Was wondering, what is the proper Australian pronounciation of the city CAIRNS?

Care-nss not cans.

Cair(as in hair) nz. eg Cairnz. If you cringe when you say it, You've done it correctly.

You have got to be kidding! Or ar you just pulling JudithAnn's leg? When I said Care-nss, everyone corrected me to Caans. I never once heard an "R" in it once I was aware and started listening to the local people.

I'm hoping you're right cory, because I understood it to be like cans (as in the american tin cans), but with the a drawn out a bit...

You're all wrong, it's cair( as in the canadian car) nssss. You're all stupid.

Stephen - think you're wrong - I was told it was prounced like cans - with the a drawn out as the other poster said. I was told this by someone who lives in Cairns - I'd think they ought to know. And how adult to call someone stupid. I'm so impressed!!!!

Hi there, I live 70 klm away from Cairns... and I have noticed that a number of visiting tourists pronounce it like CANNES. This is a source of amusement for australians. In a nice way of course.<BR>The correct pronounciation of cairns is <BR>cair as in hair...then add the ns on the end. Trust me!

I grew up in Cairns & the 'correct' pronunciation (if you want to sound like the locals that is!) is indeed 'cans' with a drawn out BROAD vowel & definitely no 'r' sound!

Now this is interesting...I have no idea if I said it right. I met a few locals in P.D. who pronounced it Cans. The lady at the airport in Sydney (who bumped me to business class since I was traveling alone) said "A single girl in Cans? You're going to have a ball." But it never sounded quite like "cans" (at least the american version of it)...just close to it...<BR><BR>But my ear is rather untrained....after a while there, I did hear some people say it with just a whisper of an "r" in there. <BR><BR>