The Great Barrier Reef stretches approximately 2,300 km from north of Cape York down the East Coast of Australia to Rockhampton. Cairns is the most accessible point to the reef, and there are many opportunities to experience this natural wonder. Choose from dozens of day cruises, live-aboard cruises, and extended live-aboard cruises into the Coral Sea – where you will experience some of the best scuba diving on the planet. Why not consider experiencing an exhilarating reef scenic flight, or take a scuba diving course? Cairns is home to the safest dive industry in the world, and the training you receive here is the best in the world.

Australia’s Tropical Rainforests cover approximately 900,000 square hectares and are internationally recognised as being one of the most ecologically fascinating natural areas in the world, as one of few remaining truly pristine tropical rainforest places on the planet. These forests contain an amazing array and diversity of flora and fauna.

Stretching for over 500 kilometres along Tropical North Queensland’s coastline, these rainforests are the oldest continually surviving rainforests on earth and once covered the entire Australian continent. Over millions of years, as the climate and geography changed, the Australian rainforests receded to a small band between the coast and the Great Dividing Range, and stretching from Cooktown in the north to Townsville in the south.

Today these rainforests represent less than one thousandth of the country’s total land mass. Despite their relatively small size, the rainforests are home to an amazing diversity of life and provide a living record of the ecological and evolutionary processes which have shaped Australia’s plants and animals for over 415 million years.

To protect these rainforests, and to ensure that they are preserved for future generations, they were placed on the World Heritage list in 1988. Protected within the World Heritage area are over 395 rare or threatened plants; 12 of the world’s 19 families of primitive flowering plants and some of the trees found here are more than 3,000 years old. The tallest trees in the forest reach up to 60 metres.

These rainforests of Tropical North Queensland are home to one of the world’s largest flightless birds, the Southern Cassowary, and to Australia’s most primitive kangaroo, the Lumholtz tree kangaroo.

Cairns is widely regarded as the adventure capital of Australia! We have the best meteorological conditions for Hot Air Ballooning, the best White Water rafting in Australia, the best Skydive experiences in Australia, Australia’s only 365 day per year Bungy Jumping operated by the MAN who invented bungy jumping, excellent rainforest trails for Horse Riding and Quad Biking, cool islands for you to Sea Kayak around, and a world class Cableski park just to name a few!

If you like your holidays fast and furious, Cairns has something for everyone!

There is an abundance of unique forms of wildlife in the Tropical North, and many different wildlife experiences available for our visitors. Some of the premier wildlife attractions in Australia are within easy reach of Cairns, by self-drive, as part of a full day tour or as a half day encounter. The Rainforest Habitat is located in Port Douglas, and is most commonly included as part of a Daintree and Cape Tribulation tour. A little closer to Cairns you will find Cairns Tropical Zoo, ideal as a half day experience, which means a visit here can be combined with one of dozens of other half day experiences for those visitors with short itineraries in Cairns. Approximately halfway between Cairns and Port Douglas is located Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures. This wildlife experience can be combined with its sister attraction the Cairns Tropical Zoo to complete a full day wildlife experience, or even as part of the Skyrail and Scenic Rail Kuranda combination with Tropical Horizons.

There are also opportunities to view wildlife at several attractions in Kuranda: Birdworld, Butterfly Sanctuary and the Koala Gardens to name a few. For those wanting to view wildlife in their natural habitats, a wildlife cruise on the Daintree River is included as part of all Daintree and Cape Tribulation touring options. Cairns Habitat Cruises offers half day calm water cruising through the crocodile infested waterways south of Cairns, allowing time to combine other half day options and enhancing your visit to the Tropical North.

Day or night, calm water cruising the waterways of Trinity Inlet offers a relaxed and tranquil experience to enhance your Cairns holiday. Cairns Habitat Cruises will reveal a diverse array or wildlife along the many miles of mangrove lined waterways south of Cairns. Alternatively, why not compliment your day’s adventure with a serene dinner cruise? Ocean Spirit Cruises operates nightly cruises along Trinity Inlet, and out into Trinity Bay, where you can view the panorama of the Cairns City nightscape.

Other tours include scenic flights, Aboriginal culture, fishing etc.