On
this page you have some ideas for Cairns adventures.
And there is no better place for the adventures - after all, Cairns is known as the adventure
capital of Australia for a reason.
Apart from the usual activities
like diving, snorkelling, sailing, canoeing, fishing
and horse riding, there are also plenty of more adventurous activities
such as
bungy jumping, skydiving, parasailing, jet boating, white water
rafting, hot air ballooning, you name it.
Let's have a closer look.
Adventures In the Air
Bungee
Jumping Australia
Yes, there is bungy
jumping in Cairns, but not in the city.
It's along
the Northern Beaches way - turn left at the sign to the James
Cook University.
Jungle
Swing is in the same place. You can also get a combo,
or do the both unlimited
times :-)
Cairns
Skydiving
Skydiving
is also one of the popular Cairns adventures.
There are a few companies
on Grafton Street, Sheridan Street and the Esplanade.
They
take you out to the beaches where you get a good free fall with some
great views over the ocean and the reef.
Helicopter
Flights
You can take short, 10 or 30 minutes scenic helicopter flights over
Cairns, its harbour and Trinity Inlet.
Or, you can take a longer flight
to coral reef islands, tropical rainforests or Port
Douglas,
and if you
wish you can fly one way and sail the other. You can also combine the
flight packages.
Scenic
Flights
There are shorter, 15 minutes airplane flights to Sandy Cay, Green
Island and the Great Barrier Reef; and there are longer
ones
to Cape York.
Plane and
helicopter
flights
take off from General Aviation near Cairns Airport, and from Cairns
Yacht Club near the Marina in the city centre.
Hot
Air
Ballooning
While
a lot of hot air ballooning is advertised in Cairns, this activity does
not actually happen in Cairns but in the so-called Ballooning Capital
Mareeba,
60km
inland.
Buses pick you up either in Cairns, or at the Mareeba
Tourist Information Centre, and the trips include breakfast.
Adventures in or on the
Water
Scuba
Diving in
Cairns Scuba
diving is the best in coral reef, and the Great Barrier Reef is the
world's largest.
You can watch coral fish, giant clams, sea
stars and other coral
reef animals. You
don't need to be a certified diver - you can also do your
license on those trips.
White
Water
Rafting
The closest and cheapest way of doing it is a half
day trip in Barron River in western Cairns.
A more
expensive,
but highly popular is a day
trip to Tully River in
Wooroonooran
National Park. There are also two
day trips to North
Johnstone River in Wooroonooran National Park.
Parasailing
and Jet
Boating
Ride a jet boat,
glide behind a parasailing
vessel, or ride a
white water tube
just outside the Esplanade.
Other Cairns adventures include guided jet
ski tours in mangrove channels and around
Admiralty Island.
Most depart from Cairns Marina.
Cable
Skiing
You can water ski, knee board and wakeboard at Cable Ski, just
north of
Tjapukai
Aboriginal Park and the Cairns end of Kuranda Skyrail station, north
of
Smithfield, along the Cairns northern beaches road (Cook Highway).
It's
reasonably cheap at hourly prices and it's lots of fun!
Scuba
Diving Adventures
On this
page you have some scuba diving trips in Cairns.
While
snorkelling can easily
be done close to the coast, diving trips often go out to the outer
reef, where waters are deeper at the end of the continental shelf.
Many companies combine diving
and snorkelling
trips and also
cater
for people who only want to watch the reef through a glass bottom boat.
Some have night diving, even with with
a dinner and star gazing.
On this
page are some trips,
the full list with prices and contact details is in the Destination
Guide.
Scuba Diving Trips to
the GBR
By
Saspotato via Flickr.com
By Anthony Pearson via Flickr.com
Breakfasts, lunches and dinners are most often included in the price,
as is coffee and tea.
Alcohol is most often available onboard for
extra cost.
You don't need to be a
certified diver.
Most companies also offer
diving courses, where in the end of the course you can get a diver's
licence.
Those are usually a few days' courses that consist of a
practical as well as a theoretical part.
If you are a certified
diver,
you likely know that you can choose between different
levels depending on how advanced you want it to be.
Some companies also offer undewater photography courses, and underwater
camera hire.
Most tour operators
depart from the
fingers at Cairns Marina.
Scuba
Diving and Whale Watching
Although
Cairns is not one of the best places in Australia to watch whales, during
the
winter months you can see dwarf
minke whales, and bottlenose dolphins
are
usually seen all year around.
The tours that pass through where there
are whale sightings make an extra effort to get close enough, and some
companies have the permits to let you swim with whales and
dolphins.
White
Water Rafting
There are
a few good white water rafting trips from Cairns.
The two
most popular options
are Barron
River, which is in Cairns,
and
Tully River,
which is a fair way south of Cairns, but being the most popular place
for the activity in the whole country, is worth the drive.
They pick you up from your accommodation
and bring you back after the
trip.
You have to wear clothes and shoes that WILL get wet.
Bring a
towel and sunscreen.
And be prepared for a
GREAT day out!
Half
Day on Barron River
This
is your best rafting option in Cairns, if you are not up to an early
morning and a long drive - Barron
River is in northern Cairns so you
will waste no time on getting there.
It is a beautiful gorge and the
rapids are graded 3.
Full
Day on Tully River
This
is the most famus place for white water rafting in Australia - but it
takes longer to get here. Tully
River
is about 150km south of Cairns
and you will have a long day starting early in the morning. The rapids
are grade 4
so it's harder
than Barron River and even more fun.
Bungee
Jumping Australia
So where
is there bungee jumping in Australia?
It is
quite
incredible that in an adventurous country like Australia, right next to
the bungee birth-country New Zealand, there
is only one place to do bungee jumping in Australia!
And the place is Cairns
- the city also known as Australia's adventure capital.
The rumour went
in the old days that you got it for free if you jumped naked - I
have
never gone to find out.
I did do my own bungy jump
-
in the place where it first started at the Kawarau
Bridge near Queenstown in New Zealand
(unfortunately it was before digital cameras and the photos of it are
back in Europe so I couldn't put one up here).
But I can tell you it's
a
fantastic thing to do!
It's scary first to take the step, but
once you have jumped off, you
will not regret it!
Thinking back to it makes you smile for a good few days, and you will
never forget it.
Get
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It
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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
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Not to mention locals'
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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.