Cairns is an ideal tourist destination on the North Queensland shore, and the perfect place to stop off and enjoy the scenery of the rainforest, amazing game fishing, surfing, sailing and adventure treks inland. It's an adventure sports enthusiast's dream location and its recent renovation means it now boasts an attractive seafront and sheltered lagoon too.

The city itself is compact, easily discoverable on foot, and divided into two main districts. The Esplanade, along the sea shore, is packed with bars, diners, restaurants and outlets to sign up for or rent the kit for the many activities on offer. There's a manmade lagoon for swimming or cooling off between sunbathing, away from the stingers in the open sea.

But of course Cairn's real pull is its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef on one side and tropical rainforest (officially the Mt Whitfield Conservation Park) on the other.

Cairns is served by a domestic and international airport, just outside of the main city. There are hourly airport shuttle buses and many hotels operate a courtesy shuttle. A taxi to your destination in or around Cairns will cost between $15 and $20.