Crocs aren’t the one creatures to be conscious of throughout a visit to the Tropical North – cassowaries also can trigger people critical harm. Fortuitously, such incidents are uncommon, and normally solely happen when a vacationer tries to feed them or they’re defending their chicks. Seeing the prehistoric birds within the wild is a thrill, and there are many locations to do it in these elements. Keep at Etty Bay Caravan Park on the aptly named Cassowary Coast and also you’re just about assured a sighting. Simply don’t get too shut.

It’s important to put on a stinger swimsuit

When you’re visiting throughout stinger season, from round October/November to Could/June, it’s essential to swimsuit up earlier than getting within the ocean to keep away from any nasty encounters with venomous field or Irukandji jellyfish. The most secure choice is a full-length model, which comes with a hood and mits. You may really feel a bit like a seal, however it can make an incredible Instagram publish.

Locals favor to swim in recent water

When you can take a dip within the giant, man-made lagoon on Cairns Esplanade – and lots of locals just do that – their most popular stinger-free place to swim is the attractive freshwater waterholes and waterfalls you’ll discover only a bit inland. Locations like Crystal Cascades and the whimsically named Fairy Falls, solely about 20 minutes’ drive from the town, are good locations to chill off.

Coconut bushes are ‘de-nutted’

Right here’s yet one more merchandise for the record of issues that may kill you in Cairns: coconuts. Fortuitously, the intelligent folks at Cairns Regional Council – who clearly perceive the worth of protecting vacationers alive and out of the headlines – recurrently recruit arborists to ‘de-nut’ coconut bushes alongside Cairns Esplanade and past.

There’s a fort there

Castles aren’t precisely a typical sight in Australia, so it’s considerably of a shock to come back throughout one at Paronella Park, round 1.5 hour’s drive south of Cairns. The undertaking was the dream of Spanish immigrant José Paronella, who arrived in Australia along with his younger bride Margarita within the Twenties. The entrepreneur started his enterprise with a ‘pleasure backyard’ and a reception centre beside Mena Creek Falls, with the attraction opening to the general public in 1935 and nonetheless going robust.

It’s not only for backpackers

Regardless of being a backpacker mecca, with plethora of hostels, bars providing moist T-shirt contests and journey pursuits, Cairns appeals throughout demographics. There are fine-dining eating places to fulfill even the fussiest foodies, five-star accommodations with subtle rooftop bars and a few epic play areas for teenagers, together with Muddy’s Playground on Cairns Esplanade and Fig Tree Playground close to the cruise ship terminal.

Your tour information isn’t essentially going to be an Aussie

When travelling to regional Australia it’s solely pure to hope to fulfill Crocodile Dundee-esque characters, however with so many working holidaymakers descending on Cairns, that’s not all the time the case. Don’t be shocked if the information main your mountaineering tour or Nice Barrier Reef cruise comes from Brazil, Japan, Belgium or certainly one of greater than a dozen different eligible international locations.

It’s the one place in Australia the place two UNESCO World Heritage Websites sit side-by-side

Acquiring a UNESCO World Heritage-listing is not any simple feat, not to mention having two such wonders proper subsequent to one another. The area is named the place the place the rainforest meets the reef, with the oldest and most biologically various tropical rainforest on the planet — often known as the Moist Tropics — aligning with the 2300 kilometre-long Nice Barrier Reef.

It’s noisy

With a lot variety, issues can get just a little loud, so be sure to keep in mind your ear plugs. You received’t be the primary individual to be woken in the course of the night time by a noise that seems like a lady wailing, solely to study at breakfast it’s truly a bush-stone curlew – a big, ground-dwelling chicken with a piercing name. Spectacled flying-foxes, rain whistling frogs and numerous different species add to the racket.

The one place on the planet the place you possibly can swim with dwarf minke whales

Distinctive is a phrase that’s overused within the tourism business, however there may be one expertise right here that really matches the invoice. The Nice Barrier Reef is the one place on the planet the place you possibly can swim alongside dwarf minke whales, that migrate alongside Australia’s east coast to the nice and cozy waters of the area every year. A handful of operators supply multi-day boat excursions in June and July.

The reef isn’t useless

Regardless of some headlines, the Nice Barrier Reef isn’t useless, however it’s underneath strain from local weather change. Whereas the frequency of mass bleaching occasions is actually rising, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) recorded the best quantity of onerous coral cowl in additional than three many years within the Reef’s central and northern areas in 2021/22, so it’s nonetheless value doing a day journey.

The airport is near the town

Cairns Airport is simply round six kilometres north of the town centre, so that you could be sipping a welcome drink in your resort foyer inside minutes of hopping into your experience. For this we are able to thank aviation pioneer Tom McDonald, who started flying a Gypsy Moth he’d purchased from Qantas from a runway he constructed on a saltpan there again within the Twenties.

You will get there – and round – by prepare

There’s no denying Cairns is much (actually far!) from the remainder of Australia. However for many who love driving the rails, it’s attainable to get there by prepare. The Spirit of Queensland takes passengers from Brisbane to Cairns, with the 1681-kilometre journey taking about 25 hours. When you’re there, the Sixties railmotor The Savannahlander can also be a good way to discover the area.

There’s no Aboriginal dot portray, and never all boomerangs come again

Australia’s Indigenous tradition and artwork is wealthy and different, so don’t look forward to finding Aboriginal dot work right here — the type originates in Central and Western Australia. Native Indigenous artists usually tend to create ceramic sculptures impressed by fire-making sticks, hand woven ghost-net sculptures and lino-cut prints. There are additionally greater than 30 varieties of boomerangs made for searching totally different animals in Queensland, and only some are designed to return.

Multicultural delicacies

About one in 5 individuals who dwell in Cairns have been born abroad, and that multicultural combine is mirrored within the meals. Slurp down Vietnamese pho and banh mi at Cairns Night time Market, nasi goreng at Bayleaf Balinese Restaurant, and tandoori rooster tikka at Marinades Indian Delicacies. Chinese language New 12 months can also be enormous right here, with the town celebrating with a 15-day pageant that includes yum cha, lion and dragon dance performances, and a lantern pageant inside the pageant.
See: The perfect locations to eat in Cairns

It boasts Queensland’s highest mountain

It’s not all nearly reefs and rainforests right here. Queensland’s tallest mountain, Mount Bartle Frere, could be discovered 75 kilometres south of Cairns. At 1622 metres it’s about 600 metres smaller than Mount Kosciuszko, however the views from the summit are arguably as spectacular. The climb isn’t for the faint-hearted and may solely be tried by skilled, match bushwalkers who’re ready to camp in a single day alongside the way in which.

It’s remarkably inclusive

For an journey vacation spot, the Tropical North is extraordinarily accessible. At Skypark by AJ Hackett, folks in wheelchairs may even go bungy leaping – and accomplish that recurrently. Quicksilver Cruises has a platform at Agincourt Reef with a water-powered carry hoist that may decrease folks with disabilities into the water. There are additionally accessible boardwalks at stops alongside the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway and Kuranda Scenic Railway and at The Daintree Discovery Centre.