decided to take the long way home. Here's my itinerary:

Shanghai: 04/24-04/28
Siem Reap/Angkor Wat: 04/29-05/01 (Taking the bus there from Phnom Penh, and flying back)
Phnom Penh: 05/01 noon-05/03 noon
Phuket area: 05/03-05/11 (with roughly 4-5 days on Ko Phi Phi, and the rest travelling around the area)
Singapore: 05/11 noon-05/12 evening
Melbourne: 05/13 v.early-05/18 mid-morning
Sydney: 05/18-05/22 mid-morning
Townsville up to Cairns: 05/22-05/27(midnight) (Cairns because we are flying Cairns->Auckland->Queenstown)
Queenstown: 05/28-06/02 afternoon
Wellington: 06/02-06/05 evening
Los Angeles: 06/05 2pm-10pm

Now, here's my question. Given my itinerary, is there anything in my given destinations that is ABSOLUTELY not to be missed? We've already got some set things planned... obviously Angkor Wat, visiting the beach from The Beach when we're on Ko Phi Phi, Phillip Island when we're in Melbourne, some sort of boat tour on the barrier reef, the Franz Josef Glacier when we're in Queenstown, but I want to make sure I don't get home from this amazing trip, only to have somebody say "OMG, you didn't visit the flying trapeze museum in Shanghai? It is AMAZING!"

Some background for the types of things we're looking for: amazing museums, architecture, interaction with locals (moreso in Asia than Aus/NZ), beautiful natural areas with interesting wildlife (more like zoos than jungle hikes, though)

Things we're not interested in: jungle hikes (fiancee is afraid of snakes... deathly afraid... so much so that we're not allowed to go to Fraser Island)

I know that this is going to be a jam packed trip (we tried to arrange travel to give as much time in the places we're most interested in), but I'd hate to miss something absolutely amazing just because we were rushing, ya know?

Also, any tips for the trip in general would be well received, but I'm more interested in sights. And yes, we're already well sorted with our vaccinations/disease prevention plan. I feel like a pincushion!

Help me find a vaguely-described book.

casconed — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 17:11:50 -0800

I read a book when I was 12 or 13 about a boy who may have been living in Wales. The only things I remember about the book are that it involved aliens, cairns (as grave markers?) and that it scared the heck out of me. Does this ring any bells with anyone?