House share useful information guide
Here is some useful information to help you with planning your trip to Cairns.
Flatmates on day out handfeeding kangaroos |
Cairns Share house guest enjoying the Cairns Lagoon |
Roommates exploring Cairns coastline together in a hire car to Port Douglas |
Share house guests cuddling koalas |
Horseriding on the beach - day out with housemates |
Diving on the Great Barrier Reef with Cairns sharehouse guests
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- Getting to Cairns and around Cairns
- When to visit - weather
- Things to do in Cairns
- Keeping in touch - phone calls & post
- Useful Links
Getting to Cairns Share house
By car
Excellent sealed highways link Cairns with the national road network. (Brisbane is 22-hour drive from Cairns)
By bus/coach
There are several daily bus services linking the major cities and towns around Australia. Coach companies include Greyhound, and Oz Experience.
By air
Cairns International and Domestic airport is located 8km north of the city centre.
The best budget flight options are with Jetstar and Virgin Blue.
Travelling from the airport to Cairns Share house
Cairns Share house.com does not offer an airport transfer service, we do recommend the airport shuttle service or take a taxi (approx 15 minutes).
Australia Coach operates an airport shuttle service to the city (Approximately $10.00* per person) and between the domestic and international terminals (Approximately $2.00* each). The shuttle picks up immediately in front of the arrival halls at both terminals. Booking counters are at either end of the domestic terminal and at international arrivals.
Free taxi telephones are located in the arrival halls and the taxi ranks are immediately outside. The average fare to the city is A20.00* - A$25.00*.
*Prices subject to change.
Getting around Cairns
Cairns offers all the transport methods expected of a modern city:
Local bus
Linking the centre of Cairns to its suburbs – click here for more details.
Black & White Taxis
24 hour taxi service – taxi meeting points or 'ranks' are located in the central city areas, at shopping centre's etc (dial 131 008)
Car Hire
Available for hire throughout Cairns city and the perfect way to explore the surrounding rainforests and waterfalls. The CSH team can book you car hire at discounted rates.
Bicycle Hire
The compact, easy city layout with wide pedestrian and bicycle pathways makes it convenient for travelling around the city. A cheap and easy alternative is to buy a secondhand bike (approx $80.00) and resell it back to the bike shop within 3 months and receive 50% of your money back. See the CSH office for more details.
When to visit - weather
Cairns is like a tropical paradise with average annual temperatures of 33°C maximum and 17°C minimum.
- Annual rainfall of 1992mm on an average 154 days.
- Sea temperatures from a minimum 23°C in July to a maximum of 28°C in February.
Summer (Wet Season): December - February
These months experience the highest temperature, rainfall and humidity. When it does rain it is usually early in the morning, late in the afternoon or during the night. The nights are balmy and the water lovely and warm.
Autumn: March – May & Spring: September - November
During autumn and spring the humidity slowly decreases and it feels much cooler.
Winter: June - August
Low rainfall, little humidity, fresh breezes and sunny days. It's the coldest time of the year and the most popular time for tourists to visit.
Things to do in Cairns
There is so much to do and see when you are in Cairns. Apart from the huge choice of tours from skydiving to rainforest walks, the city itself offers lots of free and fun activities every day of the week.
Check out the following links for more information:
Keeping in touch - phones & post
Australia's Country Code is 61
Area Codes: Queensland's is 07, Victoria is 03, NSW & ACT is 02, NT & WA is 08
To place an overseas call you need to dial 0011 and then the country code, area code and number.
Phone cards for cheap international calls are available at our office, newsagents and in most internet cafe's. The cost for international calls with these cards starts from 0.03 cents per minute from phone booths. You can also use specific phone cards to make telephone calls from inside your apartment.
The Australia Post is the national postal service. In the centre of Cairns there are three post offices located at: Orchid Plaza in Lake Street, Cairns Central Shopping Centre in McLeod Street and the main Post Office in Grafton Street. The Australia Post website offers helpful information on Postage costs, freight times and customs/export requirements.
Remember when you arrive at Cairns Share house we will provide you with a postal address where you can receive mail - this is very useful when opening bank accounts and setting up tax file numbers etc. If you receive any large parcels then these will automatically be delivered to our office and we will store them for you to collect.
Click here for useful information once you have checked in.