Cairns

With its reputation and an imagination filled by picture-postcard images of all the natural gems that surround it, Cairns can be a little overwhelming upon arrival. So make your first stop the official and accredited Gateway Discovery Centre at 51 The Esplanade (+61 740513588, www.tropical australia.com.au).

Immediately across the road is the city’s most popular attraction and daytime social hub – the Cairns Lagoon Complex. Built on an estuary, Cairns’ greatest deficiency has always been a beach. A bizarre and expensive attempt was made in 2001 to create one artificially, but this foolhardy attempt was duly rectified when nature took it back with the next available cyclone. So the city fathers in their tested wisdom decided a manmade lagoon might be the go. The result has proved a tremendous success and no doubt between excursions and the social excesses you will find some peace and solace there.

Opposite the lagoon is the Pier Complex – the principal focus for retail therapy – and beside that the modern Reef Fleet Terminal where thousands of souls depart daily in excited anticipation of their first encounter with the reef and return exhausted and not so much satisfied, as in awe.

The city centre itself is fairly compact and easy to negotiate. Cairns isn’t known for its historical landmarks or buildings of character; rather you’ll find a huge conglomerate of hotels, backpackers, bars, restaurants and activity operator shops. Among them you will find a little cultural relief at the small Cairns Museum, corner of Lake and Shields streets, (+61 740515582). Also on Shields Street is the award-winning Peter Lik Wilderness Gallery (+61 740318177, www.peterlik.com.au). The radiant panoramic photos and design of the gallery itself are impressive. More conventional regional and national artworks can be viewed at Cairns Regional Art Gallery on the corner of Abbott and Shields streets (+61 70464800, www.cairnsregionalgallery.com.au).

Local history

The Aboriginal name for the area is ‘Gimuy’. Cairns itself was first established as a tiny port serving the Hodgkinson River gold fields during the 1870s and is named after William Wellington Cairns, the third Governor of Queensland. Cairns developed steadily with the creation of the rail link to the Atherton Tablelands and the ports subsequent development and growth as a transportation link for the more enduring tin, timber and sugar industries. Big game fishing was the town’s initial tourist attraction, before the invention of the aqualung in 1943 created the inevitable explosion of interest in the Great Barrier Reef.

Local politics

As one of the world’s most precious natural assets and one of the nation’s greatest tourist drawcards much debate and controversy surrounds the welfare, conservation and ultimate fate of the Great Barrier Reef. The greatest threat is undoubtedly global warming, with even a 1°C rise in water temperature potentially proving fatal. However, recent studies suggest that although it will have an adverse affect it may not necessarily be the end of the Great Barrier since the coral 'may' re-establish elsewhere.