Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree
Six days in tropical north Queensland, where the oldest rainforest on earth runs into the largest reef.
Island Escape · 6 days · May to October
Cairns is a departure lounge for the reef and most trips never leave its orbit, which misses that the Daintree is the only place on the planet where two World Heritage areas meet at a beach. Basing north at Port Douglas rather than in Cairns halves every transfer and puts the outer reef, Mossman Gorge and Cape Tribulation within an hour. The reef days are deliberately split between an outer pontoon and a smaller Agincourt boat, because they are not the same experience and the second one is the better of the two.
Day by day
- Day 1
North to Port Douglas
One of the great coast roads, then an afternoon that asks nothing of you.
13:00Captain Cook Highway and Rex Lookout
The road runs at sea level between the range and the water for most of its length, which is the arrival that sets up the whole week.
Seventy kilometres with the rainforest on one side and the Coral Sea on the other. Rex Lookout is the only real pull-out.
16:00Four Mile Beach and Flagstaff Hill
Six kilometres of sand with the rainforest range behind it, and a twenty-minute climb at the northern end for the view down the whole beach.
From November to May swim only inside the stinger net; the marine stingers here are genuinely dangerous.
- Day 2
The outer reef
Ninety minutes out to the Agincourt ribbons, which sit right on the continental shelf.
08:00Agincourt Ribbon Reefs
Ribbon reefs form only along the outer edge of the shelf, so the wall drops away on the seaward side and the coral cover is the best that is reachable in a day.
Three sites in a day is standard. Reef-safe sunscreen, and a stinger suit outside the winter months. Do not stand on or touch coral.
- Day 3
Mossman and the Daintree River
Into the rainforest, with the crocodile cruise timed for the end of the day.
09:00Mossman Gorge
Granite boulders and clear water in the southern Daintree, with a Kuku Yalanji-guided walk that explains what the forest is actually used for.
Access is by shuttle from the visitor centre only. The river runs fast and cold and drownings have happened; swim only where signed.
15:30Daintree River cruise
Estuarine crocodiles, tree snakes and azure kingfishers along a mangrove river, from a small electric boat that does not scare anything off.
Late afternoon is when the crocodiles come out to warm the mud. Never go near the water's edge anywhere in this region.
- Day 4
Cape Tribulation
Across the ferry to the only coast in the world where two World Heritage areas meet.
09:30Jindalba boardwalk and the Discovery Centre
A 23-metre canopy tower and an aerial walkway through a forest that has been continuously rainforest for around 180 million years.
The cable ferry across the Daintree River is the only crossing and queues in the middle of the day. Cassowaries are on this road and are dangerous if approached.
13:00Cape Tribulation beach and Kulki
The rainforest comes down to the sand and the fringing reef starts a few hundred metres out: the only place these two World Heritage areas touch.
Cook named it after running his ship onto the reef offshore. Sealed road ends here; beyond is the Bloomfield Track and four-wheel drive only.
16:30Emmagen Creek
A freshwater creek in the forest north of the cape, and the only cool water you will find on the Daintree coast.
Upstream of the tidal reach, which is why it is one of the few safe swimming holes on this coast. Ask locally before going in.
- Day 5
The Tablelands
Up the range behind Cairns to a plateau of crater lakes and waterfalls.
08:30Kuranda Scenic Railway and Skyrail
A 34-kilometre line cut into the Barron Gorge, and a cable car that runs above the canopy rather than over cleared ground.
Train up and cable car down is the right order. The railway was built by hand in the 1880s with fifteen tunnels and considerable loss of life.
15:00Millaa Millaa Falls and the waterfall circuit
An eighteen-metre curtain into a perfectly round pool, and the most photographed waterfall in Australia for good reason.
A fifteen-kilometre loop taking in Zillie and Ellinjaa as well. The water is cold and swimming is allowed.
- Day 6
Inner reef and out
A half day on a sand cay close in, then the airport.
08:00Michaelmas Cay
A coral sand cay with tens of thousands of nesting terns and noddies, and shallow snorkelling straight off the beach rather than off a boat.
A protected seabird rookery; visitors are restricted to a roped section of the beach and the boats leave from Cairns.
15:00Cairns Esplanade lagoon
A saltwater lagoon on the waterfront, built because the tidal mudflats here make the sea itself unswimmable.
Free, patrolled and ten minutes from the airport, which makes it the right place to spend a departure afternoon.
Questions
- How long is the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree itinerary?
- The Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree itinerary runs 6 days and covers 12 stops across Port Douglas, Cape Tribulation, Kuranda, Cairns.
- When is the best time to do the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree itinerary?
- May to October is the best window for the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree itinerary.
- What happens on day one of the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree itinerary?
- Day one is north to port douglas: One of the great coast roads, then an afternoon that asks nothing of you.
Sources
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