Cairns sits in the tropical far north of Queensland, with the Coral Sea on one side and a wall of rainforest mountains on the other, and the whole town is organised around the idea of being a launch pad. Boats leave daily for the Great Barrier Reef, small planes head for Cape York, and the road north runs up to the Daintree, where the oldest rainforest on earth meets the beach. The town was founded in the 1870s as a port for the goldfields at Hodgkinson River and later became a sugar and tourism centre. It is not especially pretty in the old-town sense, but the Esplanade, with its saltwater lagoon, mudflats full of waders and cheerful backpackers, has a relaxed tropical air.
The reason a rider starts here is the Tablelands. From Cairns you climb the Kuranda Range, or take the Gillies Highway, which twists up through some hundreds of bends in a few kilometres of forest, and then reach the cool, dairy-farm plateau around Atherton, with crater lakes, waterfalls and volcanic soil. It is tremendous motorcycle country, with smooth asphalt, good camber and generally respectful traffic, and the contrast between sweaty coast and cool upland is part of the pleasure. Look out for cassowaries on the roads in the rainforest, which are big, dangerous birds, and for tour buses on the narrow bends.
The wet season, roughly December to April, brings humidity, cyclones and flooded roads, and the stingers, box jellyfish, make swimming in the sea inadvisable then. From May to October the weather is dry and mild, which is the ideal riding time. Mornings are the freshest and clearest, and the mountains can be shrouded in cloud by afternoon.
Everything is easy in Cairns, from fuel stations to repair shops, hotels and restaurants. The pedestrian-friendly night markets and the Rusty's Markets in the daytime sell fruit like mangosteen, rambutan and custard apples, and there is good seafood, including barramundi and Moreton Bay bugs. Once you leave town the stations thin out in the hills, but Kuranda, Mareeba and Atherton all have fuel, so just keep an eye on the gauge. Pack a rain jacket whatever the forecast, and sunscreen for the lowlands.