Cairns, Port Douglas and Far North Qld
Cairns, Port Douglas and Far North Qld
The Northern Beaches
The Northern beaches of Cairns stretch for 26km along a beautiful coastline which begins just north of the city beyond the Barron River Bridge and the sugar cane fields. Here, you'll find all the ingredients for an idyllic tropical holiday: warm seas, watersports and miles of uncrowded sand with a sweeping backdrop of rainforest mountains. This is the place to stroll or ride a horse as sunrise turns the sea golden-red; to windsurf or relax under a palm tree when it reflects sunny blue skies; to explore the mirror-smooth tidal creeks flowing through mangrove forests and to walk by moon or starlight to a beachside restaurant.
The Northern Beaches are made up of Machans, Holloways, Yorkey's Knob, Trinity, Kewarra, Clifton, Palm Cove and Ellis Beaches. Each is a small, separate township with its own distinctive character. Together, the beachside towns provide much of the city's holiday accommodation, such as island and mainland resorts, motels, holiday apartments and caravan parks. Regular bus services operate between the beaches and Cairns City Place and some accommodation provides courtesy coach services. All sight-seeing and adventure tours include door-to-door transport and some reef cruises stop at Palm Cove jetty. There are shopping facilities for self-catering visitors and a big choice of restaurants including air-conditioned or outdoor, formal or casual. Watersport gear can be hired right on the beach, and stinger resistant swimming enclosures which afford a high degree of protection from the jellyfish during the summer months are in operation at a number of beach locations.
Private yachts and motor launches from around the world moor at the new Yorkey's Knob marina and for golfers there are three golf courses including one which the top professionals rate as challenging. Fishing from the beaches, rocky outcrops or jetty can be rewarding. Dotted along the coast are galleries, fashion and craft boutiques and even a simulated opal mine which shows how Australia's most colourful precious stones are formed and mined.
A large wildlife park features the continent's favourite and most feared fauna, including giant crocodiles, venomous snakes, koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, dingoes, birds and flightless cassowaries and emus.
