• Australia Guide

  • Introduction to Australia
  • Weather
  • Things not to miss
  • Entry requirements
  • Getting around
  • Money
  • Public holidays

• Explore Australia

  • Sydney
  • Around Sydney
  • Coastal New South Wales and the ACT
  • Inland New South Wales
  • Coastal Queensland
  • Outback Queensland
  • Northern Territory
  • Western Australia
  • South Australia
  • Melbourne
  • Around Melbourne
  • Victoria
  • Tasmania

• Cities

  • Adelaide
    
  • Albury/Wodonga
    
  • Armidale
    
  • Brisbane
    
  • Cairns
    
  • Canberra
    
  • Darwin
    
  • Fremantle
    
  • Geelong
    
  • Hobart
    
  • Melbourne
    
  • Perth
    
  • Sydney
    
  • Warrnambool
    

Australia Guide

Coastal Queensland

Running for over 2500km from the New South Wales border to Australia's northernmost tip at Cape York, Coastal Queensland contains almost everything that lures visitors to Australia. Set down in the more developed southeastern corner, the state capital Brisbane is a relaxed city with a lively social scene and good work possibilities. South between here and the border, the Gold Coast is Australia's prime holiday destination, with a reputation founded on some of the country's best surf – though this now takes second place to a belt of beachfront high-rises, theme parks, and the host of lively bars and clubs surrounding Surfers Paradise. An hour inland, the Gold Coast Hinterland's green heights offer a chain of national parks packed with wildlife. North of Brisbane, Noosa is a fashionable resort with more famous surf. Beyond looms Fraser Island, whose waters host an annual whale migration.

North of Fraser the humidity and temperature begin to rise as you head into the tropics. The Great Dividing Range gradually acquires a green sward which culminates in the steamy, rainforest-draped scenery around Cairns. Along the way are scores of beaches, islands and national parks, some – such as Hinchinbrook Island – with superb walking trails. Moving north of Cairns, rainforested ranges ultimately give way to the savannah of the huge, triangular Cape York Peninsula, a sparsely populated setting for what is widely regarded as the most rugged 4WD adventure in the country.

Offshore, the tropical coast is marked by the appearance of the Great Barrier Reef, among the most extensive coral complexes in the world. The southern reaches out from Bundaberg and 1770 are peppered with sand islands or cays, while further north there's a wealth of beautiful granite islands between the coast and reef, covered in thick pine forests and fringed in white sand – the pick of which are the Whitsundays near Airlie Beach and Magnetic Island off Townsville. Winters are dry and pleasant throughout the region, but the summer climate (Dec– April) becomes more oppressive the further north you travel.