Cairns

What to do in Cairns?

Air New Zealand offers seasonal non-stop flights to Cairns from Auckland, and year round connections from Auckland, Wellington, Queenstown and Christchurch via Sydney and Melbourne in conjunction with our partner Qantas.

Have you ever seen one of the seven natural wonders of the world? If you want to tick one off the list, we'd recommend The Great Barrier Reef. On top of it being a lot nicer than some frozen mountain or dusty canyon, you can do it from the deck of a yacht with a cocktail in your hand. So the first step on your adventure is to grab a ticket to Cairns.

But Cairns is so much more than the Great Barrier Reef. The city boasts a casino, hotels, bars and restaurants if you like your creature comforts. And if you like your creatures, there's tons of opportunities to get out and enjoy Tropical North Queensland's unique wildlife. Surrounded by tropical rainforest, numerous adventure tour operators will get you one-on-one with cute koalas and creepy salt water crocs.

From Cairns you're just a hop skip and a jump over to North Queensland's other delights like Port Douglas, Daintree Rainforest and Green Island. They've even got awesome monorails, gondolas and ziplines criss-crossing numerous attractions. Because, walking... Why would you?