All in all it was a perfect and beautiful day with a very nice and funny tour guide! A little bit longer at the beach would have been great but it was the fault of the traffic jam haha!
A family experience of Sydney to Great Barrier Reef We rated this trip based on the activities and the places we stayed, which were very good. However, after leaving Sydney where everything was wonderful, things went downhill. The problems were based around the misinformation given to providers of the shuttle services and using the cheapest form of transfer. This resulted in being taken to the wrong hotel, and time (hours) wasted when we should have been settled and enjoying our holiday together as a family. Rather than sitting back and relaxing we found the whole experience extremely disappointing and stressful. The rail journey was terrible, 2hrs 40 mins late then it broke down. Not your fault but according to locals this service is unreliable always late and prone to breakdowns. The seats were uncomfortable, carriage was stuffy, no interesting scenery, inability to call or use the internet, absolutely nothing special about this train. Again, a total waste of 14 hours on that day. Our only complaint about the accommodation is the Mantra where we went without hot water to our 3 rooms, not good after a day on the beach, and while our accommodation at Airlie Beach was good, we were more than 2 kilometers away from shops etc., and without a transport service. Luckily, I found the Whitsundays tours had a shuttle; it would make sense to include it. To void any more stressful situations we finally hired a car in Cairns for the rest of our trip. Using a more efficient shuttle service and the suggestions I have written in your 'Review Company' section would make the tour better and the costs would not be that much different as I have already checked it out..
I recently completed the 6 day Rock 2 Water tour with Groovy (started Jan 31st) and it was without a doubt the best tour I have ever done! It was really well organised and the tour guide, Mark, was really knowledgeable. The bus was comfortable and the tunes were always bangers. Highlights for me included Uluru,Kings Canyon and sleeping in an underground dorm at Coober Pedy. Make sure you bring really comfortable walking shoes because there are some long hikes. Sleeping in a swag was an interesting experience but was actually pretty comfortable. The food was great, being a vegetarian was no issue on this trip either.Thanks again for the good times Groovy!