When we were driving north to the Daintree Rainforest, we passed through Cairns—a medium sized city, a touristy city. On our return from Cape Tribulation, we stopped in for a little while.

People who visit Cairns tend to be young and athletic. (I’m an anomaly.) They come from all over the world. I hear most of the European languages spoken. I see Asians from China, Japan, Thailand, Korea, India and the Philippines. I even run into an occasional American.

Affluent people come here, yes. But the majority are backpackers traveling on a budget, sleeping in $15 dormitory rooms. Many are in Australia on work or student visas. We met a young Korean woman studying English at a language school, working as a part-time server in a Thai restaurant. She was surprised we knew how to use chopsticks.

The focal point of Cairns is the Esplanade, a mile-long park and walking path that runs along the water’s edge. Everybody goes there.

A grassy park popular with sunbathers anchors the south end of the Esplanade. By two in the afternoon, the place is full of tanning bodies. This in a country that tracks UV levels in weather reports.

Cairns lies too far north for swimming beaches to be safe from stinging jellyfish. Bathers cool off in the city’s huge artificial lagoon. In this photograph you can see a false horizon formed by the edge of the lagoon, and above that, the true horizon on the Coral Sea.

The Esplanade is a busy place. A reggae band entertains a gathering on a Sunday afternoon.

An old hippie, a few of his neurons still firing, volunteers to augment the band’s rhythm section. Nobody pays him any attention.

Note his long, braided beard. He’s been flying for a long, long time. In Cairns, he somehow fits right in.

Many Australian parks have humongous permanent barbies provided for use by anyone. On this evening, an large family cooks chicken and fish for themselves and for anyone else who shows up looking hungry.

Parks, hostels, clothing boutiques, restaurants, cafés—they’re what make up the tourist zone. All catering to travelers: backpacker farming. But all these businesses are of secondary interest to visitors. The real reason anyone comes to Cairns is to visit the Great Barrier Reef. Scores of tour companies offer transportation out there: by sailboat, by excursion boat, by helicopter, by seaplane. A fast boat can make it to dive sites on the reef in about an hour.

Maybe you’re going to view the Great Barrier Reef from the air or from a glass bottom boat. Perhaps you’re going to snorkel the reef, or if you’re PADI certified, dive it. Maybe you’re going to fish it for black marlin. Maybe you just want to photograph it. Whatever your interests, these companies, exist for the sole purpose of making sure you get out there into the middle of all that coral, all those beautiful fish, so you can experience one of the natural wonders of the world.