Cairns...Car hire companies & things you'd reccommend

[leelee53]

Hi,

 

Having a break away to Cairns in a few weeks and need to arrange car hire. Would anyone recommend a particular company?

 

Also, what would you say is an absolute must that we see/do with a toddler & baby??

 

Thankyou )

[jim and adel]

If you're with the RAA they do various deals with Thrifty (lower excess, hire for four days per for three, no extra for booster seat etc). A week's hire recently cost us about $230 plus $40 petrol. Straight off the plane and into the car ...

 

Not sure if you mean only Cairns itself or places up that way. In the CBD I'd suggest the lagoon pool - great for little 'uns. If you've not yet booked accommodation I'd take a look at Port Douglas about an hour away - great holiday town, gorgeous beach (although it will be stinger season by then so only swim in netted areas), plenty of places to eat, drink and watch the world go by. Palm Cove is also nice.

 

For days out, it's worth taking a trip up to Karunda for a wander around the shops and markets. I'd recommend going up on the train (old heritage thing with commentary along the way about how the track was built etc) and coming down on the skyrail. Plenty of info about it here:

 

http://www.kuranda.org/

 

A day trip to the GBR is well worth it, but it might not be practical with your kids being so young. A drive to the Daintree is great - Mossman Gorge is easy to get to without having to travel too far. There are plenty of wildlife parks up that way that your kids would love when they're a few years older!

 

Enjoy!

[Keith & Linda]

I concur with jim and adel, we have stayed at Palm cove twice now last time was March this year, and Cairns once many years ago, we never hired a car, pickups are part of the organised tours (some do charge though) and we used the bus service, though a car would come in handy it is not essential. We went out to the barrier reef with our two granddaughters, aged 7 and 3 and it was no problem, they, and the rest of us, really enjoyed it.

 

Stingers do put a downer on using the beach/sea, also a week after we left Palm Cove on our 1st visit 3 years ago a croc turned up in the netted swimming area, so stick to the hotel/apartment pools or the CBD lagoon.

Have a good trip.

[jim and adel]

also a week after we left Palm Cove on our 1st visit 3 years ago a croc turned up in the netted swimming area, so stick to the hotel/apartment pools or the CBD lagoon.

 

I wouldn't want to be in close proximity to the croc you mention, but I wouldn't avoid the sea because of the potential for coming across a croc. I wouldn't stay out of the sea here in SA because of the potential for being attacked by a shark (statistically more likely to happen), or because I might get hit by a jetski (far more likely again - even though there doesn't seem to be any here in SA!), or stay out of water altogether - swimming pools included - because of the threat of drowning (more likely to happen than either croc or shark attacks in the order of hundreds).

 

I'd say that if someone keeps to well-frequented, patrolled beaches and acts sensibly, they're about as safe as they're ever going to be. It's crossing the road on the way back to the hotel where the real danger lies ...

 

Jim

[Keith & Linda]

I wouldn't want to be in close proximity to the croc you mention, but I wouldn't avoid the sea because of the potential for coming across a croc. I wouldn't stay out of the sea here in SA because of the potential for being attacked by a shark (statistically more likely to happen), or because I might get hit by a jetski (far more likely again - even though there doesn't seem to be any here in SA!), or stay out of water altogether - swimming pools included - because of the threat of drowning (more likely to happen than either croc or shark attacks in the order of hundreds).

 

I'd say that if someone keeps to well-frequented, patrolled beaches and acts sensibly, they're about as safe as they're ever going to be. It's crossing the road on the way back to the hotel where the real danger lies ...

 

Jim

 

True Jim, but I was more thinking of the parents being more at ease with the two little ones, especially with the stingers. Swimming out at the outer reef is generally stinger free but when we were there we encountered heaps and heaps of jellyfish of a type which do not generally sting, but the daughter in-law did get stung but these were no worse than an ant bite or bee sting, did not stop her or the little ones from going back in though.

Did you do the short rainforest walks at the Skyrail change stations?

Keith.

[jim and adel]

I get you, Keith. Yes, we've done those walks. Love that area (although getting a bit too much land for sale and cleared for my liking!)

[Guest cazzie]

Hi there,

I have not been to Cairns yet but would love to go there. Let us know how you get on.

Edited November 22, 2013 by cazzie

[Ktee]

I wouldn't want to be in close proximity to the croc you mention, but I wouldn't avoid the sea because of the potential for coming across a croc. I wouldn't stay out of the sea here in SA because of the potential for being attacked by a shark (statistically more likely to happen), or because I might get hit by a jetski (far more likely again - even though there doesn't seem to be any here in SA!), or stay out of water altogether - swimming pools included - because of the threat of drowning (more likely to happen than either croc or shark attacks in the order of hundreds).

 

I'd say that if someone keeps to well-frequented, patrolled beaches and acts sensibly, they're about as safe as they're ever going to be. It's crossing the road on the way back to the hotel where the real danger lies ...

 

Jim

 

We live in Cairns and neither myself or the locals will swim in the sea in stinger season November - May.

Crocs it's a tough one as there are regular sightings, in fact I was down at Trinity park the other day and the ranger was putting up signs that a croc had been seen 30 minutes earlier. To be honest by the time they have come out to put the signs up the croc has probably swam off to the next beach. I would say 50% of the locals won't swim in the sea and 100% won't swim in the river systems. If you want to swim up here the safest place is Crystal Cascades or to go up on the ranges to places like Millaa Millaa Falls. Saying that as far as I know there hasn't been any croc attacks on a Cairns beach, I'm not sure if that's because people are more aware of the dangers and stay away from the water.

The last attack I can recall up here was on the Daintree River and it was a 5 year old.

 

A photo of Millaa Millaa

[leelee53]

Hi,

 

We had an amazing trip to Cairns, can't wait to return!! We had a great flight over there (3hrs) with Jetstar, then picked up the hire car which had been upgraded!

We stayed at the Novotel Palm Cove Resort which was lovely. We loved the coastal drive up to Port Douglas, just in awe of the beauty of the place, very tropical. My hubby likened the vegetation to what you would see in Thailand. Port Douglas was beautiful, with the pretty white church next to the sea, where we talked about renewing our vows one day!

We visited Hartley's Crocodile Park, which my 3 year old just loved! We also caught the train up to Karunda village and then the Sky rail back down. The views were stunning. Can't wait to visit there in the future, we're hooked!

 

)

[Ktee]

Hi,

 

We had an amazing trip to Cairns, can't wait to return!! We had a great flight over there (3hrs) with Jetstar, then picked up the hire car which had been upgraded!

We stayed at the Novotel Palm Cove Resort which was lovely. We loved the coastal drive up to Port Douglas, just in awe of the beauty of the place, very tropical. My hubby likened the vegetation to what you would see in Thailand. Port Douglas was beautiful, with the pretty white church next to the sea, where we talked about renewing our vows one day!

We visited Hartley's Crocodile Park, which my 3 year old just loved! We also caught the train up to Karunda village and then the Sky rail back down. The views were stunning. Can't wait to visit there in the future, we're hooked!

 

)

Glad you enjoyed it. Sorry I didn't see your thread earlier I could have given you our car.

We always tell people we live in Paradise and a lot of people don't understand until they visit. I even love the wet season seeing the waterfalls in full flow is fantastic