Weather around January-February still good?

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Thanks SO MUCH for the reply's, Sorry I haven't been too active in the conversation but it is a lot of research that has been presented to me :-D This is exactly the kind of information I was hoping for!

A special thanks to marinediva as the level of detail included in your post is really quite impeccable, WOW!
 
your welcome.
have driven the east coast up and back over ten times in the last two years.
I was based in Port Douglas, but on return trips flew into Sydney.
still make weekend runs from Sydney to Brisbane when the study allows.
leave late Friday afternoon and get in early saturday.
spend 24 hours and am back by afternoon class monday.
not for the faint hearted on a motorbike.
 
Well, we are scheduled to fly into Cairns tomorrow but it looks like that will be changed now as my travel agent has informed me of the cyclone (Yasi) headed that way expected to hit tonight. Were expecting that we will not be able to see the GBR on this trip as the damage is expected to be high. Our backup plan as of now is to stay in Sidney for one or two more days to see how the weather plays out as we hope for the best. If cairns is in fact cancelled than we would like to book a flight for a location that would still allow us to see some reefs, or as an alternative, swim with some dolphins, whales or sharks. Do any of you know if there are any areas of Australia that would allow us to experience that? ...Keeping in mind the bad luck Queensland has had with the floods already in the past little while.

I appreciate any help that can be provided
 
Afraid your flights will be cancelled.
I am on assignment at the present in Weipa further north than Cairns on the western side.
I flew out on Monday Night and it was very rough trip.
I was due to fly back tomorrow morning from the Gold Coast.
You will find the airlines will change your tickets with no cost. I have managed to rebook to Sunday, as I do not expect the airport open till midday Saturday.

It is a lesson for everyone, you just don't dive on the GBR during Late January february, and into March. tis the silly season.

Agree with BB1 that if you are in Brisbane, head south to Byron.
and maybe even take yourself to Sydney diving the whole way. The site I mentioned before has many cars and vans available since they have a back load from the floods.

Be warned though......when the cyclone crosses the coast it will degrade itself......no more water to pick up, so will be come a depression. it if heading inland......to Mt Isa way.
If it manages to continue, it will bring further rain to the Nthern Nsw South east Qld area.
This is not what they want or need. The ground is still very soggy with the rivers full......
You do not want to get stuck in Byron unless you like the wakky tabbakky, and hippy music.

If I wanted a trouble free holiday in AUstralia right now, head to SA. Adelaide.
It is the only place trouble free, unless you have a dislike of locusts. They are experiencing a number of plagues at the moment.

There is a low inland of central WA making its way back out to the coast.
Lets just hope Yasi does not join with it.

There is also a low well off the NSW coast, as well as central inland. with the temp NSW is experiencing at the moment, there is no doubt in my mind that there is a lot of rain due to hit the coast in three days time.

Okay sorry just read you are in Sydney now. Claim the insurance and head to SA.
Check out the bureau of Meterology.......they have lots of maps available and you will be able to see what I am saying.

This is history repeating itself. xmas 73, cyclone tracy cat 5 hit darwin, four weeks later brisbane was flooded. now, brisbane is flooded and cyclone yasi hits cairns....cat 5.
Forget about the idea of heading to Cairns.
It will not be worth it.
Melbourne Tassie will also have a lot of rain in the next 5 days as a low is developing behind a high cold front which is making its way to Vic, Tas.

Good weather for sitting in a cold room with a dozen cartons of beer.
Hoping the cold room is fixed to the ground.
 
By the way, just sent some more charts from a good mate, she has a boat in the middle of all of this.....there is a new low forming in the coral sea, by this time next week, it could be another cyclone heading to the Qld coast.
On the maps which are going around, you can see it.
 
Be thankful you didn't fly into cairns earlier and get stuck. This is no ordinary cyclone. I hope all the local forum members are ok and travellers too. I hope your holiday gets better pjones. Exmouth wa?
 
Wa weather beautiful now cyclone well gone
 
To give everyone an update...
I found out my travel insurance would not cover the cost of a flight cancelation unless there was a formal written warning listed on the Government Canada's webpage and at the time they had not listed one (even though flights had been cancelled), so, Once the flights resumed to Cairns we went on up and enjoyed our stay. It turns out the storm bypassed Cairns and all they got was a few knocked down trees and sand that washed up onto their beach walkway. We had a lovely stay as we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. It turns out the media did more damage to Cairns than the storm did. The media did apparently do a good job of realistically portraying the damage done in locations further south though. We still went out to the GBR and had an excellent time diving however the waters visibility was drastically reduced; we had around 15-40 feet visibility depending on location. Still saw the same creatures that would have normally been there though and that is what we went to see. I don't know if the reduced visibility was due to the season or the storm but the boat staff were saying it was due to the storm (i have my reasons to not fully trust them though so suspect it may be otherwise). Cairns was cleaned up along the waters edge within a week and by now you would probably not even know there was a storm that went through. I would highly recommend cairns as a destination to people who are in the process of deciding.

Thanks everyone who provided helpful suggestions, info and ideas during my days of uncertainty as it really helped relieve stress knowing there were back up plans available. I have to admit I was worried as to what we might fly into but it seems to have all worked out for the best especially for the locals! My heart goes out to those who received damage during the storms and the floods as their stress is not even close to being over. Since tourism is such a big part of Cairns income I know the locals are going to be feeling the effects of the devastation too which is why I wanted it to be known that cairns is in good condition and still a great place to visit.

I hope this helps put peoples minds at ease if they are booked for or deciding on Cairns as a destination.
 
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