Australia: Cairns, the Daintree and the Great Barrier Reef

1. Day 1: Cairns to Port Douglas

   Cairns Airport up the Captain Cook Highway to Port Douglas

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Port Douglas
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Cairns Airport (CNS), landing by about 1 pm (the latest arrival is confirmed with your final itinerary). Your See Sight Tours guide meets you in the arrivals hall, and we drive north on the Captain Cook Highway, about an hour, where the road runs between rainforested ranges and the Coral Sea. If the light is good we stop at Rex Lookout for the view back down the coast. Port Douglas is a small town at the end of a sandy peninsula and your base for all four nights, so you unpack once. After check-in, walk Four Mile Beach with your guide in the late afternoon, then climb the short track up Flagstaff Hill to the lookout over the beach and the hills behind it. In the evening the group sits down to a welcome dinner in town, and your guide runs through the reef day: what to bring, how the stinger suits work and what the crew will ask about your swimming.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Cairns Airport (CNS)
   • Rex Lookout on the Captain Cook Highway
   • Four Mile Beach and the Flagstaff Hill lookout with your guide
   • Welcome dinner in Port Douglas

   Free time: The evening after dinner is yours: the hotel is within walking distance of Macrossan Street, the main street.

   Activity: About an hour on foot, on sand and a short, steady track up Flagstaff Hill. Land by about 1 pm to join the afternoon.

   

2. Day 2: A day on the outer reef

   Port Douglas by boat to the outer Great Barrier Reef and back

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Port Douglas
   Day 2 details

   Today is the reef. After breakfast we walk to the marina and board a full-day boat with a licensed Great Barrier Reef operator, chosen for small numbers on the reef and a marine biologist or reef educator on board. The run out to the outer reef takes about an hour and a half, and the crew pick two or three sites on the day to suit the wind and tide. You snorkel over hard and soft corals, giant clams and schools of reef fish, and green turtles are a common sight. Stinger suits, masks, fins and flotation vests are provided, and the crew lead a guided snorkel for anyone less sure in the water. Lunch is served on board between sites. The reef has been on the World Heritage list since 1981 and stretches more than 2,300 km along the Queensland coast; the talk on board explains how to look after it while you are in the water. We are back in Port Douglas by late afternoon, and the evening is free.

   Included

   • Full-day outer reef trip from Port Douglas with a licensed reef operator
   • Snorkel gear, stinger suit and flotation vest
   • Reef talk by a marine biologist or reef educator
   • The reef's Environmental Management Charge
   • Lunch on board

   Optional experiences

   • Introductory or certified scuba dives, booked and paid on board

   Easier option: Join the crew's guided snorkel with a flotation vest, or stay dry on board and watch from the deck between sites.

   More active option: An introductory scuba dive with an instructor, or certified dives if you hold a card, at extra cost.

   Free time: Evening free in Port Douglas

   Activity: If the operator cancels for wind or swell, the reef day moves to day 4 and the Kuranda day moves to day 2. Tell us about any medical conditions before you travel: dive and snorkel operators ask about them on board.

3. Day 3: Mossman Gorge, the Daintree and Cape Tribulation

   Port Douglas to Mossman Gorge, the Daintree River and Cape Tribulation, then back

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Port Douglas
   Day 3 details

   A day in the Wet Tropics of Queensland, World Heritage-listed since 1988. We leave at about 8 am for Mossman Gorge, about 25 minutes north, for the earliest Ngadiku Dreamtime Walk session we can book with the Mossman Gorge Centre, ideally ahead of the day-trip coaches from Cairns. A Kuku Yalanji guide welcomes the group with smoke, then leads along rainforest paths, past bark shelters, to the clear Mossman River, naming the plants used for food, medicine and tools along the way; the walk closes with tea and bread cooked the traditional way. Next comes a one-hour cruise on the Daintree River, looking for saltwater crocodiles on the mudbanks and kingfishers in the mangroves. The cable ferry carries us across, and the road climbs over the Alexandra Range, with a lookout over the river mouth, to the Marrdja boardwalk through mangroves and fan palms. Lunch is a sit-down meal at Cape Tribulation, then we walk the beach and the Kulki boardwalk, where the rainforest meets the sea, before driving back to Port Douglas by about 5:30 pm.

   Included

   • Ngadiku Dreamtime Walk at Mossman Gorge with a Kuku Yalanji guide, including the shuttle bus
   • One-hour Daintree River wildlife cruise
   • Daintree River cable ferry
   • Alexandra Range lookout and the Marrdja boardwalk
   • Sit-down lunch at Cape Tribulation
   • Cape Tribulation beach and the Kulki boardwalk

   Easier option: Skip the Marrdja boardwalk and wait in the shade at the lunch stop; every walk today is short and mostly flat.

   More active option: At Cape Tribulation, walk the Dubuji boardwalk loop through the lowland forest as well as Kulki and the beach.

   Free time: Evening free in Port Douglas

   Activity: About 3 km on foot in short sections, on rainforest paths and boardwalks. Do not swim in the river or the creeks: saltwater crocodiles live here.

   

4. Day 4: Kuranda by train and Skyrail

   Port Douglas to Freshwater station, the Kuranda Scenic Railway to Kuranda, the Skyrail down to Smithfield, then Port Douglas

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Port Douglas
   Day 4 details

   A morning in the rainforest above Cairns, then the afternoon is yours. We leave Port Douglas at about 8:30 am (the time is set by the train timetable) and drive about an hour south to Freshwater station to board the mid-morning Kuranda Scenic Railway. The line opened in 1891 and climbs from the coastal plain through 15 tunnels and over dozens of bridges to the mountain village of Kuranda. On the way it passes the Barron Gorge and its falls (a trickle late in the dry season, a torrent after heavy rain) and curves across the bridge at Stoney Creek Falls. In Kuranda there is time for the village markets, a short walk along Jumrum Creek and lunch at your own pace. Early in the afternoon we ride the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway down, 7.5 km over the canopy, stepping off at Red Peak for a boardwalk among the treetops. The van meets us at the bottom, and we are back in Port Douglas by about 3:30 pm, free until the farewell dinner.

   Included

   • Kuranda Scenic Railway from Freshwater to Kuranda, past the Barron Gorge
   • Time in Kuranda village and the markets
   • Skyrail Rainforest Cableway from Kuranda to Smithfield, with the Red Peak boardwalk
   • Farewell dinner in Port Douglas

   Easier option: Stay in your Skyrail cabin at Red Peak and ride straight down; Kuranda's village streets are flat and short.

   More active option: In Kuranda, walk the Jumrum Creek path and on to the river, or step off the Skyrail at its Barron Falls station as well, if the operator confirms the stop for groups.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Port Douglas from about 3:30 pm

   Activity: If the reef day was moved for weather, this day runs on day 2 instead. About 2 km on foot in short sections.

   

5. Day 5: Palm Cove and home

   Port Douglas to Palm Cove, then Cairns Airport

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 5 details

   A free morning in Port Douglas. Swim between the flags at Four Mile Beach while the lifeguards are on duty, hire a bicycle and ride the flat streets to the marina, or, if it is a Sunday, browse the market under the trees in Rex Smeal Park by the water. Check-out is mid-morning, and we drive back down the Captain Cook Highway with the Coral Sea on one side and the ranges on the other. We stop at Palm Cove, a small beach village where old paperbark trees shade the esplanade, for a last coffee by the sea. We reach Cairns Airport (CNS) by about 1 pm, so book domestic flights that leave after about 2:30 pm; for an international flight, book an evening departure or add a night in Cairns. If you are joining our Red Centre trip or flying on to Sydney, your guide checks your connection before saying goodbye, and we can book an extra night in Cairns or Palm Cove if your flight is the next day.

   Included

   • Stop at Palm Cove
   • Drop-off at Cairns Airport (CNS)

   Free time: Morning free in Port Douglas

   Activity: Book a domestic flight leaving after about 2:30 pm; for an international departure, an evening flight or an extra night in Cairns.

Wildlife and weather: We run from May to October, the dry season: days in the mid to high 20s C, lower humidity and less rain, though the rainforest earns its name and a shower is always possible. The south-east trade winds can blow the reef out on some days, which is why day 4 is the reef swap day. The marine stinger season runs from about November to May, so it overlaps our May departures; the risk is lowest from June, and the boat supplies stinger suits all year. On the reef, green turtles are a common sight. Saltwater crocodiles bask on the Daintree River banks on cooler, sunny days. Wild cassowaries live around Cape Tribulation but are rarely seen, so we do not promise one.

• Port Douglas4 nights