On
this page you have some ideas for Cairns activities.
Cairns may
not have a lot of
museums and real tourist attractions,
but it is a great city
for a lot of different
outdoors activities.
It has a perfect climate
and it is close to beautiful tropical
rainforests and coral reef - perfect place to enjoy
snorkelling and diving, kayaking, sailing,
fishing, horse riding, bird watching just to name a few.
Water
Based Activities
Snorkelling
and Scuba
Diving
Snorkelling and scuba
diving in
the Great
Barrier Reef are some of the
most popular Cairns activities. If you
are visiting from other
states, a
Great Barrier Reef trip is a must. The reef is closest to the
land up
here so all the different trips
and tours
are cheaper than further south in
Queensland.
Sailing
in Cairns
Sailing is always a great way to spend a day. There is a sailing club
in the northern end of the Esplanade.
And there are some great sailing
tours that depart from Cairns marina and go to Green
Island, Fitzroy
Island, the
Outer
Great Barrier Reef, and Low
Isles outside Port Douglas.
Other
Water
Sports Cairns is
an
excellent place for all sorts of water sports from kayaking and canoeing to water
skiing, jet
boating, parasiling, kite surfing, cable skiing, white
water rafting
etc.
There are plenty of places for water sports along the whole coast of
Cairns
as well as Northern Beaches.
Cairns
Fishing
Tours
You
can join a fishing
tour, or hire a boat (there is a place in the
Marina).
There are different tours that can take you out to the reef,
or into Trinity Inlet and mangrove habitat in river mouths, where you
may even spot a crocodile.
Most fishing tours depart from wharfs
B, C and D at the marina.
Other Activities
Horse
Riding
Different companies do horse riding trips in the rainforests
west of
Cairns, in
Goldsborough Valley
in Wooroonooran
National Park, in Cape
Tribulation, and
on Wonga Beach
in Daintree
National Park.
It is a great way to enjoy those beautiful
places if
you are into horse riding.
Bicycle
Tours
There
are also bicycle tours in and around Cairns, and
some even go to southern parts of Cape York, to
Port Douglas,
Laura and Cooktown.
They
follow the cyclists
in a vehicle that carries all the supplies, spare parts and
whatever else is needed.
Motorbike
Tours
Motorbike tours are very popular and most of the ones that start in
Cairns go to some parts of Cape York peninsula.
Some go to southern
Cape York such as Lakefield
National Park, Laura,
Lions Den and
Cooktown,
while others go to the Tip
of Australia and even do the Old
Telegraph Track.
Other
Adventures
There are plenty of more Cairns
activities andadventures
that you
can enjoy in and around Cairns, such as skydiving, bungy
jumping,
jungle swinging, parasailing, cable skiing, jet boating, white
water rafting, hot
air ballooning, and taking scenic plane, seaplane and helicopter
flights.
Cairns Sailing
Cairns sailing means sailing
above and around coral reef!
It means
sailing around the
largest coral reef in the
world
- the Great
Barrier Reef.
The waters are bright
blue and you can see large turtles,
whales, dugongs,
dolphins
and other beautiful
marine animals,
and of course, lots of islands and lots of coral reef.
The whole experience is
just great!
Sailing Trips
Sail
from Cairns to Green Island
This trip departs from Cairns with a morning tea. On Green Island, you
get to
snorkel or dive to
watch corals, and then eat buffet lunch. Then you get to enjoy the beaches and
rainforest, visit the Marineland Melanesia and see the world's largest
captive crocodile.
Sail
from Cairns to Low Isles
A 30 metres luxury sailing catamaran with a fully licensed bar will
take you to Low
Isles,
where you can
swim, snorkel or watch corals from
a glass bottomed boat. A marine biologist is onboard and there are also
good chances to see dugongs and green turtles.
Sail
from Cairns to Outer Great Barrier Reef
A Cairns sailing trip to Oyster Reef to dive and snorkel. Great
Barrier Reef is a great place to scuba dive - you can watch
the coral life - colourful fish, giant clams, small sharks. Both
introductory and certified dives available. Or you can just snorkel.
Buffet lunch included.
Trips in Whitsundays
Sail
around in Whitsundays
This is obviously out of Cairns area, but I had to mention -
Australia's
number one sailing destination is the beautiful Whitsundays.
This is a full day sailing trip through Whitsunday Islands on a fast
catamaran, all meals, refreshments and snorkelling included.
All the tour details are in the Destination Guide.
Get
this 50 pages
guide totally for FREE.
It
contains information that helps you getting started with planning of your trip.
You get to make early-stages desicions such as when to go, how long time you
should take, how to get
there and get
around, where
to stay (general info), what
will it cost..
and a short insight to what is there to see and do in Cape York.
This complete 300 pages
travel guide is all you need before and during your trip. Besides the
background chapters on the peninsula's history and wildlife; and the comprehensive detail about all
the places (down to prices, opening hours and full contact
detail), it has invaluable information on at least 10 four wheel drive tracks,
at least 30 guaranteed FREE
camping spots on the Cape (and at least 150 on your way to
the Cape), at least 40 best
swimming holes, all mapped; as well as practical things -
from fuel, roads, wireless internet and mobile phone reception,
how to deal with the national
parks booking rules; and Aboriginal land entrance and camping permits
and alcohol restrictions - to vehicle preparation and accessories and necessary recovery
gear by my vehicle-recovery-guy partner).
Not to mention locals'
tips on how to spot that croc and palm cockatoo ;-)
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This site uses British
English, which is the English we use in
Australia.
Disclaimer:
Although
best efforts have been made to ensure that all the information on this
website is correct, this site is not to be blamed should there be a
mistake.
This is the ORIGINAL Cape York Travel Guide run Locally on the Peninsula.