Beautiful and Exciting CAIRNS ....

I strongly feel that there are very few places on the face of Earth which are both Beautiful and Exciting...Cairns, in Queensland Australia is one such place.

Recently, during our Easter holidays we planned a trip to Cairns...

Situated in upper tropical region of Australia, this city has a tropical weather...surrounded by mountains, rivers, creeks, Word oldest rainforests and the an enchanting Ocean with the Great barrier reef.

Accomodation is not a problem in Cairns it has options for everyone, starting from the Backpapacker budget (25$ per night), Family budget (100 - 200$ per night), Honey moon budget (200-350$ per night) or any budget!

Regarding adventures you can go from extreme to serene...from white water rafting to tubing to a romantic cruise.

We being the faint hearted...hence did the last two. Honestly tubing does have its challenges as well; you should have seen the faces of the participants during the rapids...(attaching one example..offcourse its me...the brave one!)
Well, this tubing adventure had another positive entrepreneurial story; Peter and his partner run this company with amazing confidence and spirit.

You can visit them at - http://www.aussiedrifterz.net/

Talking Cairns one thing surely comes to the mind and that is the Great Barrier Reef. Amazing colourful corals, variety of marine life and gust of sea breeze...

We went to green island , perched on a coral bed just 50 minutes away from the main city.

There are a variety of activities that you can do in the Green Island like Para sailing (135$), Snorkelling (35$), Sea bed walking (150$) etc...

Another major attractions around Cairns is Kuranda - a rainforest village, which can be accessed by the:

• Sky rail - Worlds Longest Sky Rail 7.5 kms, glides over the Rain forest canopy, Barron Gorge.



• Kuranda Scenic Railway - MOre than 110 years old



• 1.5 hr scenic drive by Car.

Also, once in Kuranda its a good idea to go ahead and do the Barron river river cruise, we had a very informative guide who shares a lot of information about the rainforests an its importance.

To change the pace, we went for a relaxed crocodile tour on the last day, where we saw crocodile in the natural mangrove habitat and also visited a Crocodile farm! Yes you read it correct a farm...from where crocodile skin is exported to Fashion houses in Italy and France!!

Who else other than a true Indian can appreciate the concept of a Night Market ... Yes they have it in Cairns right in the heart of Cairns. It starts at 4:00 PM and remains open till 11:00 PM. It has variety of shops starting from delicous food (My Favourite though is the Indian curry house there), Chinese Accupressure Massage, exotic Souveniers and a very interesting live manufactured glass sovenier shop where you can customise your own glass souvenier!

Yes I have to agree, we went there only 4 .5 days and that was not sufficient...you should have atleast 7 days to completely enjoy Cairns...and the places around it like Port Douglas, Daintree rainforest and other Great barrier reef islands.

Hope you enjoyed reading this article....and would plan your trip to Cairns soon!

Important inputs:

• Best time to Visit - May to Ocober



• Approx Expenditure - 1500Aud ( Inclusive of Accomodation {3 star}, food and other expenses - 2 person, for 4 nights [excludes flight Travel])



• Airport to Cairns City - Taxi would charge 14 - 17 Dollars (Approx)



• You can hire a cycle for as less as 25 $ per day, this would help you in going around Cairns



• Locals are very helpful and friendly

My Rating: ****