Coastal Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef
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©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd Coastal Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef Cairns & the Daintree Rainforest p228 Townsville to Mission Beach p207 Whitsunday Coast p181 Capricorn Coast & the Southern Reef Islands p167 Fraser Island & the Fraser Coast p147 Noosa & the Sunshine Coast p124 Brisbane ^# & Around The Gold Coast p107 p50 Paul Harding, Cristian Bonetto, Charles Rawlings-Way, Tamara Sheward, Tom Spurling, Donna Wheeler PLAN YOUR TRIP ON THE ROAD Welcome to Coastal BRISBANE FRASER ISLAND Queensland . 4 & AROUND . 50 & THE FRASER Coastal Queensland Brisbane. 52 COAST . 147 Map . 6 Redcliffe ................94 Hervey Bay ............149 Coastal Queensland’s Manly Rainbow Beach .........154 Top 15 . 8 & St Helena Island .......95 Maryborough ..........156 Need to Know . 16 North Stradbroke Island ..96 Gympie ................157 What’s New . 18 Moreton Island ..........99 Childers ...............157 If You Like… . 19 Granite Belt ............100 Burrum Coast National Park ..........158 Month by Month . 21 Toowoomba ............103 Around Toowoomba .....106 Bundaberg .............159 Itineraries . 25 Bargara ............... 161 Your Reef Trip . 29 THE GOLD COAST . .. 107 Fraser Island ........... 161 Queensland Outdoors . 35 Surfers Paradise ........109 Travel with Children . 43 Main Beach & The Spit .. 113 CAPRICORN COAST & Regions at a Glance . 46 Broadbeach, Mermaid THE SOUTHERN & Nobby Beach ......... 115 REEF ISLANDS . 167 MATT MUNRO / LONELY PLANET IMAGES © IMAGES PLANET LONELY / MUNRO MATT Burleigh Heads ......... 116 Agnes Water Currumbin & Town of 1770 .........169 & Palm Beach .......... 119 Eurimbula & Deepwater Coolangatta ............120 National Parks ..........171 Gold Coast Hinterland . 122 Gladstone ..............171 Tamborine Mountain ....122 Southern Reef Islands ...173 Lamington Rockhampton & Around . 174 National Park ..........123 Yeppoon ...............176 Springbrook Great Keppel Island .....178 National Park ..........123 Capricorn Hinterland ....179 DINGO, FRASER ISLAND P166 NOOSA & THE WHITSUNDAY SUNSHINE COAST . 124 COAST . 181 Noosa .................126 Mackay ................183 AUSTRALIANCAMERA / SHUTTERSTOCK © SHUTTERSTOCK / AUSTRALIANCAMERA Bribie Island ...........132 Mackay’s Northern Glass House Mountains ...133 Beaches ...............186 Caloundra .............134 Sarina .................186 Mooloolaba Sarina Beach ...........187 & Maroochydore ........137 Eungella ...............187 Coolum ................ 141 Eungella National Park ..187 Peregian Beach Cumberland Islands ....188 & Sunshine Beach ......142 Cape Hillsborough Cooloola Coast .........143 National Park ..........188 Eumundi ...............145 The Whitsundays . 189 THE DAINTREE RAINFOREST Sunshine Coast Proserpine ............. 191 P261 Hinterland .............146 Contents UNDERSTAND Queensland Today . 268 JEFF HUNTER / GETTY IMAGES © IMAGES GETTY / HUNTER JEFF © IMAGES PLANET LONELY / MUNRO MATT History . 270 Climate Change & the Great Barrier Reef . 282 The Arts in Queensland . 287 SURVIVAL GUIDE DIVING, GREAT BARRIER BANKSIA REEF P32 Deadly & Dangerous . 292 Airlie Beach ............ 191 CAIRNS & Directory A–Z . 294 Conway National Park ...197 THE DAINTREE Transport . 303 Long Island ............197 RAINFOREST . 228 Index . .. 312 Hook Island ............197 Cairns . 229 South Molle Island ......198 Islands off Cairns .......245 Map Legend . .. 318 Daydream Island .......198 Cairns’ Hamilton Island ........198 Northern Beaches ......246 Hayman Island .........199 South of Cairns ........248 Lindeman Island ........199 Atherton Tablelands . 249 Whitsunday Island ......199 Kuranda ...............249 Other Whitsunday Mareeba ...............251 Islands ................199 Atherton ...............251 Bowen. .200 Millaa Millaa ...........251 Malanda & Around ......251 TOWNSVILLE TO Yungaburra ............252 MISSION BEACH . 207 Lake Tinaroo ...........253 Townsville .............209 Crater Lakes Magnetic Island ........214 National Park ..........253 Port Douglas . 253 North of Townsville . 218 SPECIAL Ingham & Around .......218 Mossman . 260 The Daintree . 261 FEATURES Cardwell ...............219 Planning Your Reef Trip . 29 Hinchinbrook Island. .220 Daintree Village ........261 Queensland Outdoors . 35 Tully ..................220 Cow Bay & Around ......262 Mission Beach .........221 Cape Tribulation ........262 Great Barrier Reef image gallery . 201 Dunk Island ............226 Innisfail & Around ......226 Deadly & Dangerous . 292 ©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd 25 Itineraries •#Noosa É Glass House •# Caloundra Mountains É Australia Zoo •# S O U T H PA C I F I C O C E A N É QUEENSLAND Brisbane •# É •# Surfers Paradise Gold •# Burleigh Heads Coast É •#Coolangatta NEW SOUTH WALES 5 DAYS Coolangatta to Noosa The perfect Queensland introduction, this short-on-time tour delivers the best of the state’s southeast: beaches, cities, coastal towns and wildlife encounters. Kick-start your trip on the Gold Coast, beginning in laid-back Coolangatta on the New South Wales border, moving through beachy, gently hipster Burleigh Heads – great beer and coffee – to the party-prone pleasure dome of Surfers Paradise. If you have a couple of days to spare, let loose your inhibitions (and your stomach) at the Gold Coast theme parks. To sample some culture head north to Brisbane, taking in the superb Gallery of Modern Art, some craft-beer bars and live tunes in the West End or emerging Teneriffe and New- stead, and a night on the tiles in ever-changing Fortitude Valley. Truck north to the Glass House Mountains for some breathtaking panoramas and rock climbing. Nearby is the superb Australia Zoo – brilliant if you have the kids in tow (and even if you don’t). Next up is the laid-back Sunshine Coast: sunny Caloundra is fast evolving, with great cafes, eateries, street art and fantastic beaches. A short hop north is Noosa, a classy resort town with sublime beaches, a lush national park (home to sometimes-sighted koalas) and a first-class foodie scene. 26 C O R A L S E A •# Cairns É PLAN YOUR TRIP •# Mission Beach •#Hinchinbrook Magnetic Island Island C O R A L •# •# É S E A Townsville •#Townsville É •# •#Whitsunday Islands É Airlie Beach Eungella National #÷ Whitsunday Park É Island IT •# •# I Great Airlie NERAR É Keppel Beach Island Lady •# Musgrave •# Rockhampton É Island •# I •# ES Lady Elliott É Island Bundaberg •# É •# QUEENSLAND QUEENSLAND •# Hervey Bay Fraser Island 10 Hervey Bay to 10 Airlie Beach to DAYS Cairns DAYS Magnetic Island Track north along the central section This 10-day jaunt takes in party town Airlie of Queensland’s eastern seaboard, with Beach, party remedy the Whitsunday Is- plenty of islands to visit en route. lands, the urban enticements of Townsville and chilled-out Magnetic Island – a quick- Two hours north of Noosa is amiable fire summation of our favourite things Hervey Bay: from here, explore the huge about Queensland. dunes and crystalline lakes on Fraser Island. Not far north, sip Australia’s fa- Fly into Airlie Beach where there are vourite rum in Bundaberg. two must-dos: cut loose after dark with other travellers, and book a boat trip to the Sample Queensland’s coral wonders at Whitsunday Islands. There are myriad Lady Musgrave Island or Lady Elliot day-trip options, but a multiday sail lets you Island, then devour a steak at ‘beef city’ explore remote islands with no one else on Rockhampton. Offshore, unwind for a few them. Ensure your itinerary includes Whit- days on the trails and beaches on Great sunday Island for a swim off sublime White- Keppel Island – pure tropical-beach bliss. haven Beach. After cruising the islands, Spot a platypus in peaceful Eungella book a night at a swish island resort. Feeling National Park, then wheel into buzzy Air- more adventurous? Sign up for an overnight lie Beach, gateway to the azure waters and kayaking trip to one of the islands. powdery white-sand beaches of the Whit- Back in Airlie, track north to Towns- sunday Islands: sail, dive, snorkel, chill-out , Queensland’s third-biggest city. Walk at a resort or camp on an uninhabited atoll. ville along the waterfront, check out the Reef HQ Vibrant Townsville is next. Don’t miss Aquarium, clamber up Castle Hill and enjoy hiking the Thorsborne Trail on magnifi- the local dining scene. Experienced divers cent Hinchinbrook Island. Recover at might want to book a dive on the famous super-chilled Mission Beach, where the wreck of the SS Yongala. Wind up your jour- rainforest meets the sea. End your road trip ney on Magnetic Island, an unpretentious in Cairns: shout yourself a trip to the Great isle with easygoing beach villages, plenty of Barrier Reef and a seafood feast. wildlife and scenic bushwalking tracks. 27 •# Cape Tribulation É •# Daintree River •# •# Cow Bay Daintree Village PLAN YOUR TRIP É Port •# •# Great Douglas Mossman Barrier C O R A L Gorge Reef •# S E A É Palm É •# Cove •# Green Island Kuranda É •# É É •# Cairns •# Fitzroy Island IT I NERAR É É I ES Wooroonooran ÷# National Park É •# Millaa Millaa Falls 2 WEEKS Cairns to Cape Tribulation Far North Queensland is like nowhere else on earth – a dizzying array of coral reefs, tropical atolls, rainforests and interesting towns. Australia’s reef-diving capital, Cairns is an obligatory east-coast destination. Spend a few days pinballing between botanic gardens, hip restaurants and buzzy watering holes. A short hop offshore, reef-trimmed Green Island and Fitzroy Island have verdant vegeta- tion and lovely beaches, without too many folks competing for patches of sand.