Honeymoon East Coast Australia but how will get to the Whitsundays?

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dublinflyer1

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We will be going on honeymoon in November 2010. Below is our initial plan. Unfortunately I cannot work out how we could get to Airlie Beach and therefore the Whitsundays without driving all the way from Rockhampton. And then there is no airport at Airlie Beach offering flights to Cairns.

Please help!

Day 1 Fly Dublin - Abu Dhabi with Etihad.
Day 2 Spend 1 night in Abu Dhabi.
Day 3 Fly Abu Dhabi - Brisbane with Etihad.
Day 4 -5 Spend 2 nights in Brisbane.
Day 6 -10 Campervan Roadtrip as follows:
ROADTRIP Day 1 Brisbane to Noosa 144km
ROADTRIP Day 2 Noosa to Hervey Bay 270km
ROADTRIP Day 3 Day at Frasier Island
ROADTRIP Day 4 Hervey Bay - Rockhampton 320km

Day 11-15 Fly Rockhampton - Cairns with Qantas
Spend 5 nights in Cairns.

Day 16 Fly Cairns - Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific

Day 17-19 Spend 3 nights in Hong Kong.

Day 20 Fly Hong Kong to Heathrow with British Airways and then
home to Dublin.

How could we change things around to include Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays?
 
To be honest if it means leaving out one of the above to do the Whitsundays DO IT!. Do not leave Australia without doing the whitsundays and seeing Whitehaven beach in particular. Airlie beach is also a great little town to stay for a few days.

Also as your spending five days in Cairns, make sure you visit Port Douglas (an hour or so drive north of Cairns) a gem of a spot. Cabe Tribulation is also well within range and should be considered.

Have a great honeymoon!
 
Thanks for the reply. I am fully aware of how amazing the Whitsundays are and I really want to include them in the trip. The issue is how can we get there without driving the approx 700km from Rockhampton. And then how would we get from Airlie Beach to Cairns. Time is against us during the trip.
 
Qantas have a daily flight from Hamilton Island (in the Whitsundays - airport code HTI) to Cairns

Qantas/Jetstar and Virgin Blue both have flights from Brisbane to Hamilton Island

There are also flights to Mackay from Cairns and Brisbane (airport code MKY - about 150km south of Airlie Beach)

So why not do somethign like:

ROADTRIP Day 1 Brisbane to Noosa
ROADTRIP Day 2 Noosa to Hervey Bay
ROADTRIP Day 3 Day at Frasier Island
ROADTRIP Day 4 Hervey Bay back to Brisbane

Fly Brisbane - Hamilton Island or Mackay

Few days in Whitsundays / Airlie Beach area and fly from there up to Cairns

Few days in Cairns (5 is too much for Cairns ... I'd choose Cape Tribulation over Port Douglas)
 
You could also fly into Proserpine airport (it is only about 30k from Airlie beach and there is a bus transfer to Airlie beach).
Years ago I flew from Proserpine to Brisbane and i'm sure it stopped at Rockhampton it was a small plane (approx 15 seats) but it dosent seem to go anymore.

You could also fly from rockhampton back to brisbane and then on to either Proserpine or Hamilton. Quantas have those filgiths and they are approx $200 but obviously will take longer than a direct flight.
 
mro said:
You could also fly into Proserpine airport (it is only about 30k from Airlie beach and there is a bus transfer to Airlie beach).
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Yes - we flew in and out of there last year. Both Jetstar and Virgin fly to that airport. Sometimes it described as "Whitsunday Coast".

As I booked my stay at Airlie (& cruise) through a local agent, they collected and dropped us off - 20 mins
 
dublinflyer1 said:
Day 1 Fly Dublin - Abu Dhabi with Etihad.
Day 2 Spend 1 night in Abu Dhabi.
Day 3 Fly Abu Dhabi - Brisbane with Etihad.
Day 4 -5 Spend 2 nights in Brisbane.
Day 6 -10 Campervan Roadtrip as follows:
ROADTRIP Day 1 Brisbane to Noosa 144km
ROADTRIP Day 2 Noosa to Hervey Bay 270km
ROADTRIP Day 3 Day at Frasier Island
ROADTRIP Day 4 Hervey Bay - Rockhampton 320km

Day 11-15 Fly Rockhampton - Cairns with Qantas
Spend 5 nights in Cairns.

Day 16 Fly Cairns - Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific

Day 17-19 Spend 3 nights in Hong Kong.

Day 20 Fly Hong Kong to Heathrow with British Airways and then
home to Dublin.

How could we change things around to include Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays?
Click to expand...

ok, i have personally drove from sydney to cairns in a silly lenght of time (9 days) and stopped and did diving / fraizer island. it was january & rainy season, so when i passed whitesundays they couldn't be seen for rain and cloud. I also have more extensive tavelling in other parts of the world, so...

Tip 1. Reduce time in cities. You are giving Cairns 5 days and fraiser island only one. (two day trip needed for fraizer, otherwise you will just get boats over and back to hotel). Reduce time in cairnes and brisbane to 1 night and enjoy the outdoors (a city is a city at the end of the day) or whitsundays
 
Proserpine definitely more convenient for Airlie beach .. but afterwards there don't seem to be any flights from there up to Cairns ... Only Mackay and Hamilton Island have flights up to Cairns it seems.

Agreed 5 days is too much for Cairns (about 5 days too much in my view :D - I'd go up to Cape Tribulation... just a few hours drive)

Also you're looking at 18 months time here ... worth noting a lot could change in terms of airline schedules before then ... I wouldn't try to lock anything down too tightly at this stage .. flights certainly won't be book-able this far out and even if they were they're highly likely to change before you actually travel.
 
Thanks for your replies. We have made quite drastic changes to our honeymoon plan in order to fit in the Whitsundays and Fiji. Please see new plan below and let me know if you think we are mad to do all this travelling in 3 weeks.

I work in the airline industry so thank god the cost of air travel is not an issue.

Day 1. Fly Dublin - Heathrow - Hong Kong.
Days 2-4 Spend 3 nights in Hong Kong
Day 5 Fly Hong Kong - Cairns.
Days 6-8 Spend 2 nights in Cairns and explore Cape Tribulation.
Day 9 Roadtrip begins. Cairns - Townsville (340km)
Day 10 Townsville - Bowen (218km)
Day 11 Bowen - Airlie Beach (257km)
Day 12 1 day cruise of Whitsunday Islands.
Day 13 Fly Hamilton Island - Brisbane
Spend 1 night in Brisbane
Day 14 Fly Brisbane - Nadi (Fiji)
Spend 5 nights in Fiji
Day 19 Fly Nadi - Los Angeles
Spend 1 night in Santa Monica
Day 20 Fly Los Angeles - JFK - Dublin
Day 21 Arrive home in Dublin
 
Stayed in Airlie Beach last year for five nights and can really recommend Boathaven resort.

They have their own website too, if you google it.

Only thing - they have started to build a new marina to the front, so the view over the bay might not now be so idylic (construction site?) - you would want to check it out - Anyway, it was beautiful - hot tubs on the balconies, ideal for honeymoon etc and costwise it was very reasonable.


http://www.not1night.com.au/hotels/Boathaven-Spa-Resort.html
 
Personally i think you are spending too much time driving and not enough time in the Whitsundays. I dont think a one day cruise is enough. Would you consider flying from Cairns to Proserpine?

3 days driving Cairns down to Airlie beach i would think wont be too much 'fun', driving in Australia can be very boring you are basically driving through a whole lot of nothing most of the time. In fairness i haven't driven in Queensland ( i flew in and out of Proserpine) but i have driven a lot in Australia (from the east cost to the west coast and up the west coast and back again!!)
Dont get me wrong driving in Australia is amazing as you get to see the vastness of the place but if all you are doing in driving to get somewhere stay the night and leave again first thing in the morning it cant get very boring.
 
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Yes would second the comment about the driving. Drove from Brisbane-Sydney and back to Brisbane and then from Brisbane as far as Airlie Beach and Back. The part from Rockhampton to Airlie Beach was particularly boring from what I can remember - nothing but what looked like the same endless field with a cow in it.
 
Regarding Cairns city?

Do a Google Earth search for Cairns. IMO Tralee is bigger. I walked from one end of town to the other in about an hour.
 
thats alot of work driving on your honeymoon ?
why not use greyhound + virgin blue.
your talking massive distances driving + staying
in a campervan ? its a honeymoon not a college break
backpacking trip , book hotels my friend
your leaving out the great barrier reef , Fraser island , Melbourne and Sydney on your trip ??
i would scrap Fiji and see the above , fraser and the great barrier reef are truly amazing
you are packing too Much into your trip i would concentrate on 3 weeks
in Oz with a 2day stop over on Hong Kong and just fly straight back
with an airport stop over. Australia is huge vast distances of travelling
you will be wrecked after your wedding day.
It is a long way away you will kill yourself with that itinery !
 
thats alot of work driving on your honeymoon ?
why not use greyhound + virgin blue.
your talking massive distances driving + staying
in a campervan ? its a honeymoon not a college break
backpacking trip , book hotels my friend
your leaving out the great barrier reef , Fraser island , Melbourne and Sydney on your trip ??
i would scrap Fiji and see the above , fraser and the great barrier reef are truly amazing
you are packing too Much into your trip i would concentrate on 3 weeks
in Oz with a 2day stop over on Hong Kong and just fly straight back
with an airport stop over. Australia is huge vast distances of travelling
you will be wrecked after your wedding day.
It is a long way away you will kill yourself with that itinery !
Click to expand...

100% agree with this, cut Fiji out if possible or even shorten, there really is not much to see and 5 days is way too much imo.
 
dublinflyer1 said:
Day 1. Fly Dublin - Heathrow - Hong Kong.
Days 2-4 Spend 3 nights in Hong Kong
Day 5 Fly Hong Kong - Cairns.
Days 6-8 Spend 2 nights in Cairns and explore Cape Tribulation.
Day 9 Roadtrip begins. Cairns - Townsville (340km)
Day 10 Townsville - Bowen (218km)
Day 11 Bowen - Airlie Beach (257km)
Day 12 1 day cruise of Whitsunday Islands.
Day 13 Fly Hamilton Island - Brisbane
Spend 1 night in Brisbane
Day 14 Fly Brisbane - Nadi (Fiji)
Spend 5 nights in Fiji
Day 19 Fly Nadi - Los Angeles
Spend 1 night in Santa Monica
Day 20 Fly Los Angeles - JFK - Dublin
Day 21 Arrive home in Dublin
Click to expand...

When I visited Airlie Beach, Whitsundays we were travelling on a but up from Sydney. Took 4 weeks I think.

I definitely think 2 days on the WhitSundays
2 days Airlie Beach
If you are in Cairns as well as visiting Cape Tirbulation I recommend the Atherton Tablelands

We stayed in a lovely lodge there and did a 3 day I think group tour. Did some night kayaking to see all the nocternal animals. Went platypus spotting (didn;t spot unfortunately). Anyway the place is beautiful. I highly recommend.
 
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