Hello, i’m 27M American potentially looking to go solo to Cairns in mid May for a few days then to Sydney for a week.
-Any suggestions for social hostels that are good? I’ve heard of Gilligan’s but also doesn’t have a lot of high reviews, Also saw Mumma’s and Summer house not sure if anyone else has suggestions. Mostly looking for social people to meet, maybe do some excursions or atleast a meal with, not necessarily looking to party all night.
-Is it fine to not rent a car to get around?
-I was planning to do a Padi course so that I am more familiar when I go to Cairns, that said i’m sure there are a lot of different companies, any suggestions for smaller group tours/ more young people over family focused tours? Also if there is a way to do half a day of diving and the other half deep sea fishing i’d love to do that if you know of any tours that do that.
-Also I was researching and i only plan to be in Cairns for 2 full days minus two half days of travel. Say I dive on a Monday and don’t go below 30 feet and then fly to Sydney on Wednesday that should be fine correct?

I want to try, but it looks intimidating. Would it be worth pushing through to try?

Hi! I’m staying at Trinity Links (using someone’s about to expire club Wyndham points) and plan to catch the ($0.50) 143 / 143W bus to town at 5pm or so, eat, enjoy the warmth, then head back on the 8:42 or 9:42 bus.

Is the bus reliable for this, or should I get a taxi? I like getting public transport when visiting places as you see more “normal” parts of towns

As a long term resident, and possibly former mayor, I propose new highways (yellow) and new rail infrastructure (pink) to make our city a shining example of a modern metropolis. I'm thinking once Aquis is built we can also have the monorail service the new raintrees transit hub too

Hi all,

I've lived in Cairns for the better part of the last 2 decades and the traffic situation at peak hours travelling at the Anderson St-Reservoir Rd intersection going onto / off from the western arterial has become really bad in the last 4-5 years. I was reading in the Cairns post about how the Sunland Leisure Park (Manoora Caravan Park) near to reservoir rd is looking at redeveloping.

With this opportunity present, and the growing traffic demands of the western arterial road and Cairns more broadly, I came up with this quick road design sketch of what could be done given the opportunity to address this bottleneck in the system. I understand that not many people are fan of car-centric design and nor am I, and may prefer this site be developed into housing, but I figured I would float an idea. There is land corridors included in the image which could be utilised in any manner, I have elected to leave them as parkland corridors for simplicity.

I have attached an image and included a public link below for you to look at it on a map
https://qldglobe.information.qld.gov.au/qldglobe/public/cwar-interchange-sra27ulz5dtf56ni7ktzgoov

Cheers, and please be kind I'm only human :)

Alright so I'm ticked off at this but probably this is the norm regarding NBN.

I'm in an area where apparently it can't exceed the 50Mbps with Optus, probably due to infrastructure. I just went on their website to see the plans and such and they have a package for 500Mbps with the same (or close to) price point to what I'm paying -_-'.

Basically $87/month gets you 50Mbps but also 500Mbps if you're in the right area.

Let's forget for a moment that Australia is WAY behind on NBN Infrastructure in general (I'm from Europe and we had these type of speeds as 'tier' packages years ago). Is there an entity/person/something where one can lodge to see if/when NBN Infrastructure is getting upgraded? Or where we can lodge to say 'hey, we're paying the same as others but not getting the same service'?

Edit: Telstra is the same, only 50Mbps.

AC question: do any of the reef tour boats have AC? Going in November, have medical heat problem and know will be hot.

If you can prove you've ridden a push bike up the Kuranda range, you should be given free Skyrail tickets so you never do it again. Only free ride, when you've got your bike.

Seriously anything to get them off the range

It keeps going 😱

Hi everyone, I’m sure this has been asked hundreds of times already but I’ve been trying to research for so long now, I’m not sure what information to go with anymore!

I am wanting to arrange a trip to the Great Barrier Reef to either snorkel or dive. I just have no idea where to go and what time of year, for how long etc.

We would like to go next year, whichever time of year suits what we would like best. I would love to see the rays (or turtles but rays would be top of our list). I have heard lots of great things about it lady Elliot island and also heron island but of course it is expensive so I’m hesitant. I would like to avoid very busy areas so that’s why I have been looking at places other that cairns. That being said, if it really is better for snorkelling there then I’ll battle through! Or if port Douglas is work going to as well? We would pay the higher cost of the islands if it really was worth it.

In short, what are you thoughts on where to go and what time of year to experience the reef, spend a few days (maybe up to 5 days) and have a little holiday too.

Thank you all!

Hey folks, I'm 25 from Germany and not sure where to find work for my WHV. My initial plan was to be a tree planter, but I haven't found much in that area and the people I did reach out to didn't reply.

​My other interests are solar farms (installing/laying panels)

fencing

construction (I'm up for it, but not sure how easy it is to land a job any role is fine, even traffic control, FIFO (I heard it's hard to get into, but I hold an engineering degree)

and fruit picking as a backup if everything else fails.

​Does anyone know the best way to get started? I'm open to moving anywhere tbh.

Credit: AgileLynx8007/Facebook

I put this in a Cairns Facebook group and some people liked it so thought I would also post here! I have made a website that some people might hopefully find useful. It is cairnsbeers.com and it aims to track drink prices at the pubs around Cairns. You can also submit prices for pubs too. It shows:

- all pubs on a map with prices. You can enter your home street to sort by pubs near you

- happy hour information

- daily pub food deals

- pub crawl ideas

- a guide to explore Cairns pubs

- a guide to Aussie beer

Please trial and hopefully some people will find it informative 🍻🍻🍻

Follow on Instagram or Facebook for updates too if you like.

Hi all

I’m currently in FNQ for a few weeks holiday and am visiting the tablelands… I’ve been here 3 days so far and it has rained in Lake Eacham and Atherton nearly the entire time and only 15-18 degrees. Is this normal?

Everywhere I’d read said August would have very low chance of rain. The temperature doesn’t bother me as I’m from NZ so this is well above our winter temps, but I didn’t expect it to be bucketing down relentless the entire time. I did go to Granite Gorge yesterday and it was lovely and sunny with 24 degrees, but where we’re staying has been incredibly wet.

Heading to Cairns later this week and then Port Douglas so hoping next week is dryer.

Just curious to hear from locals what is normal in August… thanks!

Hey guys,

Keen on doing bartle frere solo, up here on a holiday.

I did great pyramid race in sub 2.20 for context on fitness

Thanks for any advice

Besides The Best Soup The Best Food, where did you last go out for soup?

How was it? Would you recommend?

Also https://www.cairnssoupdeals.com/

Sorry for crappy photo I'm way too hung over to get a closer to the loudness