Cairns City
Cairns city is a bustling metropolis of some 140 thousand surrounded to the East by Trinity Inlet & the Coral Sea, to the south by the Mulgrave River, to the West and North by the mountains and rainforest.
Having been founded on the logging, gold, sugar & tobacco trades, today it is a major tourism destination and aerial gateway to the whole of the Cape York or Tropical North Queensland region. With direct scheduled international flights to much of Asia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Pacific Island nations, as well as being an important link in the domestic aerial linking, Cairns has one of the busiest airports in the nation.
It is also firmly placed on many Cruise Liner itinieries, however the remoteness does somewhat restrict the self drive market.
The tourism infrastructure is well developed, and there are literally hundreds of tours to choose from. These can range from simple sightseeing to high level adrenalin rush.
Want to take a walk in the rainforest, dive to the bottom of the ocean, fly a WWII fighter plane - it can all be arranged in Cairns.
Hungry? world class cuisine is offered from a myriad of restaurants & cafes operating all over the CBD. The Cairns Esplanade seems to some to be just one long food mall.
For the purposes of logical search parameters we have divided Cairns City into the major locations of:
CBD - the major shopping area, wharves/Marina, Major chain hotels, Office blocks, Major entertainment venues, Railway Station, Cruise Liner Terminal etc.
Esplanade - the waterfront - Cairns City itself does not have a 'beach' being on the mouth of a tropical river outlet - instead it's waterfront consists of low tide mud flats stretching well out to sea - this is a paradise for water-bird and other wild-life enthusiasts, joggers, walkers, photographers. Very popular with tourists for the views and daily action and the mile long strip of fine restaurants.
Cairns North - This is the area between the CBD/Esplanade and the Cairns Airport and encompasses the bulk of Cairns Apartment complexes and other non major hotel chain accomodation establishments.
"Cairns Suburbs" - all the remaining Cairns metropolitan areas west & south of the above.
