Paronella Park is an excellent family attraction. It’s an amazing story about a man who had a dream and despite a number of setbacks achieved his vision through sheer hard work. The setting is spectacular – castle ruins surrounded by rainforest gardens right beside a stunning waterfall.

Parents and older children will really enjoy the story of the Paronella family and their amazing creation. For younger ones there are lots of great places to explore and turtles and fish to feed. The night tour is excellent and the kids loved having their own torch and walking through the gardens at night.

As it is a historical site the pram access isn’t great and perhaps a baby sling or carrier of some sort would be better instead if you have one.

Children of all ages are welcome here but for them to really be able to appreciate the story and interpretative information they probably need to be at least 6 or 7 year olds.

The cafe on the deck does snacks, drinks and light refreshments and they have a very interesting gift shop with a range of locally made handicrafts.

The entry price is $80 for a family of 4 and includes free camping at the onsite caravan park too, another great reason to choose Paronella Park.

Paronella Park is an hour and 20 minutes south of Cairns.

Mamu Rainforest Canopy Walk

The canopy walk is great for children of all ages, there's an activity sheet for children to take home too. They'll enjoy exploring the rainforest and climbing the tower. Colourful interpretative signs along the way provide information about the rainforest plants and animals found in this area. It's quite pram friendly most of the way too.

Light refreshments are available from a coffee van located in the carpark.

Mamu Canopy Walk is an hour and 30 minutes south of Cairns

Johnstone River Crocodile Park is so much fun for kids! Join the guided tour for interesting information on the park’s cassowaries, dingoes, alligators, crocodiles and other wildlife or stroll around the park at your own pace.

The kids were particularly fascinated by the dingoes and loved watching them run around their large enclosure. They also enjoyed feeding the friendly wallabies, pademelons and kangaroos too.

After the tour you can get up close and personal with some amazing creatures like pythons, blue tongue lizards, baby crocs and bearded dragons. If you take your own camera along you can get some great shots of the kids holding the animals too – if they’re brave enough!

Snacks and light refreshments are available from the kiosk as well as a range of soft toys and other souvenirs. The staff are really friendly and helpful too.

Kids of all ages will enjoy the Johnstone River Crocodile Park, a highly recommended family attraction.

Johnstone River Crocodile Park is an hour south of Cairns

Spurwood Springs Farm Stay is a great choice for families wanting to experience authentic life on a working farm. You’ll have the opportunity to ride a horse, help feed the animals and see working dogs in action as they herd the cattle. They have heaps of animals here including dogs, dairy cows, beef cattle, ducks, goats, sheep, horses and chooks.

Kids of all ages can get involved in helping out around the farm too there’s plenty of work to get into if you feel like getting your hands dirty and pitching in. Even the littlest kids can help feed the baby calves and sheep.

Farmer Tom is quite a character with a great sense of humour and will entertain you with his bush poetry and his amazingly clever dogs (and ducks!) You can also make delicious Aussie bush damper with Diane cooked over hot coals.

The hill top lodge sleeps 10 so there’s plenty of room for large families here and Diane will make sure you’re well looked after, your accommodation also includes a hearty farm style hot breakfast.

Spurwood Springs is an hour and a half south of Cairns and just 5 minutes from Paronella Park