Australia in July/August

[SisterAgathaVanHelsing]

We are starting to plan a trip to Australia in July/August 2020. We want to stop over in Singapore for a few days on one of the journeys, but aren't sure of where to stop over on the other leg. Any ideas? We had been thinking of Hong Kong but I've gone off that idea. Also not Dubai. We want to spend some time diving in the barrier reef area. I assume we'll fly to Cairns for this, but would love any recommendations of towns or hotels to stay in for diving. We don't mind driving out of Cairns itself for somewhere good (Port Douglas?). Then we'll visit friends and family in Sydney before flying home from there (with another stopover hopefully). Any thoughts or experiences would be much appreciated. We're time limited as we have to be back for A-Level results day, and DC wouldn't want to spend more than 3 weeks with us anyway.

[mencken]

silly me. The locals must have been making it up about the crocodiles (although I saw those, clearly the tourists who have been eaten were also making it up), the cassowaries( saw those), the dangerous snakes, the jellyfish (yes that was year end so not an issue I believe in July as I said), the rip currents when you can swim and the poisonous insects.

and the dengue fever too although that is rare.

[Frazzled2207]

I've been to Cairns in August and weather was lovely. Cairns itself is not that nice though, consider staying in either Palm Cove or Port
Douglas.

Hong Kong is a fab stopover but with all the recent protests I can imagine it is no longer first choice. The main options are Hong Kong,
Singapore and Dubai.
Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur May be doable if you use Thai or Malaysia Airlines but neither is as good as HK or Singapore. One option may be to take Singapore airlines both ways and stop in Singapore but take an additional cheap flight from there to one or the Malaysian or Indonesian islands. For example it was a few years ago but Air Asia from Singapore to Penang was easy, quick and super cheap (perhaps £50 return each).
Singapore airport is the most stress free big airport you could ever imagine.

[finn1020]

The advice above is a bit misleading.

There are no natural hazards in the rainforest unless you’re talking about slipping on a wet rock or grabbing a stinging plant, which won’t happen unless you’re the type of tourist who thinks it’s fine to leave the designated paths because rules don’t apply to you. Then you’ll probably get lost and no one will find you for a few days because mobile/cell reception is pretty shite in the rainforest. Take some snacks.

Of course Queensland’s beaches are swimmable without stingers because MOST Queensland beaches never have them ever, it’s only the top of Queensland that can be a problem at certain times of year. The stingers at the top of Queensland can kill you ... but they won’t be there in July/August ... other stingers elsewhere ... they’re stingers too but not ”stingers” as such and can be anywhere at any time but they’re just usually a bit ow, no death. Sharks are everywhere any time, but usually it’s fine if you make sure someone is out deeper in the water than you, and stay out of the water at dawn and dusk.

Saying SA and WA are good for the outback is just - huh? Most states have some “outback” in them as well as other stuff.

Yes July/August is a great time of year for the north. However the entire UK would fit comfortably within the state of Queensland so the temperatures in Australia at all times will vary.

[mencken]

as others haven't worked out, Australia is a continent and July/August is a great time for the north, which isn't somewhere you want to be in their summer. Also good for the outback - South Australia and Western Australia.

you should be out of stinger season so the Queensland beaches may be swimmable - lots of natural hazards in the rainforest area so take advice.

you could do places such as the Bungle Bungles - never been there as I was always in Oz at the wrong time but heard great things!

NZ not so good with the short days and winter throughout but can be done.

[KoalasandRabbit]

I've name changed but was PandancerandRabbitolph. After flying to Cairns we stayed in 3 places:

First AirBNB in Holloways Beach (very close to Cairns) - was about £100 per night roughly 2 years ago. It seems to have gone from AirBNB but think its this one:

www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/holloways-beach/7504270

From there did Great Barrier Reef tour with Seastar which was excellent but is worth taking the anti sea-sickness tablets, you can buy them onboard. There's a lake there with canoes and beautiful garden, beautiful apartment.

Then we also stayed at Lumholtz Lodge in Atherton Tablelands. www.lumholtzlodge.com.au/

And a treehouse in the rainforest here:
www.canopytreehouses.com.au/

All where excellent, last two had loads of wildlife - Canopy doesn't have wifi.

[SisterAgathaVanHelsing]

@PandancerandRabbitoplh, where did you stay in Cairns? I know it was 2 years ago but would give me some ideas of where to start my search. Thanks.

[BinkyandBunty]

*some

[BinkyandBunty]

Cairns region is tropical, it doesn't have a winter, just wet and dry seasons. August is dry season and it's beautiful up there. I prefer Port Douglas though, it's more villagey and has a gorgeous beach, and it's closer to attractions like Mossman Gorge and Cape Tribulation.

Kuala Lumpur is a great stopover, it's Singapore-lite, similar mix of cultures but smaller, less flashy, a lot cheaper. It's fabulous if you like Asian food. Singapore has since spectacular attractions though, and is great for kids.

[StartupRepair]

We stayed in Palm Cove which is a bit kind of cleaner and quieter than Cairns. Buses pick up there for reef trips.

[SnowsInWater]

As someone else said who you fly with will dictate your stopover options. I would always choose to stop in Singapore (and fly SA). We have done stopovers with kids from 3 to 20 and everyone always loves Singapore. For us we do it on the way home to Aus as after doing the long flight it seems like an easy hop from there to Sydney and helps with the jet lag. Obviously you would have it the other way around but I still think it's worth it so you end up with some sunny weather and especially if you leave from Sydney and we are having a cold a Winter. Staying in a hotel around Colliers Quay is good if you have older kids.

[SisterAgathaVanHelsing]

Some great and very helpful advice. Thanks all. Will try to get going at the weekend.

[PandancerandRabbitoplh]

In Cairns we stayed in an AirBNB Billabong B&B but can't see it on there now - seems to be on other sites, around £100 per night for 4 of us, had apartment and there was a lake / billabong you could canoe on and tropical gardens, lovely and great value. Needs hire car. Then Lumholtz Lodge and Canopy Treehouses - both great for wildlife, about £200 a night each and at Lumholtz we had full board which was amazing homecooked foods with wine. Owner was German. Canopy Treehouses has no wifi though which kids didn't like but did have rainforest, treehouse, possum, pademelon, wallabies and cassowary on site.

[PandancerandRabbitoplh]

We did BA multi-flight which was £1100 per adult London- Sydney - Cairns and back - Quantas for Cairns flight. Weirdly BA multi flight charged same for one flight as two on some dates. Singapore Airlines you can go via Singapore to Cairns so less flying but you miss Sydney which I wanted to see as might be our only trip there. £650 was a bargain. I looked at Virgin and they were £3k each Probably worth using Skyscanner to find best options.

[PhoneLock]

I'm a firm believer in not stopping over - you end up with two lts of jet lag!

It depends where you are going. Singapore and Perth are in the same time zone.

[Mustbetimeforachange]

I'm a firm believer in not stopping over - you end up with two lts of jet lag! Get there in one go, stay up as late as you can, take some melatonin or a sleeping tablet for the frist couple of days.

[MyVisionsComeFromSoup]

we're going to NZ at the same time as OP (fitting in a decent length of trip before exam results is tricky, I agree), and we're doing a round the world (UK-San Francisco-NZ; NZ-Singapore-UK) booked with Air New Zealand, but the legs are mostly codeshares, so we'll have three different airlines in total. We decided in the end not to bother with proper stopovers, and just to get the flights over and done with, so as to get the most time we could in NZ (and even then, we can only do a fraction of the things on our Want To See lists).

I am regretting not booking the Emirates flights I saw for £650 each return though, two weeks later they were at £3k .

[Wombatstew]

August is perfect for Cairns probably the best month to go weather wise (lived there for 10 years) Personally I would stay in Cairns and hire a car to see the rainforest and waterfalls in the Atherton Tablelands, go to Cape Tribulation via Port Douglas on the way. I would also try and take a river cruise at Cape Trib to see wild crocs on the river. Head out to see the reef, take skyrail and train to Kuranda, white water rafting, sky diving .......have a great time!

[PhoneLock]

Well who wants to go at this time of year with 40 degree plus heat and fires?

Just returned from WA. 19 degrees when I left and raining. A few fires but nothing remotely similar to those over in the eastern states.

[KittenVsBox]

We much preferred Port Douglas to Cairns. The weather was lovely in June/July when we were there.
Sydney was rainy and cool, but fine.
Yes to the rain forrest.

I think you will struggle to find sensible priced flights stopping in different locations in each direction. Maybe just try pricing up a double Singapore stop vs a Singapore and a "somewhere else" flight.
Bangkok and KL are the other 2 that spring to mind.

[finn1020]

Singapore airport is pretty interesting in itself, lots of detail on their website.

[finn1020]

As one poster said, the airline you use will determine the stop over location and it’s generally cheaper to get a return trip on one airline than two single trips by different airlines, so it will likely be the same stopover location each way.

It’s a good time of year to go to Cairns as there’s no stingers that time of year so you don’t have to worry about wearing stinger suits or staying in netted areas.

[Weenurse]

Singapore is a great stop off point, we spent a week there recently and I can’t wait to go back.
Kuranda walks and market.
Rainforest. Cairns is great as is port Douglas but Port Douglas is expensive and a bit restricted as to what you can do there,

[SquashedFlyBiscuit]

Wed like to go and stop in Singapore one way and just be in transit in singapore airport (and doze and swim!) the other. Singapore airlines really are the best!

Following for ideas.

[PandancerandRabbitoplh]

We did GBR with Seastar in Cairns which was recommended to us by locals on Tripadviser forum, was very good, small boats, saw giant turtles. They recommended a couple in Port Douglas and said Port Douglas was a nicer place to stay. It was but was also much more expensive. I got excellent advice on Tripadviser Australia forum of best places to stay - they completely rearranged my original plans but very glad they did.

[PandancerandRabbitoplh]

We went in August 2 years ago and had a lovely time and an amazing holiday, around Cairns was around 27C which was perfect temp for us.

It's a great time to see Great Barrier Reef - daughter went scuba diving and we went snorkelling and saw reef and giant turtles. We also saw loads of wildlife, stayed at a place where lady looks after injured wildlife - Lumholtz lodge and there were tree kangaroos, possums, pademelon, bettong etc, she also told us where to find platypus which we saw. Stayed in a treehouse in the rainforest - again wildlife there possums and pademelon and wallabies which kids loved. Saw Daintree rainforest and crocodiles in the river. Didn't get to Magnetic Island but would have loved too, that has wild koalas on.

We also went as BA flights go via Sidney for couple of days in Port Stephens - went whale watching - was 22C and sunny that day which locals seem to think was freezing and needing of coats but same as English summer day and we saw hundreds of whales and some dolphins. Didn't see any koalas in wild there but locals so friendly. In Sydney weather was around 14C and windy but as flying via there went anyway - had breakfast with koala at featherdale and saw bridge and Blue Mountains where it was 10C but we saw wild kangaroos. So if you are going for wildlife rather than a holiday in the heat with beaches its fine. 27C was plenty warm enough for us and with our school holidays its quite restricted - our Christmas would be far too hot for us and Easter is not so good for Great Barrier Reef so for us our summer was best option. We prefer temps around 25C to 30C, any hotter and the kids and I really struggle.