Lonely Planet Coastal Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef , livre ebook

Coastal Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Welcome to Coastal Queensland
Queensland's Top 15
Need to Know
What's New
If You Like
Month by Month
Itineraries
Your Reef Trip
Queensland Outdoors
Travel with Children
Regions at a Glance

On The Road

Brisbane & Around
Brisbane & Around Highlights
Brisbane
City Walk
Around Brisbane
Redcliffe
Manly & St Helena Island
North Stradbroke Island
Moreton Island
Granite Belt
Toowoomba
Around Toowoomba
The Gold Coast
The Gold Coast Highlights
Surfers Paradise
Main Beach & The Spit
Broadbeach, Mermaid & Nobby Beach
Burleigh Heads
Currumbin & Palm Beach
Coolangatta
Gold Coast Hinterland
Tamborine Mountain
Lamington National Park
Springbrook National Park
Noosa & the Sunshine Coast
Noosa & the Sunshine Coast Highlights
Noosa
Bribie Island
Glass House Mountains
Caloundra
Mooloolaba & Maroochydore
Coolum
Peregian Beach & Sunshine Beach
Cooloola Coast
Eumundi
Sunshine Coast Hinterland
Fraser Island & the Fraser Coast
Fraser Island & the Fraser Coast Highlights
Hervey Bay
Rainbow Beach
Maryborough
Gympie
Childers
Burrum Coast National Park
Bundaberg
Bargara
Fraser Island
Capricorn Coast & the Southern Reef Islands
Capricorn Coast & the Southern Reef Islands Highlights
Agnes Water & Town of 1770
Eurimbula & Deepwater National Parks
Gladstone
Southern Reef Islands
Rockhampton & Around
Yeppoon
Great Keppel Island
Capricorn Hinterland
Whitsunday Coast
Whitsunday Coast Highlights
Mackay
Mackay's Northern Beaches
Sarina
Sarina Beach
Eungella
Eungella National Park
Cumberland Islands
Cape Hillsborough National Park
The Whitsundays
Proserpine
Airlie Beach
Conway National Park
Long Island
Hook Island
South Molle Island
Daydream Island
Hamilton Island
Hayman Island
Lindeman Island
Whitsunday Island
Other Whitsunday Islands
Bowen
Townsville to Mission Beach
Townsville to Mission Beach Highlights
Townsville
Magnetic Island
North of Townsville
Ingham & Around
Cardwell
Hinchinbrook Island
Tully
Mission Beach
Dunk Island
Innisfail & Around
Cairns & the Daintree Rainforest
Cairns & the Daintree Rainforest Highlights
Cairns
Around Cairns
Islands off Cairns
Cairns' Northern Beaches
South of Cairns
Atherton Tablelands
Kuranda
Mareeba
Atherton
Millaa Millaa
Malanda & Around
Yungaburra
Lake Tinaroo
Crater Lakes National Park
Port Douglas
Mossman
The Daintree
Daintree Village
Cow Bay & Around
Cape Tribulation

Understand

Understand Queensland
Queensland Today
History
Climate Change & the Great Barrier Reef
The Arts in Queensland

Survive

Deadly & Dangerous
Out & About
Things That Bite & Sting
Directory AZ
Accommodation
Customs Regulations
Discount Cards
Electricity
Embassies & Consulates
Food & Drink
GLBTI Travellers
Health
Insurance
Internet Access
Legal Matters
Money
Opening Hours
Post
Public Holidays
Safe Travel
Telephone
Time
Tourist Information
Travellers with Disabilities
Visas
Volunteering
Women Travellers
Work
Transport
Getting There & Away
Getting Around
Behind the Scenes
Our Writers

Special Features

The Great Barrier Reef
Welcome to Coastal Queensland

Let it all hang out in Queensland: Australia's holiday haven offers beaches, reefs, jungles, uptempo locals and a laid-back tropical pace of life.


Landscape Diversity
Queensland’s most famous 'landscape' is actually underwater: the astonishing 2000km-long Great Barrier Reef. Also offshore are hundreds of islands, harbouring giant dunes and surreal forests growing in the sand. Back on the mainland, bewitching national parks protect lush rainforests, sparkling lakes and wildlife that ranges from cute and cuddly (koalas) to downright fearsome (crocs). Skyscrapers define the landscape in Surfers Paradise and Brisbane: everywhere else you'll find laid-back beach towns and sugar-cane fields rattling under the Queensland sun.

Big Adventures
Outdoor Queensland is truly 'great'. Take the Great Barrier Reef for starters: slip on some goggles and ogle one of the most amazing underwater landscapes on earth. There’s also white-water river rafting and easygoing kayaking along the coast. Bushwalking here is first-rate: propel yourself along a multiday 'Great Walk', or take a shorter hike through a rainforest gorge or up a mountainside. Sail across the azure Whitsunday waters, or tackle a 4WD adventure along Fraser Island's ‘beach highway’. There's also great surfing, skydiving, mountain biking, fishing and hang-gliding to be had.

On Your Plate & in Your Glass
With a hip caffeine scene, rambling farmers markets and fabulous riverside restaurants, Brisbane has reinvented itself as a foodie destination. The city’s alter ego shows up at sunset, when clubs, pubs and small city bars light up the night. Elsewhere in the state – including foodie haunts such as Noosa, Cairns and Port Douglas – you’ll find culinary rewards great and small, from fish and chips to sizzling steaks. Wash it down with Queensland's ubiquitous XXXX beer, or hunt down some fine wine from the little-known Granite Belt wine region.

Urban Enticements
Wrapped around river bends, boom town Brisbane is a glamorous patchwork of neighbourhoods, each with a distinct cultural flavour: bohemian West End; party-central Fortitude Valley; affluent Paddington; exclusive New Farm…explore and soak up the vibes. The Gold Coast should also be high on your list: nightclubs and surf clubs in equal measure. Other hubs include Cairns (gateway for the Daintree and Great Barrier Reef), Noosa (on the Sunshine Coast) and Airlie Beach (to access the Whitsundays). Urban essentials abound: cafes, bars, restaurants, galleries, shops and more.

Hill Inlet, Whitsunday Island | MATT MUNRO / LONELY PLANET ©


Why I Love Queensland
By Charles Rawlings-Way, Writer
Growing up in a chilly southern Australian city, the very notion of Queensland – with its beaches, islands, sunshine and swaying palms – was irresistible in my imagination. Towns like Mission Beach, Noosa and Port Douglas assumed near-mythical status, demanding to be investigated at the first opportunity. Then, when the time came to actually explore the Sunshine State, the reality didn't disappoint. And I haven't stopped exploring since! From the tropical north to the booming southeast, Queensland is an essential Australian destination.
Queensland's Top 15

Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef lives up to its reputation. Stretching more than 2000km along the Queensland coastline, it’s a complex ecosystem populated with dazzling coral, languid sea turtles, gliding rays, timid reef sharks and 1500 species of colourful tropical fish. Whether you dive on it, snorkel over it, explore it via scenic flight or glass-bottom boat, linger in an island resort or camp on a remote coral-fringed atoll, this vivid undersea kingdom and its 900 coral-fringed islands are unforgettable.

Great Barrier Reef | TORORO REACTION / SHUTTERSTOCK ©


Top Experiences
Daintree Rainforest
Lush green rainforest tumbles down towards brilliant white-sand coastline in the ancient, World Heritage–listed Daintree Rainforest . Upon crossing the Daintree River and entering this extraordinary wonderland – home to 3000 or so plant species including fan palms, ferns and mangroves – you’ll be enveloped by birdsong, the buzz of insects and the constant commentary of frogs. Continue exploring via wildlife-spotting tours, mountain treks, interpretive boardwalks, tropical-fruit orchard tours, canopy walks, 4WD trips, horse riding, kayaking and cruises.

Cassowary | DAWI88888 / SHUTTERSTCOK©


Top Experiences
Brisbane
Once considered little more than a provincial sidekick to Sydney and Melbourne, Brisbane has reinvented itself as one of Asia Pacific’s hippest hubs. No longer happy to settle for 261 days of sunshine a year, Queensland’s new, improved capital is smashing it on the cultural front, with an ever-expanding booty of ambitious street art and galleries, boutique bookshops, secret cocktail bars and award-winning microbreweries. The result: big-city Australian cool with a laid-back, subtropical twist.

Street art, South Bank Parkands | PATJO / SHUTTERSTOCK ©


Top Experiences
Kuranda
You can drive or catch a bus from Cairns to the hinterland rainforest village of Kuranda in around half an hour. But that would be missing the point! Kuranda is as much about the journey as it is the destination. Hop into a gondola on the 7.5km-long Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, browse Kuranda’s markets for arts, crafts and gourmet goodies, then wind your way back down to Cairns through picturesque mountains, via 15 tunnels and across 37 bridges on the Kuranda Scenic Railway.

Kuranda Original Rainforest Markets | CHAMELEONSEYE / SHUTTERSTOCK ©


Top Experiences
Noosa National Park
Cloaking the headland beside the stylish resort town of Noosa itself, Noosa National Park features a string of perfect bays fringed with sand and pandanus trees. Surfers come here for the long, rolling waves; walkers make the trip for the unspoiled natural vibes. Lovely hiking trails criss-cross the park: our pick is the scenic coastal trail to Hell’s Gates on which you might spy sleepy koalas in the trees around Tea Tree Bay, and dolphins swimming off the rocky headland.

Koala mother and joey, Noosa National Park | JOHN SHORT / DESIGN PICS / GETTY IMAGES ©


Top Experiences
Whale Watching at Hervey Bay
For most of the year, Hervey Bay is a soporific seaside village with a remarkably long beach and a flat, shallow sea. That all changes in mid-July, when migrating humpback whales cruise into the bay, and thousands of tourists cruise out to see them. It’s one of the top whale-watching regions in the world, and witnessin