Travel

Destination and Environs

Cairns is the only place in the world with two adjoining World Heritage treasures; the Great Barrier Reef and Australia's Tropical Rainforest. Situated in the very heart of the Asia Pacific region and with an International Airport, Cairns is a convenient and beautiful location.

The conference is being held at the Cairns Convention Centre, an international standard facility judged the World's Best Congress Centre in 2004 and voted one of the world's top ten international convention centres by the North American Meeting Planners.

For futher information visit the Cairns Convention Centre website.

City map

Getting there

Overseas delegates looking for reduced airfares should consult the Qantas website. Aussie airpasses include a return flight to Australia and three domestic Australian flights for as low as $999.

Air New Zealand is offering some really good prices (~$1226US) for roundtrip flights from LAX/SFO to Cairns through Auckland, New Zealand.  These are web fares that don't appear on many of the web-based travel sites and aren't easily accessible
to many travel agents.  There are limited number of seats available and there are restrictions on travel dates (e.g., you need to
depart on Wednesday, July 5). The bonus is that you can depart from Australia cities other than Cairns and you can stay over in Auckland for no additional flight costs.

You can check the fares out at
http://www.airnewzealand.com/airfares_offers/web_specials_flights/flights/default.htm

VISA Requirements

All visitors, apart from New Zealand citizens, must obtain a Visa before travelling to Australia.

Australia's Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) is an electronically-stored authority for travel to Australia for a short-term tourist or business entry. ETAs are issued within seconds of being requested through computer links between the Australian Immigration Department, travel agents, airlines and specialist service providers around the world. Over 30 countries have access to the ETA system. A recent innovative enhancement allows a traveller to apply for an ETA over the Internet. Conference delegates from non-ETA countries will need to obtain a business (short-stay) visa, even if some tourism activities are planned for part of the stay in Australia. It is called a 456 visa if it is issued as a label into a passport.

We strongly recommend you check the latest information on the Department of Immigration.