Secrets of the Reef
by Fish_Boy
You have to visit the Great Barrier Reef and here are the 6 best kept secrets of visiting the reef:
1. Get out of Cairns.
2. The more north you go, the better the reef is.
3. Port Douglas is just north of Cairns and has much smaller, freindlier, personalised boats that go to the outer reef. Its also a pretty little town and is right next to the Daintree World Heritage area.
4. Quicksilver is the worst outer reef product NOT the best - its the most well known but fails by taking 400 tourists to a single trashed site and giving them 2 hours to squeeze what they can out of it and charging $40 more than anyone else to pay for the fancy lunch and the massive fuel bill.
5. You do NOT have to scuba dive to see coral reef. Reefs are driven by sunlight so all the life is in the first few metres, not much beyond 10 metres. You can see 90% of stuff by floating on the surface ! Dive companies push scuba because it makes them rich.
6. My best tip is to go to with the best kept secret of the Great Barrier Reef... a small unassuming company called "Wavelength" (www.wavelength.com.au) which is the only snorkel specialist boat I know of. And they are in Port Douglas ! This is the boat I do all my underwater photography on.
Hope this helps. My best memory of Cairns is realising I couldnt hear the "doof doof" music from the nightclubs as I drove away from the city as fast as I could !
Flecker Botanic Gardens in Edge Hill, Cairns, QLD
by BeverlyTyler
PHOTO: CONSTRUCTED RAINFOREST DWELLING. THIS SIMPLE HUT USED A VARIETY OF READILY AVAILABLE PLANT MATERIALS. The Flecker Botanic Gardens is a wonderful place to explore the plants of the Cairns Rainforest Region. In addition to the many rainforest plants that exist throughout this past of Australia there is a special Aboriginal Plant Use Garden with a variety of plants used by the various groups of rainforest aboriginal including the Screw Pine, native banana, and corkwood (Marrada/Maratta -native rainforest name) which was used for canoes, weapons and music sticks and many other uses. One of the most interesting plants is Calamus, called Wait-a-While which was used to construct the frame of Aboriginal huts. It was called Wait-a-While because its thick groves often prevented passage through or at least slowed progress down considerably.
Airport
by grkboiler
The airport is small and easy to use. There is service to major Australian cities and international flights to nearby countries like New Zealand. An airport shuttle can take you to your hotel/hostel.
Scuba Diving Liveaboard
by pinoygypsy
Going on a 3d/2n liveaboard trip out at Great Barrier Reef is the way to go. You'd have around 10 dives including 2 night dives. It's also not just limited to scuba divers, snorkelers can also join the trip. A tip when booking your trip, the liveaboard price is cheaper if you book it in Cairns. Just have a walk around town. The price is around $50-100 cheaper than booking online or with any travel agent.
Great Barrier Reef
by kooka3
Cairns is the best starting point for the GBR. There are trip packages you can get, everything from single day to multi-week.
I did a day trip to Green Island with my sister. We spent a full day out there snorkeling, swimming, and picnicing. It was so cool!
Wear sunscreen, though - it was cloudy on the day we went out, and we both got burned.
You can see the corals everywhere
Signs to intrigue
Cairns Botanical Gardens
Cairns War Memorial
