Is a very posh resort town 90km north of Cairns. It's hot all year, there's golden sandy beaches, the sea is clear and warm and the Great Barrier Reef is right next to it. There's also some fantastic golf courses and a couple of million dollars worth of yachts in the marina. The town itself is OK, the usual tourist trap shops mixed with Coles and some designer boutiques. The whole region is covered with sugar plantations and with the Great Dividing Range as a back drop the scenery is excellent. We did a trip to the reef with Quicksilver who are the best apparently, it certainly cost a bit, still it was worth every cent. We also did a day to Kuranda via the Skyrail and the scenic railway, both were good, especially the rainforest interactive info centre at Skyrail. Kuranda wasn't much, just a lot of tourist trap shops selling junk. We also hired a 4WD and drove up to Cooktown, definitely worth just for the off-road drive and secluded beaches on the way. Cooktown is a nice out the way place with not a lot going on, the fish and chips from the shop by the jetty are excellent.

Accommodation - Glengarry Caravan Park. An OK site made better by the staff who are all really friendly and try really hard to help with everything. Our only complaint would be that our toilet block was too small for the amount of people using it. In Cooktown we stayed in the Seaview Motel which was good, again the owner was really helpful, especially as he had a fridge full of wine and lent us his corkscrew before he shut up for the night.

Back to NT page