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Port Douglas - Holidaying with Young Children and Babies

Port Douglas - A Great Place For Young Children

There are not many holiday destinations that are as perfectly suited as a getaway for a young family with young babies such as Port Douglas in Tropical Far North Queensland, Australia. 

Miles of stroller friendly beach along Four Miles Beach, with waves that are so gentle as to be more like ripples and a host of activities for the young ones and for Mums and Dads. It’s safe, the weather is perfect and there is so much to see and do for the whole family.

Accommodation with Children in Port Douglas

With a host of self-contained Holiday Apartments and top resorts it’s no problem to find accommodation that really suits your family, whether self-catering in a Holiday Home or a suite in a hotel in Port Douglas. Most accommodation in Port Douglas has air-conditioning and a swimming pool (all with protective fencing) so you’ll be kept cool and safe in this tropical paradise.

Speak to your Cairns Holiday Specialists to find that perfect holiday accommodation for you and your children.  Our local holiday specialists can arrange a full family holiday package with accommodation and family day trips to take the stress out of your family holiday - Call 1300 780 806 or send us an enquiry telling us what you are looking for on your family holiday.

There are many day trips from Port Douglas that are designed to cater for the young ones and the natural beauty of The Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest will give children exciting and new environments to explore. 

Children and Wildlife Experiences in Port Douglas

Families will love a visit to Wildlife Habitat in Port Douglas with options to have Breakfast with the Birds, or Lunch with the Lorikeets - the kids will also love hand feeding the wallabies and the kangaroos.  Perhaps even take the older kids on a family riding a horse on the beach, Crocodile feeding at Hartleys Crocodile Adventures,  or maybe drift snorkelling through the rainforest on the Mossman River.

Families with young kids will love the Kuranda Day Trip - travelling up the mountains on the Kuranda Train, with free time to explore Kuranda and perhaps visit the Butterfly Sanctuary or Koala Gardens.  Then glide back down the mountain on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway as you travel over the rainforest canopy.

If you want to keep together as a family at your own pace then renting a car and just exploring as a family is a great way to enjoy your surroundings (forward facing seats for 0-4 yr olds and boosters for 4-7 yr olds, are available for an extra cost from most car hire companies).

Hiring Baby Equipment for Children in Port Douglas

Should you wish to hire jogger prams, change tables, strollers, cots, highchairs, play pens, swim vests or any other child related accessory that is too bulky to pack then you can just pick them up on arrival in Port Douglas.

If you do want to have some down time away from the kids then there are also nurseries and babysitting (equipment hire) available that can give Mum and Dad a bit of ‘down’ time.

On Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas with Children

Port Douglas has wonderful places where young children can have fun.  With Four Mile Beach stretching for four miles (uncanny that!) a beach, a bucket and a spade will have them happy for hours making sandcastles. There are some shaded areas so you can keep out of the way of the tropical sun and you can rent large inner tube rubber rings, sunbeds and sunshades on the beach.

Child Friendly Restaurants in Port Douglas

Some restaurants in Port Douglas are keen to offer free children’s food up to a certain age when adults dine and most restaurants have high chairs and children’s menus to accommodate children.  

You can even take your children to have breakfast with the birds, or lunch with the lorikeets at the Wildlife Habitat, which your family will just love. 

Activities for Children in Port Douglas

Just being around Port Douglas with your family gives you a host of tours & activities that don’t cost too much.  Rex Smeal Park at the mouth of the Dickson’s Inlet is a great open place fringed with palm trees where you can play ball, watch boats, string up a hammock (though wouldn’t think you would much get rest with children around) and there is also a playground and slides to keep them occupied. 

There’s also another children’s playground next to St. Mary’s Church in central Port Douglas, near the Sunday Markets at Anzac Park.

If you head to Cape Tribulation and Daintree then they can enjoy a tropical fruit ice cream made from fresh fruits grown on the farms. Other activities which children love –  cane toad racing (more for the larger children) and a ride on an old fashioned steam train the Balley Hooley.

 

Short Breaks With Young Children In Port Douglas, Far North Queensland, Australia

With the pressures of work and time and the limitations that people now experience in being able to take a long holiday, a short break with the family can be just the answer to escape and give you all a welcome break – Port Douglas is safe and perfectly placed.

Cairns International Airport is only one hour’s scenic drive away from Port Douglas in a hire car so not too far if you have restless children in the back (backward facing car seats and booster seats can be rented at extra cost at most car hire places).  By the time they ask ‘are we nearly there’ you will be!  From Sydney, Cairns airport is only 3 hrs away and from Melbourne, only 3 hrs 20 mins so not too much time to have to handle children that decide the novelty of plane travel has worn off!

Visiting the Great Barrier Reef with Children

With time being of the essence there are half day and full day tours to the Great Barrier Reef that families can go on.  The most popular reef trips to book with for younger children when exploring the Great Barrier Reef is to either go to the Quicksilver pontoon where they can snorkel in safety in an enclosed are and the boat is big enough to park a buggy with a sleeping baby on board. 

Once at the outer reef pontoon you can snorkel, go on a semi-submersible submarine or just view the fish in the underwater viewing balcony. The large boat and its facilities are accessible all day.

Another great tour with young children is the Low Isles, which is a sandy cay island 15km from Port Douglas.  Not only is it stunning for adults but children can play on the beach or go snorkelling in the shallow clear water.

There are permanent sunshades there so you can keep the children happy and cool.  They might even have a chance to steer the yacht and this island is well known as the place to go to if its sea turtles you are really wanting to see.

Unusual Tours and Activities for Children

We have put together further Family Friendly Day Trips to help booking your Port Douglas family holiday.

Kids 4 and above will love the half day Drift Snorkelling trip on the Mossman River - a unique way to experience the tropical rainforest.

Other trips apart from the Great Barrier Reef for children include a ride on a historic steam train “The Ballyhooley”.  This little coal-fired locomotive fills Port Douglas with the sound of ‘toot toot’ from its whistle every Sunday.  (currently closed - hopefully to reopen in the near future)

Short Breaks With Children Package Holiday Deals

You can pick up some great break away holiday deals to Port Douglas– just keep an eye on our daily deals as they come up and book you and your family a great holiday in tropical North Queensland Australia.

Keep an eye on these pages for Port Douglas specials and for great money saving holiday deals you cannot go past an all inclusive package for the family.

Adventure & Discovery In Port Douglas For Families With Young Children, Far North Queensland, Australia

There’s nothing better on a family holiday than to discover, explore and experience together. Whether being immersed in the local wildlife or jungle surfing through the canopy of the Daintree Rainforest your children are going to remember this holiday of a lifetime!

With it’s amazing diversity of flora and fauna, ecosystems and changing landscapes Port Douglas, Far North Queensland, Australia, is the centre of exploring all that the Daintree Rainforest in Cape Tribulation and the Great Barrier reef have to offer.

Discovering the Daintree Rainforest and Wildlife with Children

You can wander around the local Wildlife Park in Port Douglas where you can see and learn about strange animals. Your children will love the 1.8m (6ft) Cassowary bird – As big as Big Bird in Sesame Street! 

They can stroke a koala, a python and a baby crocodile (don’t worry it has its mouth sticky taped shut).  See a 5m (15ft) crocodile being fed and show off their 67 pointed teeth in their massive jaws.

Take a trip to Daintree Rainforest and explore the oldest rainforest in the world. At 1200km2 (745m2) this area of forest is the same size as Manhattan.  There is a great diversity of flora and fauna, of which, many species are only found in this little corner of the world.

This area is so pristine that scientists are finding new species here almost on a daily basis.

Children visiting the Daintree Rainforest

You can go on a tour with an Aboriginal Guide into the Daintree Rainforest where children will see body paint being made out of leaves that they can paint on themselves (don’t worry Mum, it washes off easily) and look at how some leaves even make soap.

Or just take the children on a jungle trek with an interpretive tour guide and the children will have so much fun learning that they won’t even notice they are in an outdoor class room.

The Daintree Rainforest is the oldest rainforest in the world and it captivates children and adults alike.

For bigger kids 4+ go drift snorkelling down the Mossman River, or try stand up paddle boarding under the green auspices of the Daintree Rainforest canopy.

Discover a selection of Family Day Trips from Port Douglas with the local holiday experts.

Exploring With Young Children - Islands, Beaches, The Great Barrier Reef From Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Young children like nothing new than to be stimulated by new environments and places.  The feeling of sand between their toes and the clear waters of the Coral Sea and The Great Barrier Reef will give them a lot to be happy in with this amazing tropical environment at Port Douglas, Far North Queensland, Australia. 

Port Douglas is another amazing gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and to the coral reefs that harbour such a huge diversity of marine life.

Children that are too young to manage a snorkel and mask can just wear swim goggles. All young ones will be amazed at suddenly discovering this whole new underwater world. To see all the brightly coloured fish darting around their natural habitat and the amazing formations of coral will be a sight they will never forget.

 All the Great Barrier Reef tour boats have children size fins, masks and snorkels and the Quicksilver pontoon even has a safe swimming enclosure for the little children.

With young children its advisable to take them to the QS floating pontoon or to the Low Isles where they have space to run around and enjoy everything on offer.

Visit Low Isles, the Great Barrier Reef from Port Douglas with your Children

The Low Isles has a few yacht charters out of the Reef Marina, Port Douglas that can take the family to this picturesque uninhabited island. 

When you arrive there is a shallow white sand beach that dips gently into the crystal clear blue water.  You don’t have to swim out very far to see the coloured reef fish and even some ‘nemo’ clown fish. And it is highly likely they may even come across a few snoozing or cruising turtles that frequent the Low Isles to meet up with friends and party!

There are shady permanent sunshades on the beach so you can keep out of the sun and, more importantly protect your little ones can too!

You can also go out on a glass bottom boat where you won’t even need to get wet and the children can see all the sea life happening below the waters surface.

To walk around the island takes about 20 mins so if your little ones are feeling active they might like to explore the island with you.

There’s an abundance of bird life that children love to watch as the Torres Strait Pigeons and Turns nest on the island and since they are so used to people being around children you may can get quite close to them without them flying away but his is not encouraged at all as you are disturbing their nesting. 

Even though the Low Isles is only 2ha sq. it supports an amazing 50 different species of plants.

Children and the Beaches, Port Douglas

For beaches, Port Douglas has the famous Four Mile Beach!  Framed with towering coconut trees and a mixture of native trees, there’s always a place to sit in the shade and set up ‘camp’ for the day.  Along the main beach front and in Rex Smeal Park there are public BBQ areas, so you can make a day of beach and cooking the family some snags on a picnic day.

Coastguards are on the lookout at the Port Douglas end of the beach and here you can also hire large inflatable rubber rings, sunbeds and sun shades.

If its lunch time or the children are feeling peckish then take them up the beach to the Port Douglas surf life saving club for a meal or a snack and you can also enjoy a cool beverage or two at the same time.

Children visiting the Great Barrier Reef from Port Douglas

The Agincourt reef system of the Great Barrier Reef is one of 2,900 reefs that make up its total length of 2,600km (1615 miles.). Your children will be discovering the largest living organism made structure in our world – that’s half the size of Texas and is bigger than Switzerland, Holland and UK combined.

On the Great Barrier Reef you will have a chance to see over 1500 species of fish, that’s an amazing 10% of the total fish of the world!

With six species of turtle seen here and over thirty species of whales, porpoises and dolphins you will be exploring an amazing part of the world.  You might even see a passing whale if you are travelling in a boat from May to September when Dwarf Minke Whales and Humpbacks come in to frolic in the warmer waters.

If you have young infants then the Pontoon at Agincourt Reef on the Great Barrier Reef might be advisable as this will give you room to bring on a buggy or a pram and allow for more room for changing nappies and bags.