Cairns is a beautiful place to visit in Far North Queensland, Australia. When pronouncing Cairns, the “r” is silent. It sounds like “cans”.
While the City of Cairns does not have plenty to explore and most people seem to visit only to enjoy the Great Barrier Reef, there’s so much to see and do in the surrounding areas. There’re many opportunities for day trips, hiking opportunities and many islands to explore. A great range of activities is on offer. Many nice places to swim. Driving around was easy, but there are also many tours to different places. Roads can be very windy when travelling to nearby popular destinations. I could easily write a list that would keep a traveller busy for at least a month worth of visit. I did not have time to explore all places I’d have liked to explore, but I plan to return to Cairns one day. I visited twice in between June to August 24. The weather was sunny most of the days. During the night, a light jumper was often enough to keep me warm. There were some rainy days, but not continuously rainy, and the weather kept warm. There were also some very windy days, not good for boat trips but still ok to hike.
I started my trip exploring the Esplanade. Very family friendly with many restaurants and coffee shops around. There’s a big public swimming pool, the Lagoon, that can be used for free and it was very busy. The Esplanade was a great place for a relaxing walk, watch the sunset and see pelicans. It seemed to start to get a lot busier when boats returned from the reef.
There were free sport and fitness facilities for public use. In determined days and times, there are free lessons that people can join at different locations in Cairns.