Tropical Fruit > Tropical Fruit Discussion

Intro + where to visit around Cairns, Tropical Far North Queensland, Australia?

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Quinn-bnuy:
Hello everyone! I am new to the forum so a brief introduction.

I'm 23 years old, me and my partner are both very passionate horticulturalists and tropical rare-fruit collectors. We've been collecting, growing and propagating as much as we can get our hands on like seeds, cuttings, grafted plants, cultivars etc. in Western Australia for 3 years now. We've been enjoying a lot of creator content online in this field from people such as Pepe's Fruit Trees, Flying Fox Fruits, All the fruit, Discover Permaculture with Geoff Lawton, FRUIT ADDICT(fr), colecionandofrutas(pt-BR) and dozens of more small creators.

Our sights and interests have recently shifted to some of the more tropical parts of Australia, particularly around Cairns and the rest of the tropical Far North of Queensland Australia. We currently live in a cool Mediterranean climate around the south of Western Australia, so this is quite the contrast and hopefully a great experience for us. We've got flights booked for mid to late January next year, and would love to know if anyone has tips or information about Cairns and the area around it, particularly anything for us to check out like gardens, tropical fruit collections, places to buy and eat fruits. We're also very happy to hear from any locals willing to reach out to us or meet-up to share this experience and passion for rare and exotic tropical fruit species! We're budding enthusiasts, trying to soak up as much botanical knowledge and experience as we can in the cultivation and growing of these kinds of wonderful plants. I'd personally love to see a Kepel tree and a huge mango tree like the ones I've heard about up there!

Gone tropo:
Hey mate welcome to the forum, unfortunately not many members from the cairns area post on here much anymore.

Cairns and surrounds are the tropical fruit mecca in Australia without a doubt.  Every rare fruit you can think of is grown around here. Getting access to all of the is another story.  Mango trees are everywhere on the side of the roads gigantic 25m plus trees currently loaded with thousands of mangos that drop all over the ground.  January is a good time for many of the rare fruits lots will be available at that time. Rusty market in Cairns is probably the number 1 spot to source most things. There are collectors around most are difficult to get access too. Fruit forest farm down near Tully used to do tours of the farm not sure if they still do, they are at the top of their game.  Cape tribulation fruit farm is another one that does tours and they have just about everything as well.  The local Mossman markets are a good place to source uncommon fruits on a Saturday morning.  Alan Carle has one of the best collections in the world just north of Mossman he used to do tours on request however not sure if he does that anymore.  Scommazons fruit store north of Mossman is also a good spot to source some rarer stuff.  Sugar world gardens south of cairns is another place that is worth checking out.

Coconut Cream:
Will you look into moving there? If I was going to live in Australia, I can't think of a place I would like better, for living or growing fruit.

Gone tropo:

--- Quote from: Coconut Cream on November 13, 2025, 07:15:22 PM ---Will you look into moving there? If I was going to live in Australia, I can't think of a place I would like better, for living or growing fruit.

--- End quote ---

Cairns area is certainly a great place to grow fruit you can grow and fruit mango and durian side by side and there is not too many climates/places in the world that can do that. Everything fruits here except for trees that require chill hours of course.

It does have downside Cairns is extremely hot and humid for 9months of the year.  And whilst the Cairns area itself is not insanely wet approx. 2000mm a year of rain a year. To the north of Cairns where I live averages over 3000mm a year and just to the north of me only 30-40min drive averages over 4000mm a year.  And same to the south of cairns only 40mins away you are looking at areas that average over 4000mm of rain a year. This is both good and bad its good to establish young trees but it can be bad when trying to get trees to flower that need dry weather or when trying to ripen durian and it doesnt stop raining can cause issues.

Quinn-bnuy:

--- Quote from: Gone tropo on November 13, 2025, 06:23:59 PM ---Hey mate welcome to the forum, unfortunately not many members from the cairns area post on here much anymore.

Cairns and surrounds are the tropical fruit mecca in Australia without a doubt.  Every rare fruit you can think of is grown around here. Getting access to all of the is another story.  Mango trees are everywhere on the side of the roads gigantic 25m plus trees currently loaded with thousands of mangos that drop all over the ground.  January is a good time for many of the rare fruits lots will be available at that time. Rusty market in Cairns is probably the number 1 spot to source most things. There are collectors around most are difficult to get access too. Fruit forest farm down near Tully used to do tours of the farm not sure if they still do, they are at the top of their game.  Cape tribulation fruit farm is another one that does tours and they have just about everything as well.  The local Mossman markets are a good place to source uncommon fruits on a Saturday morning.  Alan Carle has one of the best collections in the world just north of Mossman he used to do tours on request however not sure if he does that anymore.  Scommazons fruit store north of Mossman is also a good spot to source some rarer stuff.  Sugar world gardens south of cairns is another place that is worth checking out.

--- End quote ---

Wow!! That's really awesome, it being a "fruit mecca" is a very cool thing to hear about my country and informs the bit of reasearch I'm doing for the trip quite nicely! I've got Rusty's, Mossman markets, and a visit of Sugarworld & the Cairns Botanical gardens on the itinerary, going to try contact Cape Trib Fruit Farm & Fruit Forest Farm as well. I've added Scommazons fruit store thanks for that one! Where is the best place to contact Alan Carle? Without bothering him too much I'll try and ask about how that's all going.
Again thanks a lot for all this really great information.

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