Cairns
Cairns is located on the northeast coast of Australia in North Queensland. It is a pleasant, modern city best known as the gateway to the magnificent Great Barrier Reef. It enjoys a consistently warm, tropical climate with a rainy season from December to April.
Cairns has a busy harbour and waterfront with many commercial and pleasure boats, small supply boats, ocean going yachts, cruisers, tour boats and countless fishing vessels which are all moored here. There is a boardwalk and a huge swimming lagoon on the esplanade. A sports fishing trip offers an action-packed day on the water, chasing marlin, sailfish and tuna. Enjoy the luxury facilities and take home some freshly caught fillets of fish.
Cairns has a host of things to do. There are plenty of shops, cafés, restaurants, gift shops and an air-conditioned mall. Take the small train to Kuranda along precipitous ledges through the mountains and pass the impressive Barron Falls and Stony Creek Falls. Kuranda is a charming old town with some souvenir shops, galleries and small cafés. Return on the Sky Rail, a cable car which rides high above the Barron River and the tropical rainforest canopy.
Cairns is where two of the world’s natural wonders meet – the tropical rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. The Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation are wonderful places to explore in a 4WD. A little way inland are the Atherton Tablelands where farming can be seen on the high plateau.
The Great Barrier Reef can be enjoyed in many ways. This breathtaking underwater garden of colourful anemones, corals and giant clams is home to clown fish, butterfly fish, congor eels, stingray, parrot fish, pipe fish and huge shoals of other colourful fish. Snorkeling and scuba diving bring visitors into close contact with this underwater world, or you can see them from a trip on a glass-bottomed boat or a semi-submersible craft.
Green Island is just off the coast of Cairns and can easily be reached by ferry. It is a coral cay with beautiful sandy beaches and has an underwater observatory and great snorkeling from the beach.
Image: Cairns Underwater World