Monsoon season in Whitsundays???

[gilld]

Does anyone know how badly we would be affected by the rain in January? We really want to go then to celebrate a big anniversary but it is monsoon season and Virgin quote 16" of rain!!!

Does anyone have any experience of the Whitsundays, specifically Hamilton or Hayman Islands, at this time?

Thanks in advance.

 

[dazeddaisy]

Honestly??? Avoid that time of year if you can. Yes it is cheap then, but it will be VERY hummid and hot. There will be alot of rain and you will not be able to swim in certain beaches.

If it is possible go around April. Its still warm, but less chance of stingers in the ocean and less rain.

 

[Miffy2003]

Gill, I am ashamed to say I have never heard of this place!

 

[kristieuk]

I haven't personally been there, but have friends in Australia that travel there quite a lot, and they always avoid this time of year because it is so humid and wet. It seems to me a very outside activity and beach based holiday and there might not be lots and lots to do whilst it rained. That's probably no help at all, but I would personally hate to be somewhere like that at such a wet time of year!

 

[gilld]

Gill, I am ashamed to say I have never heard of this place!

It's in the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia. We really want to go for our 30th but may have to reconsider. The hotels we're looking at are far too expensive to have the holiday ruined by rain - shame as we were hoping to tie it in with visiting friends who will be in NZ at the same time.

 

[gilld]

Honestly??? Avoid that time of year if you can. Yes it is cheap then, but it will be VERY hummid and hot. There will be alot of rain and you will not be able to swim in certain beaches.

QUOTE]
Given the hotels we have chosen in Oz and NZ and the fact that we shall be travelling UC - it won't be cheap!!!

 

[Miffy2003]

Thanks Gill! My geography has never been very good

It sounds like an amazing holiday.

 

[gilld]

Thanks Gill! My geography has never been very good

It sounds like an amazing holiday.

If it comes off!!!

 

[dazeddaisy]

Given the hotels we have chosen in Oz and NZ and the fact that we shall be travelling UC - it won't be cheap!!!

Just remember when you get there everything will be 2.4 times cheaper in oz and about 2.6 in NZ.

Hope you have an amazing time. You can always still do Haymen ect but just be prepared for rain. Or why not do Cairns and Port Douglas instead? Yeah there will be rain, but there is still lots to do there daintree rainforest, a few aboriginal sites (the names slip my mind), plus the reef is well a very short distance away.

What are you wanting to see etc and I might be able to recommend somewhere else in the area that is just as amazing but with less rain (townsville is on the reef and few amazing island near by). Otherwise, I know you can get flights to Oz for about £500 in May and the general price of things is a little less everywhere else as its not school holidays (but its better weather in the islands so its more expensive).

 

[gilld]

Just remember when you get there everything will be 2.4 times cheaper in oz and about 2.6 in NZ.

Hope you have an amazing time. You can always still do Haymen ect but just be prepared for rain. Or why not do Cairns and Port Douglas instead? Yeah there will be rain, but there is still lots to do there daintree rainforest, a few aboriginal sites (the names slip my mind), plus the reef is well a very short distance away.

What are you wanting to see etc and I might be able to recommend somewhere else in the area that is just as amazing but with less rain (townsville is on the reef and few amazing island near by). Otherwise, I know you can get flights to Oz for about £500 in May and the general price of things is a little less everywhere else as its not school holidays (but its better weather in the islands so its more expensive).

That's very kind of you but we really want to go to Hayman Island as we have had great reports of it and we like the look of it very much. DH dives and I like to snorkel - other than that we'll chill there.

We plan on about 2 days at San Francisco, a week or so at NZ staying with friends who will be there on a Sabbatical, 5 days in Sydney, 7-10 days at Hayman and 2 days in Hong Kong on the way back.

Flights of £500 won't be available I'm afraid as we plan to fly on a Round the World ticket - Business Class - I couldn't do those long flights in economy So far as we can see, we think the ticket will be around £3,800 - £4,000. The hotels we've chosen are quite expensive too - but it's to be a special holiday.

If we really can't go then, we'll reconsider the whole trip and maybe do something completely different. I'm waiting for the resorts to e-mail me back with their views.

Thanks for all the comments.

 

[CharleyUK]

Hi

Sounds like a fantastic trip. The weather in the Whitsundays does sound a worry though. We went to Oz in November, didn't get to the whitsundays but did go to cairns. We had one day where it rained ( our last day) and it rained hard . It was still warm/ humid and we managed to go on the daytrip we had planned. Not sure if you could have just relaxed it if wasn't an activerty day.

I wouldn't scrap the whole trip. Tropical north queenland is an amazing place with loads of great places to go. or even take a trip we did and drive the great ocean road from Melbourne to Adelaide - this was stunning

Just an idea- we booked our trip with a specialist Australia company. They had great local knowledge and offered great advice. They might have some good ideas. (I don't work for them!)
http://www.freedomaustralia.co.uk/index.asp

Hope you have a great time whatever you plan

 

[gilld]

Hi

Sounds like a fantastic trip. The weather in the Whitsundays does sound a worry though. We went to Oz in November, didn't get to the whitsundays but did go to cairns. We had one day where it rained ( our last day) and it rained hard . It was still warm/ humid and we managed to go on the daytrip we had planned. Not sure if you could have just relaxed it if wasn't an activerty day.

I wouldn't scrap the whole trip. Tropical north queenland is an amazing place with loads of great places to go. or even take a trip we did and drive the great ocean road from Melbourne to Adelaide - this was stunning

Just an idea- we booked our trip with a specialist Australia company. They had great local knowledge and offered great advice. They might have some good ideas. (I don't work for them!)
http://www.freedomaustralia.co.uk/index.asp

Hope you have a great time whatever you plan

Thanks Charley, I'll talk to them.