Located in Queensland on Australia's northeast coast, Cairns is a thriving tourist mecca at the confluence of two UNESCO World Heritage sites: the Wet Tropics Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. This city owes the bulk of its infrastructure to the thunderous success of the tourist industry in the past two decades.

Cairns is backed by Daintree National Forest, one of the oldest-living rainforests on the planet. The flora here is of particular interest to paleontologists and botanists, as many of Daintree's plant species have long been extinct throughout the rest of the world. This truly pristine, old-growth forest is an excellent place to stage hiking excursions and get acquainted with northern Australia's wildlife.