Cairns Backpackers

Tropical North Queensland is like another world. It's one of those must-do holidays and if you've never seen it, then you're in for a pleasant surprise. It's home to the World Heritage-listed Wet Tropics Rainforests and the magnificent Great Barrier Reef. Cairns city is a laid-back, yet cosmopolitan-style escape, offering access to exotic tropical cuisine, shopping, a taste of Aboriginal culture, and a range of adventure touring options for backpackers. With hundreds of day tours operating out of Cairns each
day, you will never be short of something to do. You can learn to snorkel or dive, go white water rafting, reef fishing, or take the bungee jump plunge. Or you can indulge in more laid-back pleasures like floating over the lush rainforest of the Atherton Tablelands in a hot air balloon or teeing off amid swaying palm trees overlooking the Coral Sea.

The palm tree-studded Esplanade overlooking Trinity Harbour simply buzzes. The choice and quality of restaurants and cafés is amazing. You will find everything from coffee shops and ice creameries to bistros, wine bars, seafood restaurants and colourful night markets.

Backpackers with a shopShoppers should head for the new Cairns Central complex and the Pier Marketplace - a shopper's heaven providing a range of international and local wares.

Rusty's Market on Grafton Street is a blaze of colour and activity. You'll find tropical fruits like mangoes, jack fruit, black sapotes, rambutans and avocados as well as locally grown tea, coffee, and fresh herbs.

Top of the list for culture vultures should be Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park and Cairns Regional Art Gallery, arguably the country's finest regional gallery. There's always an exhibition of fine local art and often a major travelling exhibition on show.

Tjapukai is amazing, combining culture, entertainment and education. Visitors are treated to authentic dancing, demonstrations of traditional foods and medicines, and can even learn how to throw a boomerang so that it comes back! Alongside Tjapukai is the environmentally stunning Skyrail, which glides silently just metres above dense rainforest to the quaint mountain village of Kuranda. From here you can board the famous Kuranda Rail for the trip back to Cairns over the spectacular Barron Gorge.

Accommodation in Cairns is plentiful, with everything from quality backpacker lodges and self-contained apartments to beachfront B&Bs and world class resorts on offer.