I've just booked a little trip for me and my partner from Wednesday to Saturday this week.

I'm staying here and hiring a car - http://www.mangolagoon.com.au/index.htm

Has anyone been up there before? Anything you would recommend doing?? Restaurants, activities?

Have some mangoes and swim in the lagoon.

:P tool

yer, ive been to palm cove (grew up in cairns)

its ok, not really that flash:

definately worth going for a drive up to port douglas and maybe explore the tableands via the rex range if you have time (and enjoy driving)

worth a trip out on the reef

maybe up to cape trib if you have time

shame its a bit cool (not as bad as brissy, but still cool) atm, coz theres lots of nice swimming holes around as well

It can't be as cold as Sydney! Thanks for the tips :) Might check out Port Douglas.

My mum used to work at the Novotel palm cove, lived a couple of beaches down from there at Trinity Beach.

I've been back up there recently and Palm Cove is still really nice. I agree with spook, hire a nice car (convertible for extra win) and take the awesome drive along the coast up to port douglas on a Sunday so your missus can have a wander through the markets (pretty decent, on every sunday) for brownie points ++ on that front.

There's a pub right across the road that does good lunch/cold beer so you can leave her to spend your money on market crap while you get pisst.

I grew up in Cairns too. The beaches are really kind of boring, because all of the waves break on the reef before they get to shore. I agree with pretty much everything Spook said, go out to the reef, check out Port Douglas, and maybe Kuranda Village too.

I've been to Palm Cove plenty of times, but never the resort, but I hear it's nice.

Thanks guys. Port Dogulas sounds good, I will probably go out to the Reef from there. Is there a particular company you would recommend, I've googled about 50 :(

I was up there last about 5 years ago, stayed with some friends who moved there about a year prior

nice enough spot, tried a few of the restaurants down the road and had some nice tuckers

I grew up in Palm Cove. Bit too touristy now but you get that ;)

Definitely go do the reef thing, snorkeling is pretty good, but diving is that little bit better ;)

Heaps of companies offering dive and snorkel trips up there.

You definitely want to do the drive to Port Douglas and probably up the Kuranda range as well and check out the Atherton Tablelands some. Heaps to do up there, just a case of how much time you have.

Is there a particular company you would recommend, I've googled about 50 :(

The best commercial mob I've gone out to the reef with was Passions of Paradise. The boat is a fair bit smaller than the ones that Great Adventures or Quicksilver Cruises use, so they can get in a bit closer to certain reefs without damaging the coral. My ex's family knew the people who own it, and I didn't actually have to pay, so I have no idea how cheap or expensive they are. I had a great time though.

EDIT: Here's their site:
http://www.passions.com.au/

last edited by Midda at 17:20:08 23/Jun/08

I've been out to Low Isles off Port Douglas with this mob: http://www.sailawayportdouglas.com/. Was a good day - only a dozen or so people on the boat (that was its capacity), and no motor noise at all. Got quite rough on the way back yet no-one chucked. The snorkeling was great too - about half a dozen large turtles swimming around in the shallows along with all the usual reef life.

This was in September, so the weather wasn't stinking hot (the locals were all complaining about how cold it was) yet the water was plenty warm enough for swimming.

last edited by cerb at 22:14:31 23/Jun/08

My mum used to work at the Novotel palm cove, lived a couple of beaches down from there at Trinity Beach.

Haha nice, my dad used to work at Novotel palm cove and I lived at Trinity Beach. I went to Trinity Beach State Primary and switched to Holy Cross but this was about 12 years ago. Back then fishing off Palm Cove Jetty was awesome but I haven't been back since.

make sure you surface in time and wave your arms madly around!
either that or hold your breath as long as you can and get some $$ off ACA or TT!!

chalk me up as another cairns boy, (edge hill). palm cove is nice.. good views of the coast heading back towards town. however s***ty beach, full of tourists. go check out Ellis Beach on the way to Port Douglas.. very beautiful.

Also, I've been on great adventures a few times. its not bad. but I agree finding a smaller company that can get closer to reefs is amazing.

Definitely go up to Kuranda, interesting place, was like the hippy part of town. on that note don't go to Machans Beach (bogans).

Haha nice, my dad used to work at Novotel palm cove and I lived at Trinity Beach. I went to Trinity Beach State Primary and switched to Holy Cross but this was about 12 years ago. Back then fishing off Palm Cove Jetty was awesome but I haven't been back since.

What grade were you when you left? I left after grade 6 about 11 years ago.

cairns state high reprezent (grad class of 90)

head up to cape york and hunt some pigs you pack of women

last edited by casa at 09:11:00 24/Jun/08

cshs class of 2004! god spook your old. where u there when that block burnt down or was that after your time?

Spook is just a few years shy of that terrible CSHS bus crash on the Gillies..

Woree class of 93 here. *cringe*

cairns state high reprezent (grad class of 90)

LOL I STARTED school in 1990!
Old Karnts!

Spook is just a few years shy of that terrible CSHS bus crash on the Gillies..

i think i was grade 9 when that happened

knew some of the peeps that died

and n block burnt down after i left i think

and matty, you maybe young by age, but as an accountant i consider you old and boring long before your time

Gordonvale State High School. Yeah, go on, call me a bogan. At least it's not Woree. Finished 2003.

I heard about that bus crash on the Gillies, but by the time I was in high school, it was one of those things that people just said they heard about, but nobody ever said for certain that it had actually happened. Pretty terrible.

That was a big year for news. Big gas explosion happened that year too..

Also, in the current era, Any School > Woree.

It was in decline when I was there. Now it's total s***e.

That was a big year for news. Big gas explosion happened that year too..

that was cool, i was wandering around the city when that gas tank at the train station went boom

and matty, you maybe young by age, but as an accountant i consider you old and boring long before your time

You have a wife and a child, you = old.
And HEY I have an IT degree too, so not only am I a boring accountant, im a NERDY boring account! And to you its MR nerdy boring accountant

What grade were you when you left? I left after grade 6 about 11 years ago.

Actually would have been 13 years ago I was in grade 3 when I left Trinity Beach and don't remember anyone but small world, small world.

lol, ah primary school. I went to cairns central state school before they closed it down and bulldozed it to make the oasis resort 0_o. mind you that was grade 2 in 1994. cairns north also got closed down a couple years ago.

yes ive been to palm cove, ive even seen the hotel your staying at.

its a really funky hotel. Everything is laid out feng shui styles. Would of been better had they not sold off their management rights as they used to pick people up from the airport either in a 67 mustang convertible or an M Class AMG Merc.

Hotel is still good, only about 4 years old. Its a short walk down to the beach so its away from all the noise.

Good choice :D

cairns?! pfft i grew up in airlie :)

Would of been better had they not sold off their management rights as they used to pick people up from the airport either in a 67 mustang convertible or an M Class AMG Merc.

Ah yes, I do remember seeing all of those cars parked at the front of the resort, very nice to look at.

Tim,

I just got back from my honeymoon which was at Port Douglas and a couple of years ago I spent a week at a resort at Palm Cove. Prot Douglas reminds me of Noosa, its quiet one main shopping area and thats about it. I thought the beach was much nicer at Palm Cove but more choice in terms of restaurants and prices at Port Douglas. Kuranda is great, maybe take the sky rail over from Cairns and walk through the rain forest then the markets at Kuranda then come back via the Sky Rail again.

Some advice I'd really give you is that low isles isn't that great for snorkeling, especially if its low tide during the day. Green Island is really nice and has a long jetti so no shuttle boats near the beach or shallows, plus if you get sick of snorkeling it has a few shops including ice cream and restaurants and a decent size for a walk around the island. But definetly the best thing to do is to go to the deeper reef pontoons or somewhere without shuttle boats. What I found was that anywhere that required little shuttle boats between an island and the boat you came out on, churned up sand caused incredibly poor visibility, I almost ran into coral a number of times as a result.

Crododile crusies on the Daintree River are also pretty dull, although educational, because crocs move so damned little in the wild.

I reckon it would still be a buzz to see wild crocs though.

There aren't really that many wild crocs to be seen in Cairns. You need to go to Weipa for that.

Thing is though fpot that as we learnt on the show, there is 1 male croc and up to 4 fems for every 5-6 KM of river and all the cruises only run for about 3km so you pretty much get to see 1 big dude, a couple of mid size if you're lucky and a bunch of tiny ones under a foot in size.