Australia's Far North Tropical Queensland is where rainforests meet the blue ocean.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
It’s a colourful drive between Cairns and Cooktown even though during the wet season (November to March) the rains can last for a while. It’s the best place in Australia to go on Great Barrier Reef diving trips, watch the large Australian crocodiles on Daintree River Cruises, and explore the lush Daintree rainforests. There are also some interesting towns like Kuranda, and off the shore are some of the best north Queensland islands. Here is some information about the area, and in the end of the page is a far north Queensland map.
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Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Far North Tropical Queensland - Cairns Travel Information Cairns is a beautiful tropical city in the Far North Queensland. It may be humid and it often rains, but it doesn’t matter – the weather is always hot and the rains can in fact be nice as they cool the temperature down a bit. There is a large swimming lagoon on the Esplanade in central Cairns where it’s nice to have a dip. Along the Esplanade there is a cosmopolitan mix of restaurants and the famous Cairns Night Markets. On the Pier there are the Pier Marketplace and the Cairns Marina, and south is the city centre with Cairns Museum and lots of shops. In northern Cairns are Flecker Botanic Gardens, Royal Flying Doctors Service and a few places to stay. Tour operators such as Reeftrip, Noah’s Ark Cruises, Passions of Paradise and Tusa Dive take you for Great Barrier Reef diving trips. Some good places to stay are Global Palace, Tropic Days, Gilligan’s, Calypso Inn, International Hostel and Cairns Coconut Caravan Village.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Far North Tropical Queensland - Green Island Queensland Just off the coast of Cairns are a few islands. Green Island is an expensive island to stay but you can always take a day trip – the island is tiny and you’ll see it all in a few hours. There is an aquarium called Marineland Melanesia, a bar and a nice restaurant, and the beach is just beautiful. If you stay overnight, your only option is the Green Island Resort. Big Cat and Great Adventures take you to Green Island from Cairns.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Far North Tropical Queensland - Fitzroy Island Queensland Fitzroy island, also popular with day trippers, is less expensive and very enjoyable. There is a bar, an eatery and a pool where you can laze the day away, but there is also some great snorkelling if you want to discover the coral reef, and some good bushwalks, one of which takes you to the highest point of the island. Fitzroy Island Resort runs diving courses and hires snorkelling gear. Sunlover Cruises and Fitzroy Island Ferries go to Fitzroy Island from Cairns.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Far North Tropical Queensland - Kuranda Australia North of Cairns is the former hippie village Kuranda, today a vibrant tourist town with the famous Kuranda Markets, Kuranda Wildlife Noctarium where you can see nocturnal animals, the Birdworld full of parrots (great photo opportunities, many bird photos on this website are from there), and the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary - probably the best place in Australia to get close to Australian butterflies, including the large Ulysses and Cairns Birdwings. You can drive to Kuranda from Cairns, but a classic way most of the tourists take is the Kuranda Scenic Railway from Cairns Central to Kuranda, and the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway back to Smithfield, where there is one of the best Aboriginal experiences in Australia – the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park, the ticket to which is cheaper if combined with the Railway and the Skyrail.
Far North Tropical Queensland - Machans Beach and Wangetti Beach North of Cairns are the Cairns northern beaches - Machans Beach, Holloways Beach, Yorkey’s Knob, Trinity Beach, Clifton Beach Palm Cove and Wangetti Beach - some very upmarket, others more relaxed. In Yorkey’s Knob there is a nice beachfront restaurant in a Yacht Club, and Yorkeys Knob Beachfront Caravan Park. Palm Cove is the most developed of the beaches which is not my cup of tea but if you like a small town of luxury hotels and snobby restaurants, go there, the beach is beautiful and if you cannot afford to stay elsewhere, there is the Palm Cove Cairns City Council Camping Grounds where you can camp. Further north are Ellis Bay (where you can stay at the Ellis Beach Oceanfront Bungalows and Leisure Park), Oak Beach, Pretty Beach and Pebbly Beach before you come to the Four Mile Beach of Port Douglas, after one of the most beautiful coastal drives in Australia.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Far North Tropical Queensland - Port Douglas Queensland Port Douglas is a very touristy town, but it is beautifully colourful, and has plenty of shops to browse and some good cafes and restaurants. You can learn about different ecosystems in the Rainforest Habitat, and there are Port Douglas Markets on Sunday mornings in Anzac Park. Discover Dive School and Quicksilver Dive School take you diving. Sailaway, Zachariah and Ragamuffin Sail & Snorkel take you to Low Islands. Aristocat, Calypso, Haba, Poseidon, Quicksmart and Tallarook take you to the Great Barrier Reef; and you can stay at Dougie’s Backpackers, Parrotfish Lodge, Port O’Call Lodge or some of Port Douglas resorts.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Far North Tropical Queensland - Mossman Queensland North of Port Douglas is the small town Mossman, and behind it is the beautiful Mossman Gorge in the Mossman Gorge section of Daintree National Park. It’s a beautiful gorge with cool water where freshwater turtles are often seen. Around it grow fig trees and many epiphytes in the lush tropical rainforests where many animals such as Boyd’s Forest Dragons, Amethystine pythons (Harmless!), spotted-tailed quolls and musky rat- kangaroos can be seen. There are a few walking tracks around the gorge and at the entrance to the park there are picnic tables and toilets. You can camp here but you have to apply with EPA.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Far North Tropical Queensland - Daintree Rainforests Further north is the northern section of Daintree National Park, with more lush tropical Daintree rainforests, Daintree Village and Daintree River, full of estuarine crocodiles Daintree Village used to be a logging town but now the river is used by tour operators such as Daintree Rainforest River Trains and Peter Cooper’s Mangrove Ecosystem Tours who take visitors for Daintree river cruises which are a bit touristy but it’s quite amazing to see large crocs jumping out of the water to catch the piece of meat hanging off the tourist boat. A nice B&B in the Daintree Village is Red Mill House.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Far North Tropical Queensland - Cape Tribulation Australia North of Daintree River is Cape Tribulation section of the Daintree National Park - where the rainforest literally meets the ocean. After you cross the Daintree River, there is a lookout with toilets and picnic tables in Jindalba. Further north is Cow Bay; another lookout at Marrdja; Noah Beach where you can camp; and Myall Beach where there are barbeques, picnic tables and toilets at Dubuji. North from here is the township of Cape Tribulation with a store, a Bat House, an Exotic Fruit Farm, a few bushwalks to lookout points (you can take a tour with Jungle Adventures); and a mangrove broadwalk to a stunning beach. Places to stay are Cape Trib Beach House, PK’s Jungle Village and Jungle Lodge. A different eco-friendly B&B is the Cape Trib Rainforest Hideaway which runs on solar power, has tap water from a mountain stream, and serves home-made yoghurt and locally grown fruits for breaky.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Far North Tropical Queensland - Cooktown Australia North from Cape Tribulation is Cooktown which claims to be the place for the first European settlement, in fact it was a temporary camp of Captain Cook and his companions while they were repairing their ship Endeavour. But there are some beautiful old buildings in Cooktown and a lovely lighthouse on top of the Grassy Hill. There is the James Cook Museum, a James Cook statue, and a statue for the first kangaroo that Europeans ever saw.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
There are also a few galleries such as Charlie Tanner Gallery and Vera Scarth-Johnson Gallery; a beautiful botanic gardens in Nature’s Powerhouse, and an interesting cemetery. You can climb the Mt Cook (413m), visit the Black Mountains National Park just south of the town, or have a few beers at the Lion’s Den Hotel outside the town – worth turning in! There are a few good pubs in Cooktown too, and you can stay there, or you may like to stay at Pam’s Place, Seaview Motel, Alamanda Inn, Hillcrest B&B, Tropical Breeze Caravan Park or Peninsula Caravan Park.
Here's a far north Queensland map, where I have tagged the places that I mentioned on this web page. You can click on the tags to see what places they are, and double-click anywhere on the map to zoom it in and see the places closer. Drag the map to move around, and if you want to see the satellite image with Google Earth, click on "Sat" in the top right hand corner.
NOTE: This website is written in British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all correct in the language used in Australia.
