KURANDA

Kuranda is a quaint mountain village surrounded by rainforest, and flanked by the mighty Barron River. The town has become a popular tourist destination, largely because of its close proximity to the coast, and also because of the Skyrail cablecar and Kuranda Scenic Railway, which link Kuranda to Cairns.

ATHERTON TABLELANDS

The Atherton Tablelands are situated inland of Kuranda, and basically occupy the space between the coastal rainforest and the northern outback. The region is varied in topography, from patches of lush rainforest and cascading waterfalls to woodland and rolling plains.

PORT DOUGLAS AND MOSSMAN

Mossman Gorge, just north of Port Douglas, is the perfect place for a break from the summer heat. The Mossman River, with its crystal clear cascades, tumbles its way over and around large granite boulders to create cool clear freshwater swimming holes. It's a great spot for a family picnic.

DAINTREE

The Daintree River winds its way lazily through the heart of the World Heritage listed Wet Tropics rainforest. This is your best spot for viewing our living dinosaur - the giant saltwater crocodile in the wild. It's only a 90 minute drive from the hustle and bustle of Cairns, but it feels like another world.

CAPE TRIBULATION

Until not too many years ago, the isolated rainforest region of Cape Tribulation was off limits for anyone without a four wheel drive. But now a sealed road ensures that this precious region is accessible to all. This is really Tropical North Queensland's rainforest at its best...

CASSOWARY COAST

The Cassowary Coast stretches from Cardwell and Hinchinbrook Island in the south almost all the way to Cairns. This area is home to Australia's tallest mountain peaks, and a great variety of rainforest topography. With dozens of rainforest National Parks, bushwalking opportunities are almost endless...

Although nowadays the Wet Tropics Rainforest only covers less than 1% of Australia, they are home to an incredible diversity of flora and fauna and present a living evidence of the ecological and evolutionary processes that have shaped Australia's ecological history for over 415 million years. About 3000 plant species from over 200 families are found here of which 50 of them are only found in the Wet Tropics, a third of Australia's 310 mammal species live here and 13 mammal species cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Some of the trees found here are more than 3000 years old and the tallest ones can reach up to 60 metres. Australia's most primitive kangaroo, the Lumholtz tree kangaroo, and the world's largest flightless bird, the Southern Cassowary, have made the Rainforest their home.

In order to protect this spectacular and valuable ecosystem, the Wet Tropics Rainforest was declared as a World Heritage site in 1988.

Rainforest Aboriginal people are the original owners of the Wet Tropics rainforests and have been since time immemorial. More than 20 Aboriginal tribal groups have ongoing traditional connections to land in and near the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The traditional estate boundaries are very different to the boundaries of the World Heritage Area. Each group has established obligations for management of their country under Aboriginal law.

To Rainforest Aboriginal people, the Wet Tropics Rainforest is a series of complex 'living' cultural landscapes. This means that natural features are linked to the Aboriginal people's religion, spirituality, social and moral organisation and even economic use (including food, medicines and tools). Story places such as mountains, rivers, gorges, trees, etc, are important to the Rainforest people because they symbolise features that were created during the ancestral creation perior, called the 'Dreaming' or the 'Dreamtime'.

In order to preserve the Wet Tropics Rainforest (again in Cairns Unlimited we love it) here are a few tips:

1. Don't leave the walking tracks, delicate ground cover plants are easily disturbed if we stamp on them.
2. Please if you need a fire, do not gather leaf litter and branches but use a fuel stove.
3. Take your rubbish with you when you leave. Do not bury it, feral pigs will smell it and dig it out.
4. Do not take your pets with you, they, as animals, will chase, scare or even kill the local wildlife.
5. Do not feed the wild life, human food can be harmful to the animals and feeding may lead to aggresive behaviour.
6. Do not pick, break or remove ferns, vines or any other plant, everything is protected.