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Cairns and the places around Cairns we visited are on the traditional land and sea of various Aboriginal groups. I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of all these areas and their connection to land and water, and pay my respects to their Elders past and present.
With only a few days available for a mini holiday, our 5-day trip to tropical Cairns wasn’t our usual adventure.
In hindsight, we should definitely have organised it as a mini road trip instead of basing ourselves at a hotel in Cairns. But that’s what happens when you decide to splurge on a few Qantas Frequent Flyer points before they expire!
Since we only had a few short days on the ground, all we had time for was to venture north towards Port Douglas and the Daintree. We missed out on the Atherton Tablelands or everything south of Cairns—which is a shame because those waterfall circuits look amazing. (Definitely something for next time…)
If you’re planning a short trip, here’s my very subjective appraisal of what we enjoyed, and what we weren’t so impressed with up in steamy Far North Queensland.
CAIRNS: TOPS
Not surprisingly, our highlights mostly involve nature, boardwalks and spending time outside.
Tropical North Queensland can be incredibly busy but we visited during the pandemic and so enjoyed a region that was peaceful and without the crazy hordes of tour bus groups. If there’d been tons of international tourists, I probably wouldn’t have visited Cairns in the first place or would have put much more thought into where to go.
Here’s what stood out for us:
1. MOSSMAN GORGE | DAINTREE NATIONAL PARK
There isn’t actually that much to explore at Mossman Gorge but somehow we still managed to spend three hours here. To get from the carpark to the start of the walking track (a 2km stretch), you’ll need to hop on the paid shuttle bus from the Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre.
Mossman River winds right through the gorge, cascading down boulders and rocky outcrops. In winter, the river is usually calm and clear, and oh-so-inviting for a quick swim.
The Rainforest Circuit is only 2.4km but we took ages to walk it as we kept going off the main track to explore the riverbanks and little waterfalls along the way.
There’s also the slightly elevated boardwalk section through some beautiful rainforest at the start. As far as I’m concerned, boardwalks make any walk better—they just make me a happy hiker!
2. BOARDWALKS AROUND CAPE TRIBULATION | DAINTREE NATIONAL PARK
On the spur of the moment, we decided to take the ferry across the Daintree River and drive up to Cape Tribulation where the sealed road ends.
The Daintree rainforest really is quite stunning, and in hindsight, we wished we’d stayed the night.
There are several boardwalks along this stretch of the road that take you through some amazing rainforest—complete with massive strangler vines, flowers that grow right on tree trunks, gorgeous fan palms and plenty of fungi. Even the mangroves look interesting (and not too stinky) at this time of year.
3. PALM COVE BEACH
For a gorgeous sandy beach with turquoise waters close to Cairns, Palm Cove is ideal. It’s one of the prettiest ‘holiday resort beaches’ I’ve seen with palm trees lining the shore, mountains as a backdrop, a lovely esplanade walk and plenty of cafes across the street.
I probably wouldn’t enjoy it much if it were packed but on a Tuesday afternoon outside of school holidays, it was reasonably quiet. The one real downside here is that you might find crocs or marine stingers in the water like on most beaches in the north, especially during summer months.
4. FLYING OVER THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
Anyone who knows me knows how not fond I am of boats so snorkelling out on the reef was never really on my bucket list. Just the thought of being on a boat for a couple of hours to reach the reef nauseates me.
The husband always says though that I’d love snorkelling because it’s like being in an underwater garden; I can spend hours in parks and gardens looking at plants and birds.
So my only option to see the Great Barrier Reef is from the air.
We went with Daintree Air for our 30-minute scenic reef flight, which gives you a really good taste of the reef surrounding Cairns. They recommended 11am for high sun without too much glare yet but I’m still not convinced that this was the best time for photos.
The reef did look stunning though!
5. DELICIOUS COCONUT
Tropical Queensland and tropical fruit naturally go hand in hand so what better way than to gorge on some fresh coconut flesh, coupled with tropical fruit and coconut yoghurt. Delicious.
I was so happy to stumble upon this refreshing (and gluten-free + dairy-free) snack at Rusty’s Market that I went back an hour later to get a second helping. 😀
At Kuranda, vegan eatery Fruibies served up a delicious salad with carrot-based falafel and papaya slices. Yummy.
CAIRNS: FLOPS
It’s not that there were big, fat flops on this very short trip, it’s just that in insight we’d make other plans or skip some of these things as they weren’t really as exciting as we’d hoped. I normally list our five biggest flops but I’ve only got three this time.
1. NOT HIRING A CAMPERVAN
A couple of weeks before we were due to fly up north, we briefly entertained the notion of hiring a campervan and cancelling our Hilton Hotel booking. But it seemed a bit silly to do that for five days, and I was kind of keen to stay in a fancy hotel for once.
Well, of course, we came to regret that decision almost as soon as we got there.
We had to return to Cairns every single night instead of finding a quiet campground and enjoying the outdoors. The loud air-con in the room and outside party noise drove us spare, and not having access to a kitchen was just daft (my bad—why did I book a hotel room and not an apartment?!). Having to book a specific time for à la carte breakfast was probably the icing on the cake.
The whole experience was a great reminder of why we don’t like staying in hotels for more than a night or two.
The only positives about the hotel stay were the bathtub, the views from the balcony and the rather comfy bed. 😀
2. KURANDA SCENIC RAILWAY
If you’re expecting the world’s most scenic rail journey, you’ll be sorely disappointed and should probably skip this. But if you want a very, very leisurely train trip up into the mountain range west of Cairns, hop on the Kuranda Scenic Railway, especially if you keep your expectations in check.
I actually enjoyed the train trip to Kuranda. The train meanders along at snail pace but it’s quite peaceful and relaxing.
Stoney Creek Falls are impressive and there are some lovely views into Barron Gorge along the way but most of the trip takes you through dense bush country, which isn’t the most exciting.
There are definitely far fewer views along the route than I had expected, and it’s a little boring taking the train both up and down again. The Skyrail Cableway wasn’t running when we were there—it would make for a much nicer round trip back to Cairns.
Ultimately, if you’re pressed for time, skip the train to Kuranda day trip altogether. It’ll take up a whole day, and it really isn’t as breathtaking as it’s made out to be.
3. BIRDWORLD, KURANDA
Yeah, we probably should have skipped this in the first place.
Birdworld in Kuranda is a free-flying aviary full of various parrot species, ducks and even a cassowary. Unfortunately, the birds are very habituated and borderline aggressive if you don’t feed them.
The one positive was that I could practise photographing birds and some of the parrots looked amazing. But overall, Birdworld felt like the wrong kind of wildlife encounter and left us with a sad aftertaste. We hadn’t done our research and were expecting something quite different.
If you do decide to go, leave your backpack or bags at the counter—the macaws are very keen to pick and claw at everything, and indeed poked a hole right through my backpack. Yay.
Also, don’t wear merino tops or, in fact, anything else that you care about!
FINAL THOUGHTS
With a bit more planning, i.e. turning the short holiday into a road trip, we would have had an amazing time up in tropical Queensland.
One reason why we love road trips so much is that you don’t have to pre-plan everything and can just go where the road takes you. Only being there for four days and staying in a hotel made that impossible, and left us with a lot of headaches and decisions to make in advance (e.g. when to book the scenic railway, the scenic flight).
I still had a great time and would definitely return to Cairns but in a much more free-styling way.
Happy exploring,
PIN ME
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