Destinations / Cairns & Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Cairns & Great Barrier Reef, Australia

1 itinerary · 0 open departures · 0 missions

Cairns is a tropical city in Far North Queensland, Australia, widely regarded as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef — the world's largest coral reef system, stretching over 2,300 kilometres along the Queensland coast and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The region is a magnet for divers and snorkellers, with the reef hosting an extraordinary diversity of marine life including sea turtles, reef sharks, manta rays, and thousands of fish species. Beyond the water, the area is flanked by ancient Daintree Rainforest, offering hiking, wildlife encounters, and visits to Aboriginal cultural sites. Cairns attracts backpackers, adventure seekers, and nature lovers year-round, with liveaboard dive trips, sailing, bungee jumping, and white-water rafting among the most popular activities.

What travellers are doing

Itineraries

Cairns & Great Barrier Reef, Australia · 5 days

Copycat

Great Barrier Reef Learn to Dive – Self-Launched Edition

Get your PADI Open Water certification and dive the outer Great Barrier Reef independently — without the Contiki price tag. This self-launched version follows the same core experience: two days of scuba theory and pool training in Cairns, followed by two nights aboard a live-aboard dive boat on the outer reef with up to 9 dives including a night dive. You'll book directly with Pro Dive Cairns or a comparable PADI live-aboard operator, stay at Gilligan's (the same hostel Contiki uses) for your Cairns nights, and sort your own meals in the city. All costs are approximate estimates in GBP.

adventurebackpackerbudget

Travel Crew

~£840

Missions

Nobody's posted a Mission for Cairns & Great Barrier Reef, Australia yet — which, frankly, is an opportunity.

Wait, what's a Mission?It's not a scheduled trip with dates and a minimum group size like a Departure — it's a goal. Learn to dive, do a Muay Thai camp, live somewhere for a month and work on something, chase one very specific experience. Post it, and other people chasing the same thing find you.

Be the first to post one: "Eat the strangest thing on the menu every single day for a week and document the regret."

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