Mark in Cairns, Port Douglas and a visit to the Great Barrier Reef

Mark was recently in Australia and part of his trip was to Queensland and included a visit the Cairns and Port Douglas, both gateways to the amazing Great Barrier Reef

As one of the gateways to the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns is the main hub for visitors to Far North Queensland and is a great place to base yourself for a few days of relaxation and activity alike. Take a trip out to the reef itself or head inland to the amazing rainforests of the Daintree region to experience one of the few places where the rainforest meets the beach. The town itself offers a huge range of activities from bungee jumping and cableways gliding over the canopy to swimming lagoons.

Whatever you do whilst in Cairns, be sure to get yourself out to the Greater Barrier Reef, one of Australia’s top attractions - there’s a myriad of options of how to visit this unique place with option for every level from qualified diver to total water-phobe, but the most important thing to our mind is just to make sure you get out there - it’s amazing!

I was lucky enough to take a helicopter ride over the Great Barrier Reef and would strongly recommend doing this as it give you a totally different perspective of this world wonder.

 Alternatively, classy Port Douglas is the closest resort town to the Great Barrier Reef, and offers a more upmarket feel to Cairns, which is an hour down the coast. The town has a more relaxed feel than Cairns and has a great selection of places to eat, drink and shop, while the impressive marina is the perfect jumping-off point for trip to the Reef itself - all of this, backed by beautiful mountains and the beautiful Four Mile Beach, which is well worth a stroll along.

Between classy Port Douglas and  laid back Cairns are a string of smaller beach resorts such as beautiful Palm Cove and Trinity Beach which offer a more intimate hideaway for a Queensland beach retreat, with easy access to either of their larger neighbours but a more low-key feel. This stretch of the Queensland Coast is a picture-postcard of tropical gems.

We have a number of great holiday ideas to this part of Australia, http://www.escapeworldwide.co.uk/queensland_holidays.html , all are very flexible so let us know what you have in mind!

  

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