Our highly experienced tour staff can give expert local advice on the best tours to do. This is just a brief overview of what's available.

Please contact the experienced tour staff at Castaway's Backpackers, Cairns, for rates, availability and information.

Dive Expeditions

Cod Hole image courtesy of Taka Dive.

Forget about the real world and concentrate on diving on a dive expedition. The Cod Hole is a must - you get to swim with the giant Potato Cod the size of you. Option are a plenty with 3,4,5,7,14 day dive expeditions departing from Cairns. Dive expeditions are longer because they go further out to the Outer Barrier Reef - where the pristine sites are visited less, pelagic fish are frequent and the visibility is lost better. You will average 3 or 4 dives a day, quality dive briefings by divers who know the reefs, enjoy plentiful food tea & coffee, use quality dive gear - some operators will give you a small discount for bringing your gear - tanks of course. We can arrange for you to do different dive expeditions back to back .

Overnight & Liveaboards

These are a great way to maximise your dive or snorkel time on the reef. Accommodations on Liveaboards range from bunks to ensuite double cabins. 2 or 3 dive sites are visited, with 3 or 4 dives a day. There is usually an opportunity for a night dive. Overnight Liveaboards can be sometimes be extended for a day or 2 extra. All meals are provided while at sea.

The Dive Schools

In Cairns there are numerous Dive schools. We recommend Prodive, Deep Sea Divers Den and Cairns Dive Centre.

A 3,4,5, or 6 Day Course begins every day of the week in Cairns. Courses have 2 parts : 2 Days Pool and Theory and the Certification Dives. Dive schools can train you from Openwater and Advanced Open right through to Certified Divemaster. PADI, NAUI, and SSI courses are available. Dive gear is supplied or can be hired.

Certified Day Trips

These are great for those that only have a day to squeeze in some diving on the Great Barrier Reef. The range of trips available caters for beginners, right through to experienced divers looking for the best day on the reef. You can expect atleast 2 dives per day, dive briefs, use of dive gear, lunch.

Snorkelling

For those people who can't or don't want to dive this is the best way to see the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef. Trips range from backpacker style right upto 5 star luxury catamarans. Quality snorkelling gear, if not included, is a available for hire. Snorkelling tours, wet suits, Child size snorkelling equipment, are available.

Cape Tribulation & Daintree

The bulk of tour operators go to either the Cape Tribulation/Daintree Area or the Kuranda/Atherton Tablelands Area.

Most rainforest surrounded accommodation is to be found in the Cape Tribulation/Daintree area

Kuranda & Atherton Tablelands

There are three spectacular ways to visit Kuranda - the Kuranda Scenic Railway, the multi-award winning Skyrail Rainforest Cableway and Kuranda Range Road which is a photographer's delight with its scenic views. Atherton is the "capital" of the lovely Tropical Tablelands, a land of beautiful lakes, waterfalls, rich red soil and tropical rainforest. Here the temperature is cooler, the pace is slower and there is a feeling of relaxation in the air.
The area has a number of natural attractions such as the Curtain Fig Tree, Millaa Millaa Falls , crater lakes and amazing rock formations which can be visited on day tours.

Adventure

In the last two years, ballooning has really taken off in Cairns.

The weather and climate here is ideal for this gentle activity, which offers the best panoramic views of this beautiful region! After the flight, there's the rest of the day to explore and fit in all those other activities that people want to experience during their visit. Hotair and Raging Thunder Ballooning are an experienced and well-resourced team of Cairns tourism professionals who will be taking the best equipment available

Or experience the excitement of skydiving.After the free fall at around 5,000 ft the instructor activates the main parachute, and you decelerate gently until it seems like you are stationary at about 4,000 ft.A tandem skydive is the best way to experience all the thrills of skydiving with the comfort of having a qualified instructor with you to operate the parachute and control the descent.

A tandem skydive is the ultimate opportunity to experience the freedom and exhilaration of the fastest human powered sport on earth.

The sensational whitewater is visited by a selection of rafting 1,2 and 5 day tours allowing visitors from all corners of the globe to experience the scenic majesty that is Tropical North Queensland's World Heritage-listed "Wet Tropics" region by operating trips to the following rivers: Barron, Mulgrave, Russell, Tully and North Johnstone.