Queensland holiday

Our family's experience with this house was extraordinary. The property is immaculate and spacious, and so close to the beach that we could hear the waves meet the shore as we fell off to sleep. The house was great, with a large and well equipped kitchen and more rooms than we could occupy as a family of five people (parents and three adult children.) The location just outside Cairns was perfect for day trips to Port Douglas, the rain forest at Daintree, and boat trips to the Great Barrier Reef. The host/caretaker couple were friendly and eager to help (as all Australians seem to be!) and available for advice about the area and the little questions we had about the property, appliances, etc. Our correspondence with the owners was always pleasant and replies were quick and fair. It seems we should be able to balance this glowing report with something that needed improvement, but we're at a loss to be critical. Sure, it would have been nice to pay a little less for the five days we were there, but when we calculated what three hotel rooms would cost it was about the same, and no hotel would offer the comfort and convenience of such a property. We must have saved hundreds of dollars by preparing meals at "home" each day (there's a grill for fresh fish or kangaroo meat!) versus going to restaurants, a necessity if staying at a hotel, so all in all it even worked out financially well for us. This is a great property which we recommend without qualification or hesitation! Book it now and you won't regret it.

Our family of 5 stayed at the above property from July 18,2009-July24.
This rental was wonderful from the time I booked it online the owners corresponded with me via e-mail and every aspect of the booking and final result was accurate. The description of the property, the layout, amenities, we could not have asked for better service.
We were met at the airport by their host couple and driven to the home where we were provided with instructions on the use of the property. It was very clean and very well maintained. It had the comfort of our own home but in Australia and more luxurious. We have traveled extensively and prefer to stay in a home or condo instead of a hotel and this was one of the nicest we have stayed in.
The home has six very comfortable bedrooms four of them overlook the Coral Sea. You have a spectacular view of the sunrise when you awake every morning with a beautiful view all day long. The pool is an added bonus as you have a beautiful beach across the street that goes on forever. Our favorite thing to do every morning was to walk or run the beach.
You are 10 minutes from the airport and about 15 minutes from the city and mountains where there are unlimited things to do
Some of our favorite things were the reef cruises, Passions of Paradise was the best! We did 2 of them so we were able to compare.
Green Island seems to be the most advertised but it does not go out as far in the Barrier reef so the colors and the marine life are not as spectacular and It is a good walk to the beach from the boat. It has a hotel on the island which changes the flavor of the experience.
We took the Kuranda railway and skyrail which was also a wonderful day trip. The small village of Kuranda has wonderful shopping and restaurants. The Mango smoothies are great there!
We also took a day trip into the mountains called the tablelands found a place called Granite Gorge outside of Atherton. We spent a good part of the afternoon there. It is a result of a glacier of years past and has wild wallabies living among the rocks with swimming holes and waterfalls.The wallabies are adorable and very approachable, they eat out of your hands!
I can't say enough wonderful things about this property, It was so convenient to everything we wanted to do and we could also relax given the choice. I only wish we had more time to spend there!
The closeness of the city of Cairns was great also and there are some great shopping and restaurants there.

Our family stayed at Gary and Helen's wonderful home in March 2007. We were met at the airport, taken to the house and shown all the important things to make us comfortable. The setting is absolutely beautiful and the house had everything you could possibly need for a comfortable stay. After having lived in Tokyo for a few years, it was so wonderful to have so much space. My husband was especially grateful for the wonderful BBQ. He even cooked breakfast on the grill. There was a wealth of information on the area (Holloways Beach) and many tour brouchures at your fingertips. The home is located so close to the airport, Great Barrier Reef, Kuranda, Daintree Rainforest, etc. and the tours will pick you up at the hotel right in Holloways. So convenient. There is a fabulous cafe right on the beach that serves a great breakfast, a very nice restaurant next to it, pizza/pasta shop, bottle shop, grocery, deli, etc. The beach is great. Our kids had a great time in the home's backyard pool that also overlooks the Coral Sea. My husband and son booked an overnight fishing trip during this stay as well and had very good success reef fishing. We tried to book this wonderful place again a few months later when we returned for black marlin fishing, however, some other lucky individual beat us to it. If you ever have an opportunity to come to Far North Queensland, I would highly recommend booking this lovely home.