Regent tours A day at Gold Coast or Highlights of Brisbane and Lone Pine

Divided on which tour to choose. I have read wonderful reviews on the Lone Pine Sanctuary but we have a sanctuary tour in Townsville at the Billabong Sanctuary 2 days later. Anyone been on either of these?

Been to the Gold Coast and to Lone Pine Reserve. On my own and not with Regent.

IMO the Gold Coast is just another Ft Lauderdale style beach town.

Enjoyed Lone Pine Reserve. It is a cross between a zoo and wild animal park. There is a very large area with animals (kangroos, wallabys, emus, etc) running about that you walk thru.. Koala's are the main attraction. We took a ferryboat up the river to get there, Interesting scenery and countryside. I assume Regent uses buses.

Hope this helps.

J

Depends what you like - the Gold Coast is a bit glitzy a la Miami, but does have great beaches and the tour offers an opportunity for a dip. Lone Pine will be similar to the Townsville experience (without the emphasis on crocodiles). Personally, I'd take the paid Mt Tamborine tour - that area is truly lovely and a bit off the beaten track. Brisbane tends to be more humid that the Gold Coast, and Mt Tamborine is always a few degrees cooler than either due to its height above sea level. Happy to help with any queries about Australian ports.

We did the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary excursion with Regent about 18 months ago and can thoroughly recommend it.

A superb animal park/zoo where you can get up close and personal with koalas, kangaroos, wallabies etc etc

Still seems to get very good TripAdvisor reviews

The excursion to the Sanctuary at Townsville was also good and, from memory, sufficiently different to the one at Brisbane to make doing both not too repetitious.

Again it gets good reviews

Depends what you like - the Gold Coast is a bit glitzy a la Miami, but does have great beaches and the tour offers an opportunity for a dip. Lone Pine will be similar to the Townsville experience (without the emphasis on crocodiles). Personally, I'd take the paid Mt Tamborine tour - that area is truly lovely and a bit off the beaten track. Brisbane tends to be more humid that the Gold Coast, and Mt Tamborine is always a few degrees cooler than either due to its height above sea level. Happy to help with any queries about Australian ports.

Thank you for the info.

Depends what you like - the Gold Coast is a bit glitzy a la Miami, but does have great beaches and the tour offers an opportunity for a dip. Lone Pine will be similar to the Townsville experience (without the emphasis on crocodiles). Personally, I'd take the paid Mt Tamborine tour - that area is truly lovely and a bit off the beaten track. Brisbane tends to be more humid that the Gold Coast, and Mt Tamborine is always a few degrees cooler than either due to its height above sea level. Happy to help with any queries about Australian ports.

How is the walkway through the canopy of the rainforest? One of the people I am travelling with has some minor mobilty and balance issues.

How is the walkway through the canopy of the rainforest? One of the people I am travelling with has some minor mobilty and balance issues.

The walkway is popular with people of all ages and abilities - there is a wheelchair accessible section for example. So your fellow traveller should be fine for at least part of the walk. The full walk is 45 minutes, but you can do a shorter segment with mobility issues and still get a great view and be amongst the rain forest.

The walkway is popular with people of all ages and abilities - there is a wheelchair accessible section for example. So your fellow traveller should be fine for at least part of the walk. The full walk is 45 minutes, but you can do a shorter segment with mobility issues and still get a great view and be amongst the rain forest.

Thanks for this useful information.

Depends what you like - the Gold Coast is a bit glitzy a la Miami, but does have great beaches and the tour offers an opportunity for a dip. Lone Pine will be similar to the Townsville experience (without the emphasis on crocodiles). Personally, I'd take the paid Mt Tamborine tour - that area is truly lovely and a bit off the beaten track. Brisbane tends to be more humid that the Gold Coast, and Mt Tamborine is always a few degrees cooler than either due to its height above sea level. Happy to help with any queries about Australian ports.

Any suggestions for Townsville? Only 2 tours offered Townsville and the Billabong sanctuary or Townsville city and Reef Wonderland.

Townsville is a bit of a poor cousin to Cairns and the better known reef spots, and often overlooked by international visitors. But it is a reasonably large regional centre with much better weather than further north, and less of a focus on the tourist dollar. Of the two tours offered, the Billabong Sanctuary looks the better option. I haven't been there personally but it has good reviews on Trip Advisor both from locals and overseas visitors. Townsville itself will be very welcoming, but their best attraction, Magnetic Island, is not on offer to you, sadly.

It was 2012 when we did the Townsville excursion, so things might have changed...but the description is exactly the same one as we chose, so maybe the programme hasn't altered at all? Anyway, if you'd like to get a first hand view of the Townsville City and Reef Wonderland, then I blogged about it here As you can tell, it was a "tour of two halves" and were we to return I think I'd simply get myself to the two museums (which were great) and avoid the schlep around the suburbs on a bus. Actually a couple of posts earlier is our Mt Tambourine excursion, which was fun. Again, remember this was 2012 so things might not be the same...!

Townsville is a bit of a poor cousin to Cairns and the better known reef spots, and often overlooked by international visitors. But it is a reasonably large regional centre with much better weather than further north, and less of a focus on the tourist dollar. Of the two tours offered, the Billabong Sanctuary looks the better option. I haven't been there personally but it has good reviews on Trip Advisor both from locals and overseas visitors. Townsville itself will be very welcoming, but their best attraction, Magnetic Island, is not on offer to you, sadly.

Ok thanks. You know I am now going to look up Magnetic Island to see what I am missing!

It was 2012 when we did the Townsville excursion, so things might have changed...but the description is exactly the same one as we chose, so maybe the programme hasn't altered at all? Anyway, if you'd like to get a first hand view of the Townsville City and Reef Wonderland, then I blogged about it here As you can tell, it was a "tour of two halves" and were we to return I think I'd simply get myself to the two museums (which were great) and avoid the schlep around the suburbs on a bus. Actually a couple of posts earlier is our Mt Tambourine excursion, which was fun. Again, remember this was 2012 so things might not be the same...!

Thanks I am interested in reading your blog about the other ports too.

tropical dreams, there are quite a lot of them :eek:!