Cairns is the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef in Far North Queensland Australia. Cairns is a small city with a population that is very focused on the tourist industry, but is also surrounded by agricultural activities including sugar cane, banana and other tropical fruits. Cairns is popular with international tourists, particularly the Japanese.

There is a lot of budget accommodation with plenty of drinking establishments and cheap restaurants for backpackers. The atmosphere is relatively inexpensive tourism, with t-shirt shops and lots of clubs and places to go out for young travellers. Travellers might prefer the more sedate and upscale Port Douglas, 30 miles to the north.

A number of Cairns operators run day and liveaboard scuba diving trips from Cairns. For seeing the Great Barrier Reef, the smaller dive boats provide the best experience, both for diving and for snorkeling.The larger operations have more amenities--better food, larger and faster boats, more activities, but sometimes provide a poorer underwater experience, as the underwater areas that the larger boats visit are heavily overused, and somewhat barren of coral and fishes.

Always wanted to try ballooning - the Cairns region has some of the best weather for ballooning in the World and so trips go year around and are rarely cancelled. It's also one to the cheapest places to go flying you'll find anywhere.