This is the place you go to be adventurous! There’s not much to do in Cairns itself (unless you’d like to hang out at Gilligan’s every night and party), but it is the home base for most travelers wanting to take a dive into the Great Barrier Reef or out of an airplane at Mission Beach. I gave myself 6 days in Cairns, and could have easily stayed more. So many activities, so little time! Below are just a few of the most popular, but check out the local Peter Pan or any other travel agencies to get your days filled up!

Things to Do in Cairns

Great Barrier Reef:

• The Great Barrier Reef alone draws people to Australia, and one of the best places to get a closer look at it is in Cairns. The diving and snorkeling here is the absolute best! The companies are all great at what they do and what you’ll see under the water is a crazy world. On going cliffs of beautiful reef will make you want to come back for more. I saw manta rays, sharks, turtles, beautiful fish and corals of all colors.

• Scuba Diving – Great for certified and adventure (uncertified) divers alike. Certified divers will be able to go deeper, but the beauty of this reef is that you don’t have to go down to the ocean floor to really experience it. I went with Deep Sea Divers Den on a 2 day livaboard. This was one of my favorite things I did on my trip. You begin your day with a group on a power boat and shoot straight out to the reef. On that boat, you get 2 dives – one in the morning, then lunch, then one in the afternoon. Once those 2 are done, those who only did the day trip get brought back to shore, and the others are transferred over to the livaboard boat (basically a boat hotel). Once on this boat, we did an evening dive, had dinner, then went back in for our night dive. The next day you, you jump in the water at sunrise to go for the first dive. Such a beautiful experience to watch the reef come to life in the morning! Both the night dive and sunrise dive are for certified divers only. After the sunrise dive you jump in 2 more times making it a total of 7 dives in two days. Talk about an amazing deal! With Deep Sea Divers Den the price for 7 dives, one night accommodation, meals for two days, came to $570 AUD. Something I was happy to throw my money away into.

• Snorkeling -Not feeling super pumped about diving down? Prefer to skim around the surface of the reef? Then snorkeling is for you. And I promise you won’t be left feeling like you needed to dive. The shallow parts of the reef have just as much beauty to offer!

Sky Diving at Mission Beach:
One of the only places in the world that has you jumping out of a plane over the Great Barrier Reef to then land on the beach! Definitely not for those who are scared of heights. Definitely for those thrill seekers!

Cost: $340-$450 AUD (depends on season and if you’d like the video package)

Uncle Brian’s Rainforest/Waterfall Tour:
This all day rainforest and waterfall tour will surely clear up that Gilligan’s hangover. The beautiful fresh water will wake you up and rejuvenate you for another night out! This tour was great. I was picked up at my hostel (Gilligan’s) and brought to our first stop where we had some tea, coffee, and breakfast. We then walked around the gorgeous rainforest and afterwards enjoyed a chilling swim. From there we made our way to explore more waterfalls and lakes, finishing off the day with a warm cup of hot chocolate. Goodbye hangover!

• Cost: $119 AUD