Gelocchio(Cairns North)

The Sheridan Street Gelocchio is the newer of the two Cairns stores: founders Renzo Luisetto and Valeria Binggeli opened it in April 2025 to mark the original Aplin Street shop's 14th anniversary, and it sits diagonally opposite Tobruk Memorial Pool next to Ocean World seafood. It carries everything the city store does, plus extras of its own: the Rocherone Ice Cream Ball, a house recipe built on the Ferrero Rocher theme, ready-to-go takeaway tubs, gelato sticks and custom ice cream cakes. All the fruit comes from the Tablelands and the Cairns region, and the vegan sorbets run at 75 per cent fruit, which is why the mango, lychee, passion fruit, soursop and rare chocolate sorbet taste the way they do.

The dog setup

This is a walk-up gelato bar, and that shape suits dogs: order at the counter, step back outside, and work through a pistachio scoop or a turkish delight while the dog gets the odd lick of a plain cup. The shop is set up for quick visits rather than long sits, and Cairns Regional Council keeps dogs on lead outside its signed off lead areas, so arrive with the lead on and treat Gelocchio as the reward at the end of the walk. Pistachio is the most requested flavour at both stores, and reviewers call the scoops unusually generous for the price.

Getting there and parking

The shop sits at 375 Sheridan Street, Cairns North, with parking along Sheridan Street and the side streets; being outside the city centre means you skip the Esplanade peak-hour scramble. Trade runs from late morning, roughly 11:30am to 9pm on most days and later on Friday and Saturday, so evening gelato after a hot afternoon walk is a real option.

Close by with the dogs

For a proper off lead run before the gelato, the fenced dog park at Card Avenue Park in Manunda is a short drive south with separate areas for different dog sizes. Back in Cairns North, Guyala Cafe is a local breakfast institution, and the original Gelocchio on Aplin Street covers the city end if you are walking the Esplanade instead. The Cairns North destination guide and the QLD cafe list map the rest.

Pepsi: one scoop pistachio, one plain cup for the dog, zero regrets