To all the PNG wantoks who live in Cairns or who have lived in Cairns or those who have travelled to Cairns one time or another please i need ur help and advice here:
Here is the situation. I live in POM and am planning on taking my family to Cairns for the X-mas & New Year holidays this year.
We plan to stay for a period between 7-10 days.
I need information on the following:

Cheap room rates for 3 adults and 2 kids(under 2 years).
General spending on meals for 7-10 day period.
General spending(sightseeing, bus trips etc.)

Im prepared to budget for 10 000 PNG kina at this stage.
If there are any costs that i may know please let me now.
Thank you all and i await any genuine responses.

PNG mangi...

Bata,

From my various holiday experiences in Cairns I would propose;

1. Accommodation – you stay at one of the backpackers but since you are travelling with family you should find yourselves a holiday home or apartment which are usually very cheap, way too cheaper than staying in hotel rooms, preferable a 2-bedroom apartment/unit. The rates fluctuate based on high and low seasons of travel and also that you will get a good rate if you book early in advance and/or stay couple of days longer – 7-days or more is pretty good.

2. Food – dinner at the night market food courts should do ($5.50 – 12.50) depending on your apatite. Personally I would suggest if you do get to stay in one of the apartments you should do shopping for a week’s ration and cook yourselves this should save you lots of money.

3. General – if you can driver, then I would urge you to rent a car so you get see so many places and attractions. Unbelievable but you get to drive away a rental car for as low as $9.00 per day, and offcouse you can drive away using your PNG driving license.

I recommend you check the following websites as the information provided are practical and will assist you plan your holiday according to your budget.

http://www.cairnsholiday.com
http://www.cairnsholiday.com.au

Rait Lewa;

Mate..thnx for your genuine and informative response. I will try and take into account some of the infor you just gave.
Thank you very much once again..

Catch..

PNG Mangi

Rait Lewa;

lilik askim tasol: Please give me a rough estimate on bus fares and taxi fares in Cairns

Thnx for your time!!

Eh bata, bus and cap fares in cairns can be quite expensive. Brats ya tok lo rent a car, will work out much cheaper (especially when travelling with family) and also you get to go see the place easier.
Trust me, kanage save, sunbus in cairns isnt the most reliable source of transport, and cabs r a bit expensive

........olsem narapela brata (susa) tok pinis, bus service is not reliable. Of course there is the Black-White taxi service for your convinience. An example of the fare would be like: Boroko bus-stop to Taurama Foodland - $6.00-$7.00) (K15.00-K18.00)per trip but on the other hand I guess it is because of the traffic jams and traffic lights they have here.

Not to worry if you happen to stay in the city area as most attractive or shopping centres are walking distances. If you wish to take your family out of Cairns up the mountains then that would be the problem.

Maski, just hirim car na go lukim Townsville (4-hours drive) which you will also get to see lots of scenery and other small towns. You can drive up the mountains to Kuranda, the Tablelands and to Port Douglas - alot of places and things to see!

P/S: if you don't have a driver's licence, there's lots of PNGuineans so samting blo askim, there could be a genuine wantok there that could offer you a special package (vehicle+driver at a reasonal rate/wantok price).......olsem tok tasol.

wow!! isn't this great or what? some genuine person asks for help and annonymous people chip in with good advice and information.

man, i wish this was the trend on all the boards on pngscape!

wanbel stret!! keep it up!

Check http://www.wotif.com.They have the cheapest accommodation rates. We always book through them when we go on holidays.

Wantok,
if you are hiring cars in Cairns do not hire Avis, Hertz, or Budget, at the Airport.

Go into town and check the phone book. There are a couple of second string renters, that hire out cars about five or so years old. Much cheaper. Who needs a brand new car? I used to use them all the time. I have found the cars reliable and cheap.

Regards......Ralph.

orait gud one

So far PNGscape wantoks seem to behave like wantoks since this thread was posted. We are supposed to help our wantoks with information and not tearing each other down with crabs posted every where.

Hey wantok I once stayed in a Cairns backpacker it cost me about $40 dollar per night thought I can't remember the exact amount.

The estimated cost for accommodation if you stay in backpackers for 10 days will be $1200 (40 X 3 adults X 10 days )

In my next travel 12 of my friends want to travel with me to visit PNG as well as Cairns/Great barrier reef and Sydney, hence I am also looking into cheaper accommodation which I will share the info with you and other wantoks.

A) The best accommodation if you are staying for couple days is "Vacation rentals" of apartments, houses etc. The apartments I am planing to rent is listed on www.Greatrentals.com and I have enclosed the one link for you to look for the renting apartments in cairns. http://www.greatrentals.com/rental-property/p177541 The price is way cheaper than $1200 you will pay for backpackers. I have used Greatrentals to search accommodation during my travel and they give many opportunities to compare price, but you can use other rental companies if you choose.

B) Transportation - rental cars are cheap overseas as compared to PNG. I think you will save money by renting a car then catching bus and taxis, plus you go anywhere you want to go. As Ralph Hamilton said, it's cheaper to rent car elsewhere as compared to renting cars at the airport.

C) Food will not be a problem if you rent a apartment, you cook your own food and is best than what you get at the restaurant and fast food places.


Final remark - wantok that's the way to go, take your familly for a well deserve vacation coz we don't what tomorrow holds. Enjoy and all the best, hope these information plus what others wrote help you in planing you vacation

_____________________(~_~)______________God Bless_____________

Tenkyu maienduo and others. These information is helpfull