Australia is one of the top emerging tourist destinations in the world. The country’s rise to prominence is easy to understand, given there are more than 8,000 paradise islands to choose from. Australia is rife with wonders of nature, from beaches and reef systems to tropical rainforests and picturesque landscapes. Travelers will surely have a hard time picking a location to start their vacation.
In this article, we will try to help you narrow down your choices by focusing on the city of Cairns. Cairns, situated in Far North Queensland, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Australia. Known as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, the city is beaming with beautiful scenes of nature where travelers are free to explore and engage in adventure. If you like going for scenic walks and exciting trails and treks, here are a few rainforest attractions you should mark on your itinerary:
Fitzroy Island
Fitzroy Island is a landscape-heavy tropical island located just southeast off Cairn’s shores. The mountainous terrain of Fitzroy Island has made it the perfect destination for tourists looking to take part in the physically-challenging exploration. Since the activities on the island will most likely tire you out, it is strongly suggested to take care of your accommodation first so you won’t have to think about where to rest later. Finding a place to stay should be easy, as there are several quality inns and resorts on the island offering their services at affordable prices.
What’s good about Fitzroy Island is that due to having a wide collection of trails, there are various difficulty options for people of varying fitness levels. For beginners, there’s the Nudey Beach Track, an easy and straightforward path perfect for casuals who just want to try the trail experience. As the name suggests, this pathway leads to the famous nudist beach of the same name. For travelers looking to engage in a more challenging trek, they can try the Secret Garden Track which starts at the western side of the island. This 45-minute track will lead you to deep inside Fitzroy’s rainforest reservoirs, giving you an up-close and personal tour of the granite boulders, towering trees and lush greeneries hidden inside.
For tourists looking for the ultimate trek, the locals will most likely recommend the Summit Track. This three-hour adventure includes segments of rock climbing, sidestepping along the cliffs, and several upward and downward slopes, all while showcasing the island’s diverse vegetation, exotic flowers, and jaw-dropping views as you get closer to the top of the mountains.
Daintree National Park
Easily the most famous woodland spot in Cairns, the World Heritage-listed Daintree National Park is accessible just a couple of hours north of the city. As one of the three oldest rainforest parks in the entire world, Daintree National Park features a wide array of fauna and flora for everyone to enjoy. The park also offers several tours and cruises deep into the rainforests so you can see and interact with local wildlife such as the endangered tree-kangaroos.
If you want to know more about the traditional culture on the island, there are tour programs offered with the local Kuku Yalanji aboriginals as your guide. The Kuku Yalanji indigenous people have opened their homes to travelers as a way of welcoming them into their culture, and the authentic immersion experience allows tourists to live half a day using their perspectives. The immersion includes eating the locals’ homemade delicacies, observing their daily routines and taking a look inside their very homes, among others.
Skyrail Rainforest Cableway
Looking for a leisurely way to explore the beauty of the rainforests? Kuranda is famous for its iconic and award-winning Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, allowing travelers to enjoy wonderful views of nature from a bird’s eye perspective instead. The Skyrail can have a maximum of six people ride a gondola that will glide up to eight kilometers of woodland terrain, where you can take pictures of the scenic landscapes or just choose to absorb the natural beauty of the forests.
The Skyrail experience has several pit stops included in the program, and each of them will have short walks into specific areas of the rainforest guided by actual forest rangers. The first of these stops would be at Red Peak Station, where tourists can learn more about tropical rainforests in general: how these woodland formations came about and they should be treated for preservation purposes. Another stop on the trip is Barron Falls Station, where people can delve into the island’s rich history through visual displays, interactive galleries, and museums. Barron Falls also hosts the well-known Edge Lookout, a newly-built tourism infrastructure that gives tourists breathtaking panoramic views of the impressive Barron Gorge and Falls through glass floor sections.
Cairns has much more to offer than the attractions listed above, so make sure to explore and make the most of your trip. Just make certain that you will try at least one of the suggestions above to add more fun and excitement to your rainforest experience in Australia.