When the idea of visiting Cairns first came up, I got pretty excited about finally seeing the Great Barrier Reef - and thought that was all. A 9-day self-drive holiday around Cairns led us to discover so much more beyond the beautiful reefs - from ancient rainforests and waterfalls to coffee plantations and savannah grasslands. So here're 8 things we did around Cairns:
1. Explore the Great Barrier Reef
Of course, this would have to top the list! One of the 7 natural wonders of the world and the only living organism that can be seen from outer space – the Great Barrier Reef needs no further introduction.
There are several day trip options out from Cairns, Port Douglas, Cape Tribulation and other towns along the coast – either to view the reefs from a helicopter or up close underwater. We chose to snorkel at the outer reefs with Wavelength Cruises (we spent AUD470 for two pax) where we had a fulfilling full day tour exploring different parts of Opal Reef, spotting some white-tipped reef sharks and sea turtles while at it.
It's been a hot topic (pun intended) but I'm just gonna take this opportunity to highlight that the world’s most extensive stretch of coral reef is in danger with the most serious threat being global warming. The Great Barrier Reef is slowly dying. It suffered from the worse ever bleaching incidents in 2016/2017 resulting in half of them dying from the extreme heat. Corals are naturally white but get their colour from the algae that live on them. Rising temperatures trigger a stress response from the coral to expel these algae, leaving them bleached white and with little or no nutrients in a weakened state. When you're out there to experience nature firsthand, climate change becomes more real than ever out as you witness ghastly pale patches of corals.
2. Daintree Rainforest
The slogan ‘Where Rainforest Meets Reef’ can’t be more apt for Northern Queensland. It is exactly what it claims – the only place in the world where two heritage sites literally collide – the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest, oldest rainforest in the world.
The Daintree can be easily accessed by visiting Mossman Gorge, where a $9 entrance ticket includes a shuttle bus right to the start of paved boardwalks through the rainforest and little swimming holes. If you have a car and a little more time though, I’d say drive up to Cape Tribulation into the heart of the jungle where crowds are less. Cross the Daintree River by driving onto the cable-drawn ferry. Enjoy a true blue rainforest by walking the trails through lush greenery by the coral sea or hop onto a river cruise and spot 3m-wide crocodiles lounging in the mangroves.
3. Microlight along the coast
After exploring the rainforest and reefs on the ground, it’s an amazing experience to get a totally different perspective from a bird’s eye view. We did a one hour session of tandem microlighting with Kevin from Updraught (AUD330 for 2 pax) and took flight over the magnificent coast of Port Douglas, Daintree River and the Coral Sea. Taking off in that deceivingly flimsy-looking thing on a strip of grass was pretty nerve-wrecking at first. But once I was up gliding in the air looking down at the clear blue coast lining the lucious green rainforest, awe took over. We even got an aerial spotting of crocodiles in the Daintree river!
4. Watch cane toads race at Iron Bar
The introduction of cane toads and their rapid multiplying numbers is one of Australia’s worst ecological disasters. They were brought in from America to combat the cane beetle, a pest of sugar cane crops (sugar is the second largest Australian export crop after wheat). However, these foreign toads started to breed like crazy – a female toad can lay over 30,000 eggs each time! – and upset the entire native ecosystem. There were no natural predators to control their population. In fact, some native species started to deplete as the toads were so poisonous they started killing any animal that ate them. To make things worse? The cane beetles weren’t even affected by these toads and local farmers had to revert to their old methods of pesticides.
So what do you do when you have an excess of cane toads? You make them race! The iconic Iron Bar at Port Douglas has a cane toad racing show at 8.30pm daily (ticketing for the same night starts at 11am and sell out fast). For AUD5 per pax, it’s definitely worth it for an evening of laughter. We had dinner before the show to enjoy the rustic ambience of the venue and the food was delicious too.
5. Explore Kuranda National Park
Nearer to Cairns is Kuranda National Park, also part of the same Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site together with the Daintree. There is the famous Kuranda Scenic Railway and Skyrail, but since we had the car, we skipped the rides and drove up straight to Barron Falls, where there are short trails that lead to a beautiful lookout point, as well as the markets of Kuranda Village.
We stayed right in the heart of Kuranda National Park at our Bush Turkey Bungalow airbnb and spent our time just chilling out in a gorgeous verandah overlooking the rainforest and occasional wildlife. Our host John was kind enough to even bring us on a tour to see giant trees in the bush!
6. Go for a tasting session at Mareeba, coffee production capital of Australia
Did you know that the size of the cup where coffee is served is very much affected by their beer or wine culture? In Northern Europe where Germans, Belgians and Swedes heartily drink beer, coffee servings were adapted to fill up the existing large mugs that they already use. In the South such as Spain and Italy, however, coffee was drunk in tiny cups - portions similar to wine.
This was just one of the many intriguing coffee facts we learnt during our tasting session at Coffee Works, where there is a huge collection of coffee machines through time and a wealth of information on the history of coffee – on top of the unlimited tasting portions of different coffee types, chocolate and liquor. A haven for any coffee lovers out there and worth the AUD 14 per pax we paid for the tour!
7. Bushwalk with rock wallabies at Granite Gorge Nature Park
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Happy Monday, folks!🐺 #wallaby #granitegorge #bushwalking #mareeba #queensland #australia #wildlife
Granite Gorge is a nature park in the savannah grasslands of Mareeba, where the dry and barren landscape is a sharp contrast from the Wet Tropics area. We were hesitant about paying the $12 entrance fee at first, but since we had already driven off the highway to explore the nature park, we decided to go for it - and did not regret. It's a completely different (and enjoyable) experience to bushwalk through the sandy trails and scrambling up huge boulders at some parts. The plenty of rock wallabies that wander around made our walk even more memorable.
8. Kayak in the Coral Sea
Left wanting more of the coral sea, we decided to go on a full day kayaking expedition to Dunk Island, just 5km off South Mission Beach with Coral Sea Kayaking. We were keeping our eyes peeled for sea turtles the whole way – having gotten excited by a couple before us who even spotted a dugong in the shallow seagrass area! In the end, we only got to see a brown boobie hunting and flying fishes jumping out of the water – that’s nature for you. Still, it’s a beautiful way to spend paddling in the clear, blue waters of the Great Barrier Reef conservation area and we got to access different parts of the beach on Dunk Island.
On a side note, we stayed at the lovely Hibiscus Lodge Bed & Breakfast on Mission Beach (near our kayaking launch pad) and had a memorable breakfast with their resident wallabies 🙂