Cairns Esplanade
Manmade waterfront lagoon and boardwalk, built as a safe swim alternative to a croc-patrolled coast.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Cairns Esplanade in Queensland turns on the manmade lagoon council built along the waterfront in the early two thousands, and on the mayor whose name got attached to one of its stranger rules. You will hear how Kevin Byrne, a former army officer who led Cairns on and off for more than a decade, made a call about the lagoon that put the city in newspapers far south of Queensland, and how his own reputation was already far from spotless. Best heard standing at the rail above the water.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Cairns Esplanade Lagoon
Free public swimming lagoon and lawn with barbecue areas on the waterfront, patrolled by lifesavers.
Trinity Beach
Netted swimming enclosure on a quiet shore, among the first stinger barriers built on this coast.
Babinda Boulders
Granite-boulder swimming hole on a rainforest creek, its legend-haunted pool fenced off downstream.
Ellis Beach
Slender five-kilometre stretch of coast with a tiny caravan park, stinger nets, and pumice-strewn sand.
Centenary Lakes Nature Play Space
Nature-based playground on reclaimed wetland with a hand-pump watercourse and shady lakeside trails.
Crystal Cascades
Rainforest swimming holes fed by cascading waterfalls, once the source of Cairns' drinking water.