Study Abroad in Cairns: Itinerary
| AIFS Flight Dates | |||
| Program code | Outbound | Inbound | Course dates |
| TO2025:05 | June 20 to Sydney | July 18 from Cairns | June 22 - July 17 |
| James Cook University Itinerary | |
| Saturday, June 20 | Depart the U.S. for Sydney. |
| Monday, June 22 | Arrive in Sydney and transfer to hotel. Overnight in Sydney. |
| Tuesday, June 23 | Sydney and General Mass Tourism: As the biggest and most famous of all Australian cities, Sydney receives the most tourists, and here students experience regular mass tourism. After breakfast in the hotel, enjoy a sight-seeing tour with a professional guide. Visit Sydney’s famous sights including Darling Harbour and The Rocks, followed by a guided tour of Sydney Opera House. Later, enjoy dinner on a sunset cruise on Sydney Harbour, perfect for great nighttime views of the Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the mansions, bays and inlets which make up the Harbour area. Overnight in Sydney. |
| Wednesday, June 24 | Free day in Sydney for independent sightseeing (try the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb for spectacular views of the city or spend the day on Bondi beach). Overnight in Sydney. |
| Thursday, June 25 | Morning transfer to the airport for your flight to Cairns. Transfer to your accommodation. Overnight in Cairns. |
| Friday, June 26 | Free day in Cairns. Overnight in Cairns. |
| Saturday, June 27 | Free day in Cairns. Overnight in Cairns. |
| Sunday, June 28 | Free day in Cairns. Overnight in Cairns. |
| Monday, June 29 to Sunday, July 5 | “Australian Ecotourism and Wildlife Tourism Management” course begins. The course is made up of lectures, seminars, guest speakers and field trips to wildlife attractions. Attendance on all lectures and visits is mandatory. |
| Monday, July 6 | Work on field trip reports. Overnight in Cairns. |
| Tuesday, July 7 | Work on field trip reports. Overnight in Cairns. |
| Wednesday, July 8 | Marine Tourism: Depart Cairns for a 2-day boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef. This is the largest coral reef system in the world and the largest single protected natural area on the continent. It has developed a huge tourism industry but with many rules and regulations in place to protect the environment. Opportunity to snorkel by the reef. Overnight on a boat. |
| Thursday, July 9 | Day spent on board your boat snorkeling or just relaxing before returning to Cairns. Overnight in Cairns. Students will have the option of scuba diving on this trip or extending the live-aboard trip by an extra day for a supplemental fee. |
| Friday, July 10 to Sunday, July 12 | Free weekend to enjoy Cairns or take a tour. |
| Monday, July 13 | From the Coast to the Jungle: You will depart Cairns at around 10 a.m. for Cape Tribulation after visiting Port Douglas and crossing the Daintree River. This is one of Australia’s best places for real wildlife tourism, and you will stay in one of the nature lodges in the middle of the jungle. You will have the option of a guided night walk through the mangroves and a night beach walk. Overnight in Cape Tribulation. |
| Tuesday, July 14 | Free morning to relax or enjoy some optional activities such as horse riding or jungle surfing followed by lunch and an afternoon sea kayak excursion. Overnight in Cape Tribulation. |
| Wednesday, July 15 | From the Coast to the Outback: After breakfast at the lodge, you will depart the Daintree and head out west to the “outback,” stopping in a small country town to buy lunch. This is the tropical outback, with long drives, dusty roads, eucalyptus trees, huge cattle stations and kangaroos. Following the Wheelbarrow Way, the journey today will end at the Tamarind Gardens Caravan Park in a small savannah town called Almaden, where you will have a BBQ dinner followed by a sunset walk looking for wildlife. This area is one of the best places to find a high diversity of kangaroos, from the tiny and shy rock wallabies to the big wallaroos. Overnight in Almaden. |
| Thursday, July 16 | Outback Tourism: You will spend a full day in the outback in the Chillagoe area, a little further west into the outback, rich in history, with old mining ruins and Aboriginal art sites. 400 million years ago, the limestone caves that you will explore today at the Chillagoe-Mungana Caves National Park were coral reefs. After another look for kangaroos, and a visit to one of the caves, you will visit the weir for a swim and a picnic lunch before heading out on another cave tour. Overnight in Almaden. |
| Friday, July 17 | Depart Almaden for the drive back to Cairns with a few sightseeing stops en-route. Overnight in Cairns. |
| Saturday, July 18 | Coach transfer to Cairns airport for group flight to U.S. |
| AIFS reserves the right to modify the itinerary. Students planning to make their own flight arrangements to and from Australia should note that the program starts in Sydney and ends in Cairns. Students should ensure that their outbound flight from the U.S. is into Sydney airport and their return flight from Australia to the U.S. is from Cairns airport. A one-way internal flight from Sydney to Cairns on June 25 is included in the program fee, but if students choose to fly home from Sydney, they must make their own arrangements for getting from Cairns to Sydney at the end of the program. | |
Why not study abroad for a semester?
The AIFS semester program at Macquarie University in Sydney begins just as this summer program ends. Why not spend the fall semester at Macquarie taking courses in Australian area studies, liberal arts, business or science? Students staying on for the semester receive an automatic fee reduction of $1,000 toward the semester fee. Call 800.727.2437 for more details.
