A little bit of everything (Cairns)

Member Name: welling1

Product:	Cairns
Date:	28/04/09 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good location to visit elsewhere, nice people, clean, great nightlife, fun for all the family

Disadvantages: None

Last year I spent 9 weeks travelling around Australia, travelling up the east coast. I visited many great places along the way and thought that I would add my tips and my thoughts on some of the cities I visited. I am going to start with Cairns located at the top of the east coast in Queensland.

Me and my wife decided to stop off here as we had heard great things about the place and I must say I was not disappointed. When we were in Cairns we stayed at a fantastic backpackers called Calypso which we found through an internet search engine. We were picked up by a Calypso minibus and taken to our accommodation located within 10 minutes walking distance of central Cairns. The hostel ran minibuses to and from the centre if you were unable or feeling too lazy to walk. This was a great accommodation which could also cater for people who were not on a budget and they had great double rooms which were in a very private location. There are hundreds of other centrally located hostels and hotels in Cairns that are available on various budget levels.

Cairns itself is a lovely town with quite a built up Aboriginal population with many shops, bars and restaurants all located within a one mile square radius. It reminded me very much of New York in terms of the layout grid style. Cairns is not known for its beach and let me say this, please do not stop off here if you are looking for a relaxing stay in a beachy area as you will not get this in Cairns. There basically is no beach just marshy swamp land which was not very appealing for a bunch of backpackers. Cairns had supplemented the lack of beachy area by, on the sea front, building a swimming pool and sandy area for all to use with some fantastic changing and toilet room facilities available free of charge which were extremely clean. I found this area fantastic as I got a real sense of belonging and it was way different to back home in England. Also this was due to the fact of many people having bbqs on the equipment provided on the sea front.

Cairns has a variety of restaurants including all cuisines as well as your well-known local takeaway outlets - McDonalds, etc. I will point out for the people looking for a food bargain, located half way down the main street along the sea front there is a great place like a canteen area where you can get a variety of cheap cuisines which are fast food but really tasty. This would be a great buy for a backpacker.

The town also has great links for you to be able to visit other attractions which are well-known stopovers including Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation which are an hour and a half north of Cairns. Me and my wife travelled from central Cairns to Port Douglas for a few days by getting a minibus supplied from the Port Douglas hostel so it's great to be in Cairns and the locals in Port Douglas will come to you to get your business.

The best thing to do in Cairns by a long shot is to visit one of the Great Wonders of the World which is the Great Barrier Reef. There are hundreds of boat companies all offering different services to take you out to the Reef including various locations, meals included, scuba diving and snorkelling. After consulting a very friendly and local travel agent in Travel Bugs, we opted for going on a tour with Passions of Paradise which went to various locations including Paradise Island and Michaelmas Cay which has a collection of birds which was an amazing sight to see and the sound was astonishing. What I liked about going on this tour particularly was that you had both options - the scuba and the snorkelling - and a great meal included with hot and cold drinks available. This tour was great for me as I am confident snorkelling from the shore line but when they stopped in the middle of the sea and asked us to jump out into what can only be described as very choppy waters, me and an Irish guy had other thoughts but we were urged by a staff member to jump in with him and he would swim us around using the guide rope which was great as I could be lazy at the same time as looking at the great coral and all the varieties of fish! Definitely one of the best things I have done in my life.

For those of you that like to go out at night there are some great bars and clubs. Two in particular include the Woolshed which also attracts locals and has dancing on the tables and gets absolutely packed but you get to meet like minded backpackers and eccentric locals. Another great place for a few drinks is Rhino Bar which hosted a happy hour for $10 and drink as much as you like which is a great deal for any holiday maker on a budget like myself.

I found the people of Cairns to be very helpful and willing to go that extra mile. From what I have seen in other cities in Australia this is a great place to visit for anyone - families, couples, singles and backpackers. Every type of budget I found could be catered for and there was just a buzz about the city and if I ever go back to the land of Oz again Cairns would be high on my agenda. If you go to Oz try and keep at least 2 days open to give this city a try.

Summary: Great place to drop in by, all tastes catered for, Great Barrier Reef rocks!