Cairns Tourist Traps

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At first I want to say that I absolutely did not create this tip in order to damage Tjapukai park or to tell people they should not go there. I have been there twice myself and quite enjoyed it. I only want to make visitors a bit more aware of that sometimes not everything you see is what it looks like.
My tip is based on the studies "Tourists and Aboriginal people" by Ryan/Huyton and "Tourism impacts on an Australian indigenous community: a Djabugay case study" by Dyer/Aberdeen/Schuler. I read both studies for my university degree, when I studied at JCU in Cairns and took a course called "Linking Indigenousness", taught by an Aboriginal teacher and involving several fieldtrips to tourism ventures. One of the aims of the course was to understand how the Australian tourism industry uses Aboriginal people.

The studies are really huge and have a lot of content, that's why in this tip I will only concentrate on things that I consider to be really important for tourists.

In the first place, Tjapukai Cultural Park seems to be a perfect tourism venture: It says it is the only authorised representation of the Djabugay people, and that it is owned and run by them, thus giving a true authentic experience and having only advantages for them. Well, this is not 100% the case.

* Djabugay people own less than 50% of the park
* there is no cultural commitee or anything of Djabugay people that authorises what is shown there - it's true that there is no other representation of Djabugay people, but that is because it is forbidden by contract. So they are not allowed to open any other tourism attraction representing their culture.
* there are a lot of employees who are no Djabugay and there are no Djabugay people in management positions
* Djabugay community has not much profit from the park as most money gets to the non-Djabugay managers, they only have just a little voting power
* the cultural displays are changed according to what the tourists want. Thus, the managers changed the dances so now they are not what the elders were told by their elders. There are a lot of shortcuts taken. So the question is: Is it really showing Djabugay culture?
* They play the didgeridoo in the park although this has never been played by Djabugay traditonally - again, how does this fit to "we show the culture of our ancestors"?
* the art sold in the shop is mainly not created by Djabugay people, but imported from other parts of Australia

As said above, I don't want to prevent anybody from visiting the park. I just want people to bear in mind that what you see there is a show, and it does not show contemporary Indigenous life world or experience, because I myself was shocked when I read about those things and I wished that someone had told me earlier.

Still it is worth a visit, as the the Creation theatre and the History theatre are very good.

Unique Suggestions: Bear in mind it is a show. Consider it as entertainment rather than a reliable source for information.

Fun Alternatives: See my Off the beaten path tip "Go hunting and gathering with Aboriginal people" and go to Cooya Beach with the Walker brothers!

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I personally know quite a lot of Indigenous painters who say they are poorly represented by most art Galleries in the Cairns area.
Some of these artists say they are paid a sum (sub) in advance for their work because they often need to culterally go'walk-about' and by doing this the galleries then have control,the painters never receive the true price of what they are really worth.
One artist told me that Local artists are promoted by the QLD Govt by going to T.A.F.E
(Technical and further education).
A very famous indigineous painter voiced her opinion and got put aside regarding her personal story.
The Jangurrarra Gallery on the Cairns Esplanade that only exhibited local authentic work has had to close its doors .

Unique Suggestions: Be aware of art not being traditional....
Doongal Gallery sells tourists many non-traditional boomerangs,so always ask who the artist is and where do they come from,some work is not local but comes from the Northern Territory and other areas of Australia.
Don't be conned.

Fun Alternatives: If you want to purchase authentic indigenous art and craft then ask the local people.
All their art tells a story and if they cannot tell then more than likely it is not authentic.
If not, then there are lots of copies of boomerangs and prints made on the production line overseas.

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Cairns Wildlife Dome is a small zoo/wildlife park in the big dome of the casino. They have all the typical Australian animals, like koalas, parrots, wallabies etc., but the zoo is very small and the animals do not have much space. In fact, it looks like they just tried to squeeze as many animals in as possible. The place looks very dirty and shabby. There even was a dead bird lying on the pathway which had obviously been lying there for days, but nobody of the staff cared to take it away. The animals look rather sad and are not very activ, some only sit in their corners. Then the staff showed a small mammal around (I don't know what it was, some kind of small marsupial), and all the visitors could pet it. The poor thing was obviously very frightened and tried to hide and to get free, but still the staff member continued in carrying it around and showing it to the tourists who pet it.
As it is very small, I was done in about twenty minutes - for all this, 22 Dollars really is too much. There are so many great zoos and wildlife parks in Australia that there really is no need to support this one. I know that I am not an expert, but I am completely sure that the animals do not feel well at this place and the zoo is absolutely not what it pretends to be: A wildlife paradise within the city.

Fun Alternatives: If you want to go to a wildlife park in the Cairns area, the Rainforest Habitat in Port Douglas is a great choice. There is also Cairns Tropical Zoo nearby, but I did not visit that one, so I don't know if it's good or not.

Everyone knows that Cairns is the place to go snorkelling/diving on the barrier reef from..well it's not...there is such an abundance of tour companies going out that the water is becoming murky, a lot of the coral is dying off and it's just not all that enjoyable....

Unique Suggestions: Use an eco-friendly tour company if you do go from Cairns as the reef is getting ruined from all the boats!

Fun Alternatives: Travel further down the coast. I did a trip from Airlie beach with 'cruise whitsundays' they are slightly more expensive but they are an eco-company, everything was brilliant, I did my first dive with them, I was really nervous, but they don't have more than 2 divers to an instructor and they have a platform for you to practise breathing etc before goign in to the deep water (a lot of companies just get you straight in the sea) They have a platform which stays out in the ocean, so there are changing rooms, good quality stinger suits, you get breakfast, lunch and snacks! You're really well looked after! A fantastic day! You spend 3-4hours out there aswell, so plenty of time for snorkelling before/after your dive!

And Airlie Beach is a small town but the bars are lively every night so well worth a stop off! And yu can get cheap trips out to Whitehaven beach which is the most beautiful beach I have ever seen!

This is not a trap as such, it's a warning. Cairns is a city which has a habour. BUT if you are going there please be aware that there isn't a beach within walking distance from the city area. There is a lovely board walk starting north of the Marina. This follows the Esplanade , which has many accommodation places and eating places.
When the tide is in the water comes to the boardwalk , when the tide is out there is only mud flats.

Unique Suggestions: Because Cairns has a huge tourist population , which includes hundreds of backpackers the Cairns City Council have built a very large swimming area at the south end of the Esplanade, near the Peir Shopping centre.

This swimming pool is great and has life savers on duty until late at night.
It has different depths to swim in.
Within the area there are lawns/Gardens and a great BBQ area ( no alcohol allowed in this area)

Also the accommodation around Cairns have pools. 99% do!

Fun Alternatives: Apart from swimming in the great Esplanade Pool, or visiting the Tableland Lake areas, or Lake Placid, which is just out of town, you can head to the Northern Beaches. One that I highly reccommend is Palm Cove.

Buses run to the Northern Beaches regularly.

Lots of tour agencies along the esplanade have signs saying they are the official tourism department of Queensland. Well,they are not! They are just private agencies who will sell you thier packages and you wont have the whole gamut of diving and adventure packages available for the reef area.

Unique Suggestions: Walk south along the esplanade, past the lagoon and pier, and right opposite the fogarty park, is the REAL tourist information center, sponsored by the government of Queensland. The people here are extremely friendly and will always show you the cheapest and value deal. We saved $100 for 2 people for a discover scuba package!

Check them out first and then walk to the other tour agencies along the esplanade to comparison shop.

The biggest problem in Cairns is the huge amount of travel agents. They all try to sell you trips to the Great Barrier Reef, Cape Tribulation, Kuranda, Atherton Tablelands, diving courses, etc.

All those trips are definitely worthwile, but it's important to look around for a good price before you book. Most of the times you'll get a discount when you book more trips at once, at the same travel agent. If they don't give you a discount: ask for one and tell them you'll go to another travel agent if you don't get one!

Unique Suggestions: Always bargain for a good price when you wanna make a trip. And shop around before you decide to book your trip. Don't let any pushy sales man talk you into deciding right away. Remember: it's your money and you can only spend it once! It sounds simple, but lots of people get fooled...

Fun Alternatives: Alternatively you can book all the trips in and around Cairns BEFORE you get to Cairns. All along the east coast there's travel agents who offer the same trips. The only downturn from booking them in other places is that you need a good travel schedule in order to be able to plan the trips that far in advance...

Its not so much as a tourist trap as a place that is absolutely fill of tourists. The skyrail iscertainly worth aone way tripat $36 with 2 stops on the way.
The market is good for buying souveniors. There are about 4 wildlife centres eg koala, bird etc which wouldbe better value if they sold a combined ticket

Unique Suggestions: There is a little bus from cairns there that only costs a dollar each way, don't know how he makes a profit when it only has 22 seats and its about a 30 KM drive