It wasn’t that long ago that Cairns (pronounced Cans), queen of the remote Australian area known as "The Deep North," was a sleepy colonial outpost in the midst of the tropics, complete with white buildings, swaying palms and houses built on stilts to catch ocean breezes. Cairns, Australia Gay Cruises. The town first appeared on the map during the inland gold rush. Cairns, Australia Gay Cruises. Later it was a railhead from which produce grown on the fertile Atherton Tableland and sugarcane from the coastal plains were transported to other parts of the country. Cairns, Australia Gay Cruises. The boom in tourism, the opening of an international airport and luxury hotels made Cairns lose a good deal of its isolation. Cairns, Australia Gay Cruises. Closer to Papua New Guinea than to most of Australia, Cairns counts many Asians among its native residents; you will find more ethnic diversity here than in almost any other part of Australia. Cairns, Australia Gay Cruises.
The principal attraction is what lies around it: over 60 national parks from the wet tropical rain forests and lush tablelands to the truly wild Cape York Peninsula and the Great Barrier Reef. Cairns, Australia Gay Cruises. The Coral Sea forms the town’s eastern boundary; prize catches of black marlin, tuna, shark, sailfish, barracuda and reef fish attract dedicated anglers. Cairns, Australia Gay Cruises.
To the west are the slopes of the dividing ranges leading up to the fertile Atherton Tableland. Cairns, Australia Gay Cruises. The wild scenery of lush rain forests, waterfalls and lakes draws people to these mountains. Cairns, Australia Gay Cruises.
