svs
Contributor
I booked my first trip to Cairns, Australia for February 2018.
I found lots of useful information reading previous posts but I still have few questions. If my 30 hours trip from US will go as scheduled I will have 2 full days in Cairns before 4 days trip with SOF. I would like to visit rain forest for a day. I am not much into ziplines or ATVs which are advertised on most local travel sites. Have anybody been on a day long rainforest trip which actually involved some walking through the forest? I am not asking for a full day hiking but I do not like tours which drive you from place to place to let you out of the car only at the attraction sites. I do not want to rent a car to drive on a wrong side of the road either. Do travel agencies pick up customers from the hotels in Cairns? My understanding is that rain forest is a couple of hours drive from Cairns.
What is the best way to get from the airport to the hotel?
I looked through some hotels. THE BAY VILLAGE RESORT looks decent and it sounds like SOF will pick up people from this hotel at the day of departure. Any other suggestions for inexpensive/mid range hotel not far from ocean and SOF office?
Diving: I will not bring my dive stuff with me but rent it from SOF. Do people pick up rental stuff before local flight at the office or at the boat location (there are some weight limits for local flight)? Are dives with SOF guided or buddy pairs? I signed for nitrox. How are dives arranged based on nitrox/air consumption?
I will also have free afternoon on a last day before my flight out of Cairns the next morning. Any suggestion, to rent hotel for the last night in Cairns or at the airport (5:30am flight). Is any place to store luggage in Cairns (e.g SOF office) for a day so I do not have to carry it around with me.
I found lots of useful information reading previous posts but I still have few questions. If my 30 hours trip from US will go as scheduled I will have 2 full days in Cairns before 4 days trip with SOF. I would like to visit rain forest for a day. I am not much into ziplines or ATVs which are advertised on most local travel sites. Have anybody been on a day long rainforest trip which actually involved some walking through the forest? I am not asking for a full day hiking but I do not like tours which drive you from place to place to let you out of the car only at the attraction sites. I do not want to rent a car to drive on a wrong side of the road either. Do travel agencies pick up customers from the hotels in Cairns? My understanding is that rain forest is a couple of hours drive from Cairns.
What is the best way to get from the airport to the hotel?
I looked through some hotels. THE BAY VILLAGE RESORT looks decent and it sounds like SOF will pick up people from this hotel at the day of departure. Any other suggestions for inexpensive/mid range hotel not far from ocean and SOF office?
Diving: I will not bring my dive stuff with me but rent it from SOF. Do people pick up rental stuff before local flight at the office or at the boat location (there are some weight limits for local flight)? Are dives with SOF guided or buddy pairs? I signed for nitrox. How are dives arranged based on nitrox/air consumption?
I will also have free afternoon on a last day before my flight out of Cairns the next morning. Any suggestion, to rent hotel for the last night in Cairns or at the airport (5:30am flight). Is any place to store luggage in Cairns (e.g SOF office) for a day so I do not have to carry it around with me.