Cairns is renowned as the gateway to two of the worlds greatest natural attractions: The Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics Rainforest.
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest reef in the world measuring 2011 km in length and 72 km across at its wides point making it the world's largest World Heritage Areas. The Reef became on of Australia's first World Heritage Areas. It was inscribed on the World Heritage List in recognition of its outstanding natural universal values. There are an estimated 1 500 species of fish, over 300 species of hard, reef-building corals, more than 4000 mollusc species and over 400 species of sponges have been identified.
Australia's Wet Tropics is a band of tropical rainforest and associated vegetation that runs up the north-east coast of Queensland from Townsville to Cooktown. The World Heritage property covers an area of approximately 894 000 hectares. It was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1988 in recognition of its scenic beauty and biological important.
The area is a region of spectacular scenery and regged topography with fast flowing rivers, deep gorges and numerous waterfalls. The mountain summits provide expansive vistas of undisturbed rainforests.
