Originally when we were thinking about traveling to Australia, we were going to focus our time around the Sydney area. We knew we only had about a week to give, so we couldn’t do a full road trip around the continent (as I’d love to do someday!) so we figured we could spend our time in Sydney and its surrounds.
But then we made some friends from Australia and they encouraged us to see the Great Barrier Reef while we were there too. You know I’m always a sucker for rainforests, so Cairns – “where the rainforest meets the reef” – seemed like the perfect place to spend four of our days in Australia!
1) Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef
This is probably the main “must-do” in the area… after all, the Great Barrier Reef has many accolades – it has been named one of the “seven wonders of the natural world”, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and it is the largest single structure made by living organisms in the world. Take that, humans. 😉 There are a variety of day tours that will take you out snorkeling or diving, or if you can’t swim there are options for glass-bottomed boat tours. We booked through Calypso Reef Cruises and had a good experience with them, though it seemed that most of the tours in the area offered similar amenities and experiences for similar prices. We did the Agincourt Reef Snorkel & Dive tour since we were mainly interested in seeing tropical fish and coral (and we were NOT disappointed!), but many operators also offer snorkel tours to the Low Isles as well, which is a good spot for snorkeling with sea turtles!
2) Drive the Captain Cook Highway
The Captain Cook Highway is probably in my top 10 for most beautiful drives I’ve taken now! It has amazing views of the coastline – one minute you are watching waves crash against the rocks and around the next turn you’ll see rainforest-covered hills over golden beaches. There are plenty of overlooks along the way where you can stop and take photos (like the one above). The highway runs from Cairns, through Port Douglas, and on to Mossman, so if you’re hitting the main highlights in the area there’s a good chance you’ll be driving on it without even trying!
3) Mossman Gorge
Mossman Gorge is a natural area located in the southern part of Daintree National Park, and the home of the native Kuku Yalanji people. The Mossman Gorge Centre is a great “gateway to the rainforest”, and it’ll be your first stopping point if you decide to visit. There are some really nice trails through the rainforest here, both along the river and up on raised walkways for a better view of the forest’s higher levels. You can even swim in the gorge at times, though the visitor center will have information on whether it is safe to go that day or not. We saw a wild turkey and a couple of Ulysses butterflies, and of course wonderful rainforest plants and scenery as well.
4) Daintree Discovery Centre
Another great place to learn about the Daintree rainforest – which is UNESCO World Heritage listed and is part of the oldest continually surviving tropical rainforest in the world – is the Daintree Discovery Centre. There you can learn about the history of the rainforest from dinosaur times to now, see native animals up close, and discover the rainforest from all levels with the aerial walkway and canopy tour. My favorite part was the audio tour. Along the walks were numbers representing exhibits or plants nearby, and the audio tour would have both a scientific explanation for each and an explanation by an indigenous person, so you got to hear about some of the culture and history of the rainforest as well as the “science”.
5) Crocodile Tours
I think all of us who loved watching Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter, growing up (and who didn’t!?) dreamed of seeing saltwater crocodiles in the wild. And along the Daintree River, you can! We booked through Crocodile Express, one of the original tour operators in the area, and were very happy with our tour. They actually have two locations, one up river near Daintree and one closer to the Daintree ferry, so you get to go on two tours for the price of one. This was lucky for us too, because on the first tour we didn’t see any crocodiles (though we did see birds and being out on the river was nice either way), but on the second one we saw three, and one of them was even up on the bank where we could view him quite well! The guides were informative and knew some of the crocodiles by name, the food we had at their Croc Xpresso Cafe was actually some of the best we had in the Cairns area, and we had a fantastic experience overall with that company.
6) Tjapukai Cultural Park
Located in Smithfield, right outside Cairns, is one of the best places to learn about Aboriginal culture in Australia: Tjapukai Cultural Park. You’ll get to see indigenous artwork and learn about customs, from medicinal herbs and plants to spirit animals and rites of passage. You’ll tour with an Aboriginal guide, who will take you to different stations, including ones where they will demonstrate the didgeridoo and ones where they’ll teach you to throw spears and boomerangs! There’s also a show illustrating the creation story and another show showing traditional songs and dances. It was a great experience and we were really glad we visited while in the Cairns area.
7) Atherton Tablelands waterfalls
The Atherton Tablelands, an area south of Cairns, hosts many gorgeous waterfalls. There’s even a waterfall circuit you can drive, that includes Millaa Millaa Falls of shampoo-commercial fame (and yes, you’ll most likely run into tons of tourists getting “hair flip” photos there for instagram). We visited that one and then decided to head to more remote waterfalls, so we headed into Wooroonooran National Park and hiked down to Tchupala Falls. There are tons of waterfalls in the area, and my best tip is to look up photos of the different cascades and hiking information before you go, so you can choose the ones that seem the best fit to you!
8) Paronella Park
I first saw a picture of Paronella Park on Instagram and was completely enchanted–when I found out it was in Australia, and near Cairns in fact, I knew I had to go on our trip! It’s actually quite hard to guess where in the world Paronella Park is just based on pictures. The architecture is clearly influenced by Spain but the jungle and crumbling nature of the structure seems to evoke forgotten temples in Sri Lanka or Bali. But Paronella Park was actually created by a Spanish immigrant to Australia named Jose Paronella and finished in 1935. It was his dream to create pleasure gardens and a reception center there along Mena Creek, and though the grounds have since seen damage due to floods and a fire, they remain a beautiful testament to Jose’s vision. We loved strolling the gardens, learning about the park at the museum, seeing the fountains, feeding the fish and turtles, and generally enjoying the tranquil setting.
9) Food & Shopping in Port Douglas
I was recommended Port Douglas as a good base for exploring the region, and I think this was great advice. It’s about an hour north along the coast from Cairns, and it puts you closer to both the reefs and the rainforest. The city has a charming downtown with plenty of options for shopping and dining, and we stayed at a hotel with an incredible courtyard full of tropical plants and water features. Be sure to have some seafood while you’re there!
10) Relax on a Beach
There are tons of beaches in the area – the one in the above picture was one we saw and just decided to stop at while on the Captain Cook Highway. Just be careful swimming – there are a lot of potential dangers from crocodiles to sharks to jellyfish, so be sure to only swim at beaches set up for it, like lovely Four Mile Beach near Port Douglas.
Tropical Queensland and the area around Cairns are an amazing area of Australia that offer unique experiences you won’t want to miss! From wildlife to waterfalls and reefs to rainforest, you’ll find plenty to do while in the area.
Have you visited Cairns or Australia? What was your favorite thing to do there? Is seeing the Great Barrier Reef on your bucket list? Let me know in the comments!
