Our sole purpose of coming to Cairns was to see the Great Barrier Reef. Mission accomplished!
After being here for two weeks, we realize that there isn't much to do in this city other than to see the Great Barrier Reef. The water by the beach is too rough to really swim in and you can't really just swim anywhere because of the rip current and the threat of being stung by jellyfish. Downtown Cairn is 4 square blocks of hostels, hotels, mediocre restaurants, souvenir shops, activities(tour operator) centers, a huge public swimming pool and a mall. J took a day trip to the rainforest town of Kuranda and felt a bit underwhelmed.
Regardless, we still had lots of fun, but in the future we think we'd come back for a week if we're doing a multi-day diving trip or just a weekend if we're only snorkeling.
Random Thoughts
- there's a ton of Japanese and German tourists
- buses to the Northern Beaches is convenient, but the trip is extremely long.
- it's worth it to rent a car
- if you don't rent a car and want to stay outside of Cairns pick Palm Cove as there is an express bus from there to Cairns
- do a multi-day liveaboard dive/snorkel trip to really see the Great Barrier Reef
- love the pay-first-then-eat system
- Cairns waterfront is ugly during low tide
1. Downtown Cairns
2. Cairns Lagoon - a huge public salt water swimming pool. Salt water pools are the standard here.
3. The 2A Sunbus - the public bus that connects the Northern Beaches to Cairns
