Cairns

"Congratulations! You’ve made it to the last stop of the East Coast Itinerary- give yourself a pat on the back as there’s a lot of information you’ve just taken in. Now, Cairns is not the best town in the world, but the nature around it makes it the perfect end to your East Coast trip. This is the best place to explore the Great Barrier Reef, see the oldest rainforest in the world, white water raft, and see some stunning waterfalls. The further up the coast you get, the more tropical it starts to feel and Cairns is literally a town directly in front of a rainforest. It’s pretty dang cool. 2 things you absolutely need to do while here is snorkel (or dive) the Great Barrier Reef and take a trip through the Daintree Rainforest. I did a full-day snorkel and intro dive of the Great Barrier Reef but I honestly don’t recommend tacking on the intro dive if you’re a little nervous at the thought of scuba diving. The conditions were not ideal for a first dive and I got really panicked due to the choppy water and missed out on a place to snorkel because I needed to go in. With that being said, if the idea of scuba diving is thrilling to you, there’s no better place to do an intro dive than the Great Barrier Reef. You don’t need a PADI license to do it because you hold on to the instructor the whole time. Now for the waterfalls and Daintree Rainforest, I used a company called Uncle Brian’s and did their Best of Both Worlds tour. This included overnight accommodation and you spent the first day doing a tour of all the waterfalls outside of Cairns (including the infamous Garnier Fructise waterfall) and the second day exploring the oldest rainforest in the world. It was worth every penny and I highly recommend them. The guides are all so enthusiastic and knowledgeable and will surely make your trip memorable. While in Cairns, I stayed in 2 hostels. I stayed first in Bounce (same company as the beautiful hostel in Noosa but not at allllll the same level of boujeeness) and spent one interesting night at Gilligans. If you are unfamiliar with the reputation of Gilligans, it’s probably for the best unless you absolutely love to party. There’s a club attached that blasts music until 3AM and has some questionable events every night (pole dancing competition and wet tee shirt contest are just 2 of said events). Honestly staying there builds character but it isn’t for the faint of heart. Bounce was great for what it needed to be. It had a pool, en suite bathrooms, and free breakfast. What more do you need out of a hostel? Some things to do in and around Cairns- -Explore the Great Barrier Reef -Daytrip or overnight trip to Fitzroy Island -Do a tour of all the waterfalls (you can either go through a company or just rent a car and see them yourself) -Go see the Daintree Rainforest -White Water Rafting -Cape Tribulation -Take a daytrip to Port Douglas -Skydiving (Regretting skipping Mission Beach and wanting to go skydive? You can still do it from Cairns. They’ll pick you up in a bus and drive you the 2 hours down there to do it). "

"There is of course the Great Barrier Reef. To get there you can book a tour with a cruise line which will take you to the reef. It’s an 2 hour drive so be sure to take a seasickness pill before you leave. There are many many offers for tours, but there are differences, especially price wise. I would recommend a tour in the middle class price wise. As they usually go to the outer reef, which is not as touristic as other tours. Often the boots are catamarans and take smaller groups. You can choose if you want two ore three snorkel stops, depending on how much money you want to spend and how much you love snorkeling. For me the two spot tour was perfect! Good to know: Lunch is included! "

"In my opinion, Cairns is not a superb place to stay, it is full of restaurants and pubs, but that's it. What I truly recommend while staying here is exploring its surroundings as well as doing bungee jump in the only Australian bungee jump spot, located in Cairns! That was my highlight in town!"