I've been to Cairns. It was beautiful, touristy with lots of shopping, eating and mostly nice people. Lots of transportation via buses and cabs available. Nice beach and sea side area good for skating, jogging, and perhaps running into a beautiful person. A car full of locals screamed at me to go back to where I effin came from, but honestly don't blame them, as I've lived in a tourist town before and wanted to say the same thing to visitors on more than one occasion. Saw a number of adult entertainment venues there, but didn't patronize them, as I was there on business and didn't have the time. There's also a zoo there called Wild World or something like, where you can see all the Aussie wildlife - they had a crocodile there that was so big, he looked more like a dinosaur to me. Stayed in a comfortable Double Tree hotel there, was really nice, but then again, I had just come back from Papua New Guinea directly before, so everything felt like luxury to me.