Apart from
all the attractions,
adventures and
other
activities that
you can do in Cairns (and pay money for it), there are some things that
are totally FREE :-)
Below is a list of activities
that you can do without paying a cent! Go
swimming, enjoy beaches
and lakes, spend some time in the rainforest and get some exercise
walking or
jogging along the tracks that you did not know exist.
Fishing is also a great activity not only because you may end up with a free dinner,
but it also gives you good chances to spot some wildlife like wild
crocodiles.
Beaches
and Lakes
Swimming
Australian
beaches are not good for swimming because of sharks and other
dangerous creatures; and in Queensland you can add crocodiles and
jellyfish to the list.
While many
Queensland beaches
do have swimming areas, in Cairns we don't even have that. It's the Lagoon and it's
nice too.
Fishing
in Cairns
Fishing is a national activity in Australia. Ideally, you'd take a
dinghy to the Great
Barrier Reef.
If you
haven't got a boat, you can fish off beaches. Jetties, river
mouths and
mangroves are good places, which is why Cairns
northern beaches are popular.
Lake
Placid
Another place popular with fishing,
and swimming
- is Lake Placid. It is in northwestern Cairns, in a suburb called
Kamerunga.
It is a great
place to walk, enjoy the rainforest,
have a
picnic or cook a BBQ, fish for barramundi,
swim without crocodiles,
and
watch for wildlife such as Lace Monitors.
Northern
Beaches Walks Northern
beaches
are excellent places to walk and jog. You can walk
from Palm Cove
to Kewarra Beach,
which is a very long walk.
Holloways
and Machans Beach
are also connected. Trinity Beach and Yorkeys Knob are
shorter and not connected to other beaches.
Bird
Watching
The good thing about muddy beaches is that birds love them.
Pelicans,
herons, ibises and spoonbills all flock on the mudflats off the Esplanade walking track
during certain times and are easy to watch from a reasonable distance.
Just bring your
binoculars and camera.
Walking
and Jogging
The
Esplanade
Walking Track
Cairns
Esplanade has changed a lot during the last decade. Before the Lagoon
came in 2004, there was not even a place to go and cool down in the
water.
The new Activity Precinct is one of the best things to do in
Cairns and an excellent place to get your
daily exercise with ocean views.
Mount
Whitfield Walks
If you are into views and exercise, some great things to do in Cairns
are the two Mt Whitfield walks - the 1.5km Red Arrow, and the
6.6km Blue Arrow Walk
up to Mount Whitfield.
Both start next to the Tanks Art Centre near
Cairns Botanical Gardens on Collins Street. Great walks through
rainforest.
The
Centenary Lakes Walks
Nearby, across the street from the entrance of Cairns Botanical Gardens
on Collins Street, is one end of the track to the Freshwater and the Saltwater Lake,
and through a park down to Greenslopes Street.
The walk first goes
through an area of a beautiful thick mangrove
swamps.
Mangrove
Walk
More mangroves can be seen on the Mangrove
Boardwalk
off the Airport Avenue.
I have done many mangrove
boardwalks but this one is the best one I
have seen.
It's quite extensive and some of the roots are massive.
Just bring insect repellent as mozzies can be quite bad.
Crystal
Cascades and the Walk
In northwestern Cairns, near Redlynch, is another one of the great
things to do in Cairns - Crystal
Cascades - a lovely walk through some beautiful tropical
rainforest along a creek with
a lot of water cascades and a waterfall in the end. There are also
picnic tables and two swimming spots,
both in the beginning of the walk.
Drives
Barron
Gorge
National Park Drive
Not far from Lake Placid
in the northern suburb of Kamerunga
is a nice drive alocng Barron
Creek. In the end of the drive is the beautiful Barron Gorge with a
lovely
waterfall running down from the cliff, and a hydroelectric
station. White
water rafting trips start here and take you to Lake Placid.
Lake
Morris Drive
This
is another scenic drive, up along a mountain side, which starts on the
Reservoir Road between Whitfield
and Kanimbla.
The drive is narrow and steep in parts, and has a few good lookouts.
In the end of the drive is Lake
Morris with the Copperlode
Dam that is Cairns water supply. Quite beautiful.
Centenary
Lakes
Centenary
Lakes is a nice place for a walk in Cairns.
It is in
north Cairns, near
Flecker Botanic Gardens, and it is a good alternative to the more
popular Esplanade walking track, if you are after a walk.
Other than the area's northern end, it's not rainforest, it's a freshwater and a saltwater lake
habitat.
Most locals enter the park from the southern end - Greenslopes Street,
but this time I started from the north - just across the
road from the main entrance to Flecker
Botanic Gardens. The walk
to Centenary Lakes
starts in Collins Street, from an observation
platform.
There is first a loop to Fitzalan
Gardens and a Lily Pond, that goes past an interpretive
centre
and picnic tables.
But the main walk is along the Rainforest
Boardwalk
to Centenary Lakes.
It goes through coastal
lowland swamp rainforest - the vegetation that
covered much of the Cairns area before the city was
built.
It is a self guided walk, which goes past marked plant species
like Leichhardt tree, king fern, lacy tree fern, MacArthur palm, black
palm, climbing fig, scrub breadfruit, Alexandra palm, potato vine, fan
palm, wait a while vine, hairy fig, birds nest fern, native monstero,
quandong, cotton tree, weeping tea tree, Queensland umbrella tree,
weeping fig, golden Guinea tree, corky bark; a turnoff to a shortcut to
Freshwater Lake,
swamp pandanus, climbing swamp fern, mangrove fern, swamp lilly, and
elephant ear, before you come out to the lakes - Freshwater Lake on
your right, and Saltwater
Lake on your left.
From that shortcut turnoff, Freshwater
Lake self guided walk
starts. There are species like swamp pandanus, cotton tree, hairy
fig, swamp lilly, weeping tea tree, white water lilies, climbing swamp
fern, umbrella tree, lotus lily, New Guinea Ru, weeping fig, saw
palmetto, Queensland maple, West Indian royal palm, toddy palm,
everglades palm, gebang palm, Florida royal palm, Australian arenga
palm, mangrove palm, coconut palm, serdang palm, fan palm, scrub
turpentine, Fiji fan palm, golden cane palm, foxtail palm, cabbage
palm, golden Guinea tree, spiny headed mat rush, screw pine and
different mangrove
species.
At the walk's end you come to Saltwater
Creek
and continue walking north along the creek. Further north you have
different options such as turning left to return to Fleckers Botanic
Gardens, continue north to Collins Street and Tanks Art Centre, or turn
right, cross the creek over a bridge, and continue south past Saltwater Lake.
There is a shelter,
picnic tables, and a section with tropical food plants.
The Centenary Lakes park was
created in
the 1970s as part of the celebration
of Cairns Centenary in 1975. In 2007, the park was added
to Flecker
Botanic Gardens.
Fishing
in Cairns
So where
is there good fishing in Cairns?
Locals
fish
right at the Esplanade
at the
high
tide - mostly the northern end.
The mangrove
areas around the Airport
and in the Trinity Inlet
are
also good for fishing.
Northern Beaches
are good, particularly close to river
mouths. Fishing
from
river mouths and beaches you can catch barramundi, mangrove jack,
queenfish, fingermark,
trevally - only to
name a few.
Fishing, Barron River.
There is good
fishing along
the beaches
and in the rivers
both south and north of Cairns.
Fishing, Yorkeys Knob.
Inland, on the Atherton
Tablelands, Lake
Tinaroo is known for freshwater barra.
Camping
at Lake Tinaroo.
As you may know there are fishing
rules
- closed seasons, size limits and take and
possession
limits are all in the full detail in the Destination
Guide.
Fishing, Trinity Beach.
If you
have a
boat
or hire one, you can go out to the reef
where there is excellent fishing.
Cairns
boat hire.
There is
a
boat hire place at A
Finger in Cairns Marina. In the reef you can catch coral
trout,
red emperor, trevally, spangled emperor and other
yummy reef
fish.
Fishing charters
in Cairns.
You
can always take fishing
trips with tour
operators who take you out to
the coral reef
with a fishing boat. Most of them depart from Cairns
Marina, many from B finger.
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.