where to base ourselves for a couple of months

[glamourpuss]

We're heading to Australia for a couple of months and looking for a laid back, beach town (with decent diving) to use as a base while we're there.

We both work freelance online (IT industry) pretty much 30-40 hours a week and like to dive and chill at the beach on our time off. We'll definitely be doing some traveling while we're there (possibly a liveaboard or maybe Rodney Fox's shark trip) but for now I'm looking more for suggestions on where to base ourselves. Ideally we'd like to rent a furnished apartment for a month or two, somewhere we can work from comfortably during the week, and then dive on the weekends or days off.

Does anyone have suggestions on a town or area that might work for us? Been looking into Byron Bay, but also wondering if further north towards the GBR might be better. Would appreciate any thoughts on towns to check out, or tips on finding a monthly rental.

Thx~

 

[Stephiewinkles]

Hey there Glamourpuss,
you can't go wrong with the GBR, I'd recommend Cairns as you've got a choice of boats and different reefs to check out. You can get your liveaboards that head up the Ribbon Reefs to Lizard Island and even out to Osprey Reef for a Shark feed (Totally safe though). This live aboard trip is a 5 day and 7days including Osprey Reef. Once you've dived the GBR from Cairns and up you'll never look back. Accommadation is pretty reasonable as well.

 

[bracko]

reading the first two paragraphs I agree with Byron, but i don't know how much (if any?) real shore dives are around there. I assume you can jump in at all the beach headlands (which aren't that many as most beaches are quite long). apart from that there is obviously Julian Rocks, but the site isn't *that* big and you may become bored with it...

I'm assuming if you are a regular the cost of diving on the GBR is cheaper, but the rack rate on a decent boat is $200+ per diver per day. I think the cheapest boat is $160...

also, depends on what diving you're interested in? Sydney actually has a lot of diving to offer as long as you don't expect tropical reefs. heaps of shore dives and a lot of different diving off boats, 50+m deco dives to nice 12-15m walls.

 

[broncrider]

I would say somewhere around Tugun, quiet neighborhoods right on the beach and you are halfway of the the east caost. you can travel easily to the GBR and lots of shore diving and shorter boat trips, you can also travel very easily to the south.