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| Unwind on Lizard Island/ photo: hotel |
SYDNEY harbour may be synonymous with Australia but for a true blue Aussie encounter, Cairns makes a more sensible candidate. For many years, this tropical backwater’s claim to fame has been that of gateway to The Reef. Yet Queensland’s tropical north is actually home to not one but a trio of Australia's natural icons – the Great Barrier Reef, the tropical rainforest and the Outback. That this city’s northern beaches are some of the cleanest on the continent hasn’t done its growing popularity any harm either.
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Not that it makes one iota of difference. Arriving right smack in the heat of summer (January), it was marine stinger season and the beaches were off limits to swimmers. Having spent the last six months saving for a beach holiday, all I could think of was “What kind of a beach destination is this anyway?” But no dip would be worth the severe muscular pain, vomiting, burning skin and soaring blood pressure that contact with box jellyfish or “irukandji” would bring. In some cases, your heart stops beating, which can totally ruin a holiday, even one this poorly planned. Eventually the marine stingers leave but the discovery of a “saltie” (saltwater crocodile) patrolling off a popular swimming beach brings the No-Swimming signs back up again.
These are just the first things to learn before planning your Cairns holiday with screaming family in tow. So on to our Cairns guide.
Cairns guide to family fun, adventure and sights
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| Cairns downtown: slow and steady |
To pre-empt the stingers and crocs, and compensate for Cairns city’s mangrove rather than sandy waterfront, a 4,000sq m swimming lagoon was built along the city esplanade. Beach towels and fiery red bodies now line every available stretch of turf. This free public pool has become the city’s focal point – the place to gawk and be gawked at. Also new is a three-kilometre-long boardwalk that runs along the mangrove-lined esplanade. Casual observations suggest that despite Cairn’s natural beauty, the attractions that leave the bigger impressions tend to be manmade.
That’s certainly the case with the Kuranda Scenic Railway. The ride traverses 15 hand-carved tunnels and 33km of dense, mountainous tropical rainforest before ending up at the fern-decked railway station of Kuranda. Kuranda used to be a hippy enclave in the 1960s but has since blossomed into a fine tourist trap. The hill resort offers a welcome respite from the blistering heat of the coast complete with soothing retail therapy in the form of the Kuranda Market. Here you can pick up really handy items like didgeridoos (aboriginal wind instruments), cowrie shells, stuffed koalas, and T-shirts.
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Amphibious vehicle “duck” rides through the rainforest are available at the nearby Kuranda Rainforest Station. Kangaroos, koalas and crocodiles are well represented in the park. Lessons on how to throw boomerangs and hurl spears are taught by aboriginal Australians and should add a whole new dynamic to interactions with friends and colleagues back home.
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| Vast expanse of Lookout Beach |
The highlight of the Kuranda excursion is saying goodbye. Because that means a cable-car ride over the mountains. The Skyrail Rainforest Cableway is a 7.5km cable car ride from Kuranda to Smithfield (which lies 10km north of Cairns), making it the world’s longest gondola cableway. This award-winning ride provides mesmerising views of the lush rainforest canopy below and the sheer expanse of the Coral Sea.
Speaking of which, I've not forgotten about the Great Barrier Reef, although I wish I could. As far as reefs go, there’s nothing terribly noteworthy about this one, apart from its size. Fish and coral life are not the easiest to come by. Maybe I arrived on a bad day. Maybe it was a bad site. Yet, on the right day, at the right spots, things can look colourful indeed. So said my Cairns guide.
Over 1,000 islands can be found off Australia's coast along the Great Barrier Reef. Many offer accommodation, which can range from camping grounds to luxury bungalows. Closest to Cairns is Green Island, a 12-hectare coral bay that houses a resort and an underwater observatory. Also popular with day-trippers is Fitzroy Island, a mountainous rainforest oasis surrounded by fringing reef formations.
Three hours south of Cairns, off the coast of Mission Beach, lies Dunk Island, which is also a national park. Also close by, Hinchinbrook Island is Australia’s largest island national park. North of Cairns, Lizard Island, some 80 kilometres north of Cooktown, offers magnificent beaches and excellent deep-sea fishing.
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| The Reef/ photo: Tourism Queensland |
In marked contrast, the Cairns cultural attractions were a surprise. The region’s colourful past offers plenty to tempt culture and history buffs. The Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park offers five theatres, a museum, an art gallery and a traditional Aboriginal camp.
A Taoist temple built by Chinese pioneers in the early 1900s has also been refurbished and reopened. The Hou Wang Chinese Temple, located in the Atherton Tablelands, was built to serve the spiritual needs of Chinese immigrants drawn to North Queensland by the prospects of striking gold along the banks of the Palm River. An onsite museum offers insights into the struggles and legacies of these early immigrants, and their contributions to trade and regional development.
But no family holiday in Australia – or a Cairns guide worth its salt – would be anywhere near complete without an adventure ride of some kind. Adventure tour operator Raging Thunder can arrange All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) rides, hot-air ballooning, and white-water rafting.
Another sure fire way to get the adrenalin going is to run out of money halfway through your holiday. If you’ve been following the meteoric rise of the Australian dollar, this isn’t as impossible as it sounds. In October 2002, one Australian dollar was worth US$0.55. One year later, it was US$0.70 – a gain of about 30 percent. On the exchange rate front, A$1= US$0.93. If you're looking for a travel bargain, or any kind of bargain for that matter, look elsewhere.
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| Top-end Shangri-La Hotel/ photo: hotel |
But if you’re still willing to pay that extra bit, Cairns is perfect for family holidays. In terms of proximity to facilities and the scope of tour offerings, few destinations offer more per square mile. Cairns International Airport is a 10-minute drive from the city. The Cairns city centre itself is quaint, laidback and small enough to cover in half a day. Here you'll find the usual suspects – dive shops, travel agents, restaurants, pubs, cafes, souvenir shops and department stores.
Three hours north of Cairns, the rainforest meets the reef. Cape Tribulation, or Cape Trib as the locals know it, is where these two UNESCO World Heritage regions exist side by side. And this makes the quaint village a nature lover’s paradise of walks, treks, dives, and river cruises. The beach resort of Port Douglas lies 80km north of Cairns and boasts six kilometres of pristine palm-lined beach. Decidedly upmarket, Hollywood celebrities and ex-US presidents have reportedly paid large sums of money for their own piece of Port Douglas paradise.
Lying an hour-and-a-half southwest of Cairns and easily the prettiest town on the Tablelands, historic Yungaburra is a great place to escape the summer heat of the coast. It is an excellent base for the exploration of the Atherton Tablelands and the Lakes District.
Cairns hotels, backpacker hostels and budget inns
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| Kite surfing at Yorkey's Knob |
Despite an expanding visitor profile, Cairns hosts plenty of backpackers and accommodation has in the main been shaped by this. But that's gradually changing as more niche operations are springing up, particularly in the upmarket resorts of Port Douglas and Palm Cove. So where to park your head for the night after a strenuous day of swimming (if the jellyfish aren’t around) or sightseeing? There are a number of options whether you’re on a backpacker budget or willing to throw some serious cash around. Good value family friendly hotels in Cairns are never a problem.
Some familiar hotel brands are stationed within a five-minute radius of the CBD and most have the requisite pool that you’d expect (and need) in the tropics. These include The Hilton, the recently renovated five-star Shangri-La Hotel, The Marina, (formerly Radisson Plaza at the Pier), Sofitel Reef Casino (also five-star), Rydges Tradewinds Esplanade and Holiday Inn. The Mantra Esplanade offers rooms as well as apartments. The refurbished Hotel Cairns bills itself as a “tropical haven in the heart of Cairns” and its façade is an example of Queensland heritage style architecture.
Sociable backpackers on a budget may be well served by the sizeable Gilligan’s Backpackers with its 1,000-capacity beer hall and large pool. Another cheap choice is the 33-room Great Northern Hotel sans pool but with a buffet breakfast. Reef Palms with reasonably-priced apartments and a pool is within walking distance from the city centre. Nomads Serpent Resort is also centrally located and claims the biggest pool ever seen in a backpacker hostel.
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| Local girl/ photo: Tourism Queensland |
It’s about a 45-minute drive to Port Douglas from Cairns and Palm Cove is about halfway between the two. In line with the appeal of these destinations that are a bit farther afield, boutique hotels such as the Sebel Reef House in Palm Cove, and the Hibiscus Gardens and Thala Beach Lodge in Port Douglas, offer a little more luxury, spa services, activities ranging from bird watching and diving to yoga, and plenty of character.
The eco-sensitive Green Island Resort is located on, well, Green Island. It has 46 rooms, each with a balcony overlooking the pool or rainforest. Guests have the option of dining in the restaurant, or for a romantic touch, on the beach as the sun sets. Fitzroy Island Resort offers a variety of accommodation from luxury to camping, although much of it seems to be in a state of refurbishment. Beachfront villas are available from July 2008 and the campsite late 2008.
Lizard Island is a quick plane ride from Cairns. The 40 villas at the exclusive Voyages Lizard Island all have grand views and children under 12 years are “not catered for”. More child-friendly is Voyages Dunk Island, which has a Kids’ Club and roomy split-level units overlooking the sea, as well as a nine-hole golf course and spa. Dunk Island is a 45-minute plane ride or a two-and-a-half hour boat trip away from the mainland.
So what are you waiting for? Getting around Cairns is a doddle. In fact, if you’re reasonably fit and alarmingly poor (like some of us scribes), a bicycle is an easy and cost-efficient way to soak in the sights and sounds. Just be careful when soaking in the deceptively inviting waters off those picture-postcard beaches. They bite.
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