One week in tropical North Queensland

By Logan Tilley, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

As the Australian summer holiday begins, my journey of exploring more of the Australian East Coast continues. I decided that I wanted to visit the gateway to tropical North Queensland, Cairns. For a very long time this part of the country has been what I dreamed of seeing in Australia and I am now finally getting over to it from Sydney.

My first full day consisted of a tour that started in the culturally historic Mossman Gorge with a smoke ceremony and a demonstration of the local aboriginal life. Then a walk through the world’s oldest tropical rainforest, the Daintree to arrive at a swim in the refreshing rapids of the gorge stream. We then experienced a crocodile river tour, seeing a large 3m female saltwater crocodile sat on the bank of the river. We stopped for a treat at the fully homegrown ice cream company where I enjoyed an incredible banana and cinnamon ice cream. The tour ended at the fantastic Thornton beach.

The following day started off with a heavy thunderstorm as I began the trip to the ferry terminal bound for Fitzroy Island with my friend from Manchester who I met up with in Cairns. Undeterred, we waited out the storm playing pool and exploring the untouched forest that the island has to offer. Our patience paid off in the end as we were ‘treated’ to a sunny day, but in Queensland that can be a bit of a curse as it then became intensely humid with a UV of over 10. Nevertheless, we were determined to walk to the highest point on the island to get the most stunning views of the region from above. After a tough but gorgeous trek back down, we rewarded ourselves with a cold pint at the bar by the water, just what we needed in the humidity.

The next day was another full of excitement as I departed on the iconic Uncle Brian’s Fun, Forest and Falls tour to the Atherton Tablelands. After a stop at the Babinda Boulders, we journeyed to Josephine Falls which has a natural waterslide down the rocks that sends you flying into the pool below. After a break for a nice hot lunch we visited the iconic Millaa Millaa falls. Though the wet season had not properly begun and the falls were slightly underwhelming, the size and power of the waterfall were still amazing. The tour ended at the warm Lake Eacham for an opportunity to dive into a warm volcanic lake.

After three full days, I was pretty exhausted so I took the next day to relax by the pool in the hostel which is known for its notoriety in Cairns, Gilligans. Despite some questionable nights of sleep and some loud roommates, I enjoyed staying there because of how social it was. It was easy to just strike a conversation with anyone and that’s just what happened because I had a lovely evening barbecue by the water with some people I had met just in the past few days. But I will say that some of the events they put on each night are a bit peculiar to say the least so just be prepared for it if you decide to stay there at some point.

The last thing I wanted to tick off my list was a trip to Palm Cove Beach an hour North of the city. A local bus takes you there and back for about 50p which made me incredibly jealous as to why Manchester can’t do the same and save us all a ton of money. The beach was idyllic yet empty, with the dozen people I could see all sitting beside the stinger net, the only safe place to swim for miles thanks to Queensland waters being populated by the most dangerous jellyfish in the world and a lot of saltwater crocodiles.

However, I decided that my summer was not going to be the typical trip down the East Coast. While it may seem counterintuitive, I would not have had the time to visit Cairns if not at this point. My main summer trip would be a bit further away in New Zealand where I travelled to from here. I have absolutely no regrets as you will hopefully see in my next post!