Heaven
by Jewey
you will truly fall in love with this place and want to go back time and time again, its fantastic and something for everyone. What ever direction you look in there is a new and different lanscape to venture, the tropical rain forest, the rural area and the coast. One you go will fall in love with the place and the people. New years eve, woolshed, cairns. Locals were fantastic and the atmosphere was fantastic too. Cheers Peeps.
The waterfront
by dlandt
Like almost all towns in Australia, Cairns has a memorial to its war dead, this one is no exception. The memorial is worth a look, though it is comparatively conservative as far as most go, and there is a historical illustration of the town and its environs nearby. You can also watch the pelicans :)
Cairns International Airport
by ATXtraveler
The first entry point on your trip to Cairns will most likely be the airport. As Cairns is located in Tropical North Queensland, you must be ready for a couple day drive if you are not going to arrive via airplane.
Cairns International Airport has two terminals, one for domestic and one for international. The domestic terminal includes Qantas, Virgin Blue, and Jetstar. The international terminal services Qantas, Australian Airlines, JAL, Air Nuigini, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, and continental Micronesia.
One thing to watch out for is that since Qantas services both domestic and international itineraries, that you make sure you find out which one you are departing from, as you may be in the wrong place with all your baggage otherwise!
Rattle 'N' Hum
by grkboiler about Rattle 'N' Hum
Rattle 'N' Hum is an American/English style pub with cheap meals. It has a good atmosphere and nice waitresses. It is a good place for lunch, and a fun place to hang out at night. I had a sandwich and chips. It cost about AU$12 for my entire meal and drinks.
Snorkelling on the Outer Reef
by SPW
We eventually chose to go out on the reef with Calypso, out of Port Douglas. It certainly wasn't the cheapest trip, costing us each $140 with another $18 for the transfers but we were very impressed. It is a family owned/operated company and the 2 boats they run are very similar though the one we went on, Calypso 111, was only a few weeks old.
It can take up to 50 passengers, although we only had about 34, and I think there were about 6 staff. Morning, afternoon tea and lunch were included. We went to 3 different sites which showed us different aspects of the reef, and there was plenty of time for diving and snorkelling at each site. There was a talk about the ecology of the reef and a guided snorkel trip. There was a stong emphasis on safety, butlots of encouragement to have a go. There was a group of certified divers under the care of one staff member, many first time divers with others, and those of us who were snorkelling had our own staff member to supervise and encourage us. There was an olderMexican/American woman who was a non swimmerand with a lot of encouragement and assistancefrom the young staff member she snorkelled thee times and eventually had almost to be forced aboard, she was having such a good time.
There were a couple of experienced scuba divers who had dived all around the world who found the experience a bit tame and boring but for the rest of us it was a wonderful experience. The different fish, their behaviour, colors and sizes, the coral, the bomis with the deepwater drop-offs at the edgesI just love snorkelling.
I couldn't recommend Calypso's trip more highly.
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