3 weeks in Queensland

Hi All!

I'll be 2 months in Queensland, 1,5 month in Brisbane (university) and
the plan to take 3 weeks to see some things, from 19thDec-7thJan, with
my boyfriend. We plan to dive at the Great Barrier if possible and AVOID
cities and too many tourists (we have enough during the year!)...
He is into hiking and stuff, I am more of a sea-person. We plan budget
stay and camping, to save money for the diving school. And since we have
Xmas and New Year's Eve ahead, we'd like to do something different...

I was told that northern Rackhampton is not ideal for diving during
summer, due to box jellyfish. Any ideas:
1) on diving spots/schools during Late December
2) Other places we should consider

I've heard good stuff about Hook Island and Whitsuandays', but also
heard about box jellyfish... :-)

Or should we change completely and head south or west? Any suggestions?
We should return to Brisbane by the 6th of Jan.

On Thu, 16 Oct 2003 16:36:11 +0200, Staff member/student wrote:

I was told that northern Rackhampton is not ideal for diving during
summer, due to box jellyfish. Any ideas: 1) on diving spots/schools
during Late December 2) Other places we should consider

Box jellyfish are found close to shore. They're not usually found out on
the Great Barrier Reef which is about 40kms or more offshore

I've heard good stuff about Hook Island and Whitsuandays', but also
heard about box jellyfish... :-)

The Whitsundays are nice though the diving around them isn't as good as
out on the reef itself. If you're planning on doing a trip out of Airlie
beach and you're a reasonably experienced diver, you might be frustrated
by the restrictions that are placed on you. I got pretty fed up with
restricting my dive time to 40 mins and coming out with over half a tank
all the time.

There's more choice in Cairns, so you can avoid this sort of thing.
There's also the wreck of the Yongala out of Townsville where you'll see
more fish, and especially more big fish, than you will on any GBR site.

I've got trip reports on my website about several liveaboard trips I've
done on the GBR. Some recommended, like Taka in Cairns, others not.

Jason

--
See http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for UK diving reports including
trips to Plymouth, Weymouth, Falmouth, Exmouth and Scapa Flow

Hey! Thanks for the reply.
The thing is that we are not experienced divers at all; we want to take PADI
there. But we'd love to see some corals/fish and the rest. :-) I saw your
site, 364 dives before you see a manta ray; not very encouraging! ;-)

The other thing is that I doubt we have enough time to go to Airlie Beach,
dive, and come back to Brisbane in 3 weeks, without running like nuts. It's
also Xmas and New Year's, I guess they will not have diving courses and
dives all days...

Dunno, dunno, there are so many places to see and things to do!


Jason wrote:

On Thu, 16 Oct 2003 16:36:11 +0200, Staff member/student wrote:

I was told that northern Rackhampton is not ideal for diving during
summer, due to box jellyfish. Any ideas: 1) on diving spots/schools
during Late December 2) Other places we should consider

Box jellyfish are found close to shore. They're not usually found out on
the Great Barrier Reef which is about 40kms or more offshore

I've heard good stuff about Hook Island and Whitsuandays', but also
heard about box jellyfish... :-)

The Whitsundays are nice though the diving around them isn't as good as
out on the reef itself. If you're planning on doing a trip out of Airlie
beach and you're a reasonably experienced diver, you might be frustrated
by the restrictions that are placed on you. I got pretty fed up with
restricting my dive time to 40 mins and coming out with over half a tank
all the time.

There's more choice in Cairns, so you can avoid this sort of thing.
There's also the wreck of the Yongala out of Townsville where you'll see
more fish, and especially more big fish, than you will on any GBR site.

I've got trip reports on my website about several liveaboard trips I've
done on the GBR. Some recommended, like Taka in Cairns, others not.

Jason

--
See http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for UK diving reports including
trips to Plymouth, Weymouth, Falmouth, Exmouth and Scapa Flow

On Thu, 16 Oct 2003 17:30:06 +0200, Staff member/student wrote:

The thing is that we are not experienced divers at all; we want to take
PADI there. But we'd love to see some corals/fish and the rest. :-) I
saw your site, 364 dives before you see a manta ray; not very
encouraging! ;-)

They seem to be like buses. It took me ages to see my first one, but I've
seen quite a few since. If you're going to be in Brisbane, then it's a
short hop over to North Stradbroke and at that time of year, the mantas
are pretty much guaranteed at Manta Bommie.

The other thing is that I doubt we have enough time to go to Airlie
Beach, dive, and come back to Brisbane in 3 weeks, without running like
nuts. It's also Xmas and New Year's, I guess they will not have diving
courses and dives all days...

Well you could do the course up in Bundaberg. I've heard good things about
www.saltys.net but haven't tried them myself. If you get the Tilt train,
it's not a very long journey at all, though you'll need to book it well in
advance at that time of year.

I think that's about the most southerly place you can go out of and still
see reasonable coral. There is some coral in places like Byron Bay, but
it's too cold for a lot of varieties, so it's patchy. If you're going all
that way, it seems a shame not to visit a tropical reef in all its glory.

Jason

--
http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for Australian trip reports including
New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia

On Thu, 16 Oct 2003 17:30:06 +0200, Staff member/student
wrote:

I doubt we have enough time to go to Airlie Beach,
dive, and come back to Brisbane in 3 weeks, without running like nuts.

Depends how much you want to do and see along the way. It's about a
two-day drive from Brisbane to Airlie Beach, with minimal stops but
without exhausting yourselves driving excessively long hours.

It's also Xmas and New Year's, I guess they will not have diving courses and
dives all days...

Dive boats and courses operate pretty much 365 days a year out of
Airlie Beach, unless the weather is really bad (which can happen at
Christmas-NewYear's, but probably won't). The holiday time is very
busy, so the biggest problem you might have, anywhere you go, is that
everything might be booked out.

Jean in Airlie Beach
Avalook at Australia travel site http://www.avalook.com.au/