The Cairns Post

We’re for you, we’re for our way of life.

- Jennifer Spilsbury, Editor Cairns Post @Jenspilsbu­ry

It’s green. Really green. And it makes the rest of the country green with envy. We live in paradise and we love it - even though there are a few warts along with her beauty marks.

From the top of Mount Bartle Frere’s 1611 metres to the outer reaches of our “Grand” Barrier Reef and west to our agricultur­al heartland on the Tablelands and beyond, we live in heaven on Earth.

We are surrounded by world heritage rainforest­s, sugar cane fields and banana plantation­s and are blessed with a stunning coastline … but “achtung”. Beware the crocodiles and the jellyfish … oh and surfers, there is no surf.

From the Cairns CBD with the Esplanade as its heartbeat you can be in a water wonderland or magical forest in an hour.

Although don’t travel on the Captain Cook Highway to the Northern Beaches during peak hours and cross your fingers there isn’t a crash on the Kuranda Range, or it may take you several hours and a cut lunch. It’s why we campaigned hard for the Smithfield Bypass and why we’ll keep pushing until the State Government gets it right.

The Tropical North is naturally beautiful and like a sparkling gem it mesmerises all who live here and those who visit.

Then the sweat drips in your eyes and you realise what the trade-off is for living in a place that doesn’t “do” winter. Then it starts raining. Hard. Did I mention cyclones?

The Far North is majestic, resilient, laidback and unique and the Cairns Post has been celebratin­g our way of life for more than 135 years.

We do that by supporting iconic events like the Cairns Amateurs and Cairns Cup racing carnivals and we know you love what we do. Our 24-page publicatio­n On the Track and special lift-outs pre and post-events jump off the newsstands, while our inaugural 50 Best Dressed at the Cairns Cup photo gallery generated 97,283 page views within 24 hours of going live and received 347,969 page views and 17,183 unique views over seven days on cairnspost.com.au.

But there is a cost to living in paradise.

High fuel prices, higher electricit­y costs and ridiculous insurance bills. Jobs, health and juvenile crime.

 ?? Picture: STEWART McLEAN ?? It’s high fashion and good fun for the thousands like Kymberlee Cockrem who come from all over the world to attend the iconic Amateurs horseracin­g carnival every year. It’s worth fighting for paradise because it’s our way of life.
Picture: STEWART McLEAN It’s high fashion and good fun for the thousands like Kymberlee Cockrem who come from all over the world to attend the iconic Amateurs horseracin­g carnival every year. It’s worth fighting for paradise because it’s our way of life.
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