Cairns is a popular travel destination for foreign tourists because of its proximity to many attractions and tropical climate. The Great Barrier Reef is only one and a half hours away by boat. The Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation are popular areas for experiencing a true tropical rainforest. It is also a starting point for people wanting to explore Cooktown, Cape York Peninsula, and the Atherton Tablelands.

The city has used its natural surrounds to its full advantage with the construction of many small theme parks for tourists. Among them are the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park and the Kuranda Skyrail Gondola Cableway, which extends for 7.5 km over World Heritage rainforest.

Cairns experiences a warm tropical climate. It experiences a dry season between April and November and a wet season with tropical monsoons between November and March. Mean rainfall of Cairns is 2222.9 mm. The township of Babinda at the southern end of the city is one of Australia’s wettest towns, recording an annual rainfall of over 4200 mm. It has hot humid summers and milder temperatures in winter. The temperature varies from a mean temperature of 25.5 °C in July to 31.7 °C in January. Many tourists consider Cairns to have a similar climate to Hawaii. Cairns is subject to possible cyclone activity during the wet season. This can cause major flooding to occur to the Barron and Mulgrave Rivers, cutting the city off.

Cairns is a provincial city and has a linear urban layout that runs from the south, at Aloomba, to the north, at Ellis Beach). The city is approximately 52 km from north to south. Cairns has experienced recent urban sprawl, with suburbs occupying land previously used for sugar cane farming. Many houses have also been built on hillsides, partly due to lack of space and partly due to a perception of prestige living. Building on Cairns hillslopes is extremely dangerous. According to national geologists and geographers, Cairns is the most likely place in Australia for a landslide to occur because of the fertile but weak clay-based soils. The urban layout of Cairns is similar to Honolulu's urban layout.

The Northern Beaches are low in elevation and consist of a number of beach communities extending north along the coast. In general each beach suburb is located at the end of a spur road extending from the Captain Cook Highway. From south to north, these are Machans Beach, Holloways Beach, Yorkeys Knob, Trinity Park, Trinity Beach, Kewarra Beach, Clifton Beach, Palm Cove and Ellis Beach.

The suburb of Smithfield is located inland and against the mountains of the Great Dividing Range and serves as the main centre for the Northern Beaches. It is located between Yorkey’s Knob and Trinity Park.

Located inland from the Northern Beaches along the edge of the Barron River flood plain are the suburbs of Caravonica, Lake Placid, Kamerunga, Stratford, and Freshwater. This area is sometimes referred to as Freshwater Valley and can be considered as part of the Northern Beaches area. Further up Freshwater Valley is Redlynch Valley. The suburb of Redlynch is located on the western side of Redlynch Valley, and Brinsmead lies on the eastern side. Stratford, Freshwater, Redlynch and Brinsmead are separated from Cairns city by Mount Whitfield (elevation 365m) and Whitfield Range.

Source: Wikipedia