Cairns

The Cairns & Great Barrier Reef region is Australia's most outstanding nature-based holiday destination.

It includes the Reef itself, World Heritage listed rainforests, and the long white beaches north linking to Port Douglas, Daintree and Cape Tribulation, which lead further into the Cape York Peninsula wilderness area.

Cairns itself is a modern tropical city with a relaxed atmosphere and is ideally positioned as a gateway to the region. An amazing 600 tour options are available each and every day from Cairns. Cairns International Airport is located just outside Cairns itself, and has direct flights from the Asia Pacific region and regular flights to and from other Australian cities.


The Great Barrier Reef is the world's greatest reef system, stretching more than 2000km along Australia's north-east coast. As the world's largest and most complex reef system, it has thousands of individual coral reefs and hundreds of continental islands, reef islands and cays, small bare sand cays, and permanent vegetated cays. The climate is tropical with mean daily temperatures in mid-April ranging from 21 to 28 degrees Celsius.

Exploring the Great Barrier Reef is both exhilarating and easy. You can snorkel or scuba dive with equipment provided and a trained crew on hand to assist, or view the reef from the comfort of a semi-submersible or underwater observatory. Both swimmers and non-swimmers are catered for. Alternatively you can take a scenic flight in a plane or helicopter. There is easy access to the outer reef and islands from points all along the coast, to suit your style or budget.


The rainforests of the Wet Tropics, a 'living museum' of flora and fauna, were placed on the World Heritage List in 1988 and cover an area of nearly 900,000 hectares of rainforest and tropical vegetation. Here, pockets of primitive plants have remained undisturbed for millions of years, and rare, even previously unidentified species of birds, insects and mammals have emerged to delight biologists and nature lovers.