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Cairns
The capital of Far North Queensland. Cairns has it all, in a small area. It is a tourist mecca, with the Great Barrier Reef, The Atherton Tablelands, Cape Tribulation, The Daintree, Port Douglas, etc, on the doorstep. It also all the adventure sports you could wish for. It's alive all year round, but especially in the dry, beween May and November.
The city centre is quite small. At the section of Shields Street and Lake Street you have city place, the centre. On the shore, you have the lovely artificial lagoon. This was needed as the one thing Cairns is missing is a beach close to the city. The shore is just mudflats, plus there is the danger of crocodiles and stingers. The lagoon is on the esplanade, which is a great place to go for a stroll, or check out the many shops, cafés, or restaurants.
Cairns is good for cycling as it's flat, not too big, and has plenty of cycle lanes. There are places that sell you bikes and will then buy it back off you when you are leaving, and there are places that will rent you bikes. Sunbus run services from Lake Street Transit Centre all over Cairns. The train station is behind the massive Cairns Central shopping centre. Black and white Taxis have a rank on Lake Street and outside Cairns Central
- Crystal Cascades - rent a car and head 20km to the south where you can go for a swim in the swimming holes. Very nice place.
- Cairns Tropical Zoo - near Clifton Beach on the Captain Cook Highway.
- Hartleys' Crocodile Farm - massive crocs as well as other Aussie wildlife.
- Mossman Gorge - towards Cape Tribulation, great for swimming and a hike through the forest.
- Diving and Snorkelling - a great area for this as the GBR comes quite close to the surface. Do a live aboard to see more unspoilt reef. Make sure to rent an underwater camera if you don't already have one. It might seem expensive as first ($60 + price of cds) but you will get hundreds of photos for that price rather than a few bad quality ones with a disposable.)
- Skydive - there are lots of companies offering skydiving here, one of the best places to do it is over Mission Beach, just south of Cairns. They will bring you down there from Cairns.
- Bungee - AJ Hacket, a 43m high tower awaits you at their bungee site. There's also a jungle swing. They have a great offer of unlimited bungees for a certain price. It works out very cheap even if you only do two.
- White Water Rafting - some of the best rafting in Oz is in the this area. The easiest is the Barron River, the Tully River is more exciting, and the North Johnstone River is for serious rafters, you will get airlifted in to start the raft through rainforest.
- Head North on the Captain Cook Highway if you want to go to the beach. These are know as the northern beaches and they include Ellis Beach, Palm Cove, Yorkeys' Knob, and Clifton Beach. They are really fabulous beaches and well worth the short drive .
Pubs
Not only are there plenty of bars in Cairns, a lot of the are near each other which makes for great bar crawls. There's a fantastic backpacker scene, it is truly party central.
- PJ O' Briens (Shields Street) has the coyote ugly girls, The Woolshed (Shields Street) is a wild late bar, Shennanigans (Spence Street) has a great beer garden, Gilligans (Grafton Street), Johnos Blues Bar (Aplin Street) is great for live music. They have a mix of experienced blues players playing there as well as up and coming bands and basically anyone who wants to have a go. You will probably meet Johno as he goes around to hostels to drum up some custom.
Restaurants
Head to the esplanade and take a walk along the strip. There's cheap eats and expensive dining, ie the night markets, La Pizza etc. The best places for backpacker meals are the Rhinobar (Lake Street), The Woolshed, Shennanigans. The Cock and Bull has large meals for a decent price. Hogs' Breath is the same.
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