james & bev

We go to sydney on the 25th Sept and are having 3 weeks with relatives to try and sort out house rental and other immediate stuff, then we want to go on hols for 3 weeks.

With all the prep for move, work, and other stuff we have not had a 2 weeks on the beach holiday for nearly 3 years so we want a good one now. I don't start work in aus till 1st Dec hence we can have the 3 weeks.

So my thoughts looking at the net etc are Port douglas and/or broome:

My interests are

Anything to do with the sea (diving/ fishing, etc)
Plus drinking by pool.

Her interests

Walking
Horse riding
SUNBATHING/SUNBATHING/SUNBATHING

Anyone had any experiences?? Resorts I was thinking of were:

Radissonn Treetops resort - PD
Cable beach Resort - Broome

BTW - in talking to travelbag I was pleasantly surprised that with the boomrang pass (min 2 max 10 flights) the costs even for flights that require internal transfers (for example Sydney to Broome is via Alice Springs or Perth) is still only £103 (the inter-zone rate each way) rather than having to pay 103 to perth then another 83 (for one way travel in single zone) from perth to broome which sounded good to me.

Any suggestions/recommendations gladly recieved.

Cheers


James

Natbat

Hi

I stayed in Broome for 11 weeks with friends when we were backpacking Oz. We loved it. It is perfect for the Sunbathing, and cable Beach Resort (altough at the time had been hit by a Cyclone) was very nice, had Birthday Dinner in their restaurant.

Port Douglas is also very nice and you will definiately get your diving in there. Not sure about Broome though.

Good luck deciding, they are both lovely places !!

Bye for now

Natbat

Nicstids

Hi,

We stayed at the Radisson Treetops in April and really enjoyed it. Fantastic setting just a short walk from the beach. You could do with a car to get into Port Douglas itself though. We took a helicopter flight with Quicksilver over the Great Barrier Reef which was brilliant....

Nicola

Carol in Oz

Hi James
Never been to Broome myself but a friend of mine has and was bored after a couple of days!
Can recommend the Port Douglas area. You can do the Daintree, Cape Tribulation, out to the Barrier Reef Islands (Went to Green Island that was nice) back down to Cairns area and on the train up to the Kuranda area - not the beach but something different inland.
Lots of holiday sites check out this one

www.seeaustralia.com.au

Carol

Carol in Oz

Just checked out Broome on the See Australia site James.
How my friend was bored will never know! Looks amazing.
Carol

renth

Definitely Port Douglas, I've been to both and, even though I love W.A. and the Kimberley in particular, Broome is a shithole.

When I went there the town was full of hostile aboriginies and we had to be locked in to our compound each night and all the other people there were miners on R&R.

My wife went there a few years later and someone slipped some LSD into her drink, nice.

Port Douglas is classy and near the Barrier Reef.

Kath

Your story on Broome has surprised me a bit. We're planning to travel the Kimberleys late next year for a few months and wanted to base ourselves in Broome, might reconsider now.

How did you find the Kimberleys? Did you have a 4WD? We're not sure whether to take our station wagon up there on sealed roads and then rent a 4WD OR trade in the wagon for a 4WD.

Agree that Port Douglas is great, the whole of North Queensland is spectacular, scenery, rainforest etc.

renth

I was on a motorcycle, a on/off road bike (Suzuki DR600).

Kimberleys are wonderful, but I would recommend Kununurra as a better base than Broome. Broome is only just in the Kimberley whereas Kununurra is more in the heart.

Broome is worth a visit, if you are passing, I just wouldn't base myself there.

Remember, late next year is the wet season and there is always the chance you could find yourself cut off in a small town for a while. When this happens the beer prices go up!

Kath

Thanks Renth. Looking at the map, Kununurra does look a better location. We will try and avoid the wet season! Aiming to go September / October.

A motorcyle sounds great but we've got 2 kiddies to think about! I've been looking at older 4WD vehicles (under $10,000) then we don't need to worry about taking it off road, we can just go for it, however I do wonder about it getting us there, some of the older vehicles have 400,000 kms or more on the clock!!

Maybe I'll start a thread about travelling the area, vehicle to take, camping etc.

DianeOZ

[
A motorcyle sounds great but we've got 2 kiddies to think about! I've been looking at older 4WD vehicles (under $10,000) then we don't need to worry about taking it off road, we can just go for it,

-----------------------------------

Any room for a small person (me)!!! Sounds grrrr8888ttt

james & bev

Showed Bev this one suffice to say she is going off broome rapidly. Latest view is PD 2 weeks plus maybe an island for a week, dificult though with a 4 year old in tow, some of the smaller islands seem to be no kids. Anyone had any experinces of any GBR islands with good resorts for kids??

James

Atticus

Hi

Appreciate your talking about Broome and Port Douglas and have no wish to put a spanner in the works but why not do the Whitsundays? - Amazing crop of islands with equally amazing beaches, sailing activities, (not sure about diving).

All the best with whatever you choose.

annb

i disagree with all the negative posts about broome, i lived there for 6months and also went on 2 trips up there last year in June, it is a very laid back town, more touristy now than it was when i first went there, beautiful beaches and the most sensational blue water you have ever seen, amazing sunsets, red dirt and the stars you see are sensational...on saying that...october november is getting into the wet season (although it didnt rain very much there last year) and it can be very humid...and 4 or 5 days is probably long enough for Broome, flying into Kununurra is difficult as there are no direct flights from main cities and there is nothing in Kununurra so you would probably want to not stay there too long.....the Kimberley is an amazing part of Australia but I would be wary of going in the wet season because of the cyclones and the rain as the roads can get closed and you are stranded...anyhow thats just my opinion!!!

Vee

When we went to the Kimberleys we took a helicopter ride over the Bunga Bungas. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. [Actually I am getting confused here...memory of a goldfish....the Bunga Bunga's IS in the Kimberley's isn't it??!!??)

Broome was nice, but I wouldn't have stayed there for longer than the 3 days we were there. We stayed in a caravan park which was quite nice (it was on a beautiful beach, but when the tide went out it wasn't so beautiful) but I didn't feel terribly safe there. We did however see the amazing "Stairs to the Moon" while we were there and that was a sight to see. Cable Beach was lovely and we spent 2 days just laying around the beach.

Personally though I preferred Port Douglas. We got engaged a few months before and I always think of Port Douglas as our Engagementmoon. I love the greenery of the area and the fact it's where "the rainforest meets the reef". There are so many super walks, great beaches, and of course the barrier reef for diving. Also, you aren't a million miles away from the Tully for some white water rafting. It's not a short drive away, but it ain't far either. We did a night walk in Port Douglas and saw a beautiful cockroach. Usually these two words do not go together but this little guy had an amazing blue strip on his back.

Sorry, got caught up in my own little memories there.


V