“Tree-t” yourself to these
Discover a plant paradise
PLANTS are everywhere, but they don’t get nearly as much attention as our aquatic attractions.
The trees of Far North Queensland are easy to ignore, just because there are so many species growing across the tropics.
But if you take the time to check out some places of botanical interest, you’ll find an entire world of arboreal bliss. Here are a few places where you can be amazed by the region’s plants.
CAIRNS BOTANIC GARDENS/ CENTENARY LAKES
The eastern end of Edge Hill, from Greenslopes Dr through to Collins Ave, is plant paradise. Regarded as one of the best exhibitions of tropical plants in Australia, you can easily spend hours wandering from the orchid enclosure, through to admiring the tall Alexandrian palms growing alongside the rainforest boardwalk. The Cairns Botanic Gardens visitor information centre does excellent regular tours, where you can have a local expert guide you through all the gardens’ wonders.
MANGROVE BOARD WALK
Mangrove trees are renowned for being the unsung heroes of the botanical world, keeping erosion at bay, filtering out pollutants, and providing a nursery ground for important wildlife. One of the best places in the Far North to (safely) see mangroves is the Jack Barnes Memorial Boardwalk, near Cairns Airport. The boardwalk meanders past 11 different mangrove species found in Cairns, as well as ant plants, basket ferns, and golden orchids.
CATTANA WETLANDS
This former sand quarry between Smithfield and Yorkeys Knob has been transformed over the decades into a wetlands wonderland. The 80ha nature conservation park has a 420m boardwalk through feather palm forest, a remnant of the once-extensive forest type that is now confined to only a few remnant patches in the Cairns region.
THE CURTAIN FIG
There are many trees growing across the Far North, that once you see them, you look up and just say “wow.” Yungaburra’s giant Curtain Fig is one of these. The fig’s extensive aerial roots drop 15m to the forest floor, forming a curtain of wood. The park itself protects the Tablelands’ endangered mabi forest.
SUGARWORLD PARKLANDS
Not far from the waterslides of Cairns’ only water theme park, you can find a sprawling garden that is nature’s supermarket. Sugarworld Gardens has a large tropical fruit orchard that holds many exotic fruits such as jaboticaba, velvet apples and bread fruit, that you can pluck straight from the trees to tastetest.