Cairns is not all about lazy days on the beach under the tropical sun. Many people visit for just that reason, but if you want something more to test your nerve, then Cairns has a lot to offer in the field of adventure tourism.

Diving the Great Barrier Reef

The reef is a must do for many Cairns visitors, and though you can join the throngs of many others and take a tourist boat out for a day of snorkeling, you can also participate in some real SCUBA diving. Options range from single day reef tours to multiple day live-aboard tours incorporating open water and night dives.

Dive depth varies between 5 to 30 metres depending on the site and most are suitable for beginners through to experienced divers. If you are not an experienced diver then what better place to learn than the Great Barrier Reef. Many dive courses are available from introductory to advanced.

Bungy Jump and Minjin Jungle Swing

A purpose-built 50 metre bungy tower sits nestled in the rainforest a few minutes drive north of Cairns. From the top you look out over the Coral sea and down to your “splash down” point which is a pond fed from a rainforest stream and waterfall. Your friends can view your leap of faith from four viewing platforms around the base of the jump. A menu of sixteen jump styles means that you can select how far out of your comfort zone you wish to go. Go for the regular swan dive, or ride a BMX bike off the launch platform; the choice is yours.

The Minjin jungle swing is also set at the same rainforest location. A daring high-speed swing down through the trees. You and up to two others can release yourself from 45 metres up in the rainforest canopy to swing down to within 1 metre of the ground at speeds of up to 120 kph. Not for the faint hearted.

White Water Rafting

This adrenalin pumping adventure activity is available on the Barron and Tully rivers. Both locations are within gorges carved by the rivers over time and cut through heritage rainforest – hopefully not providing too much of a distraction from the task at hand. The task at hand of course is navigating your inflatable raft with a group of others through countless white water rapids.

The Tully river tour is a full day one with two levels, the standard rafting, and an extreme version for that extra challenge. The day includes a barbecue lunch at riverside. The Barron river tour is an afternoon package of fun and excitement perhaps more suited to newcomers to white water rafting. However, it too is not without its challenges.

Skydiving

What can be more daredevil than throwing yourself out of an aircraft from 9000 feet above the ground? The answer is doing it from 14000 feet. Skydiving in Cairns gives you that choice with drop heights of 9000, 10000, 11000 and 14000 foot drops.

All drops are tandem jumps with professional instructors and offer a choice of landing spots including Mission Beach south of Cairns; into a secluded valley south of Cairns; or another beach landing at Palm Cove just north of Cairns. All jumps of course will give you breathtaking views of the Great Barrier Reef and golden beaches edged with verdant rainforest.

CableSki.

One of only four in Australia, and the only one in Queensland, Cairns Cable Water Ski park offers you a chance to show off your water skiing skills on a custom-built lake set against a backdrop of rainforest-clad mountains.

With the safety of the driven supporting cable you can choose from kneeboarding, wakeboarding or water skiing. You also have the choice of taking on the numerous ramp obstacles on the course; showing off your aerial acrobatic skills with somersaults and free jumps; or just taking a relatively leisurely ride on your board around the course.

This article hopefully has provided you with some ideas for an adventure vacation in Cairns, but there are many more activities to get the heart pumping and the blood rushing.