Queensland offers a diversity of experiences. As one of Australia’s most popular holiday destination, it is a paradise for sun worshippers, with magnificent tropical islands, rainforests, creeks, rivers and waterfalls, wonderful coastlines, crystal clear water and beautiful beaches. As you travel inland, into the arid regions, you can have a taste of the other side of Queensland, the outback experience.
The state of Queensland is about 25% of the landmass of Australia. Sharing borders with New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory, this huge state offers a huge range of activities and experiences for the tourist and longer term travellers.
Whether you are seeking getting back to nature and our wonderful flora and fauna, or enjoying the cosmopolitan lifestyle of our towns and cities, exploring the history and heritage or experiencing our indigenous art and culture, there is sure to be something for you.
Renown as the ‘Sunshine State’, Queensland has a coastline that stretches 4,350 km. There are several large cities in Queensland offering access to all the attractions of modern urban lifestyles. The capital is Brisbane, with Cairns and Townsville up north, the Sunshine Coast, and the popular Gold Coast in the south. These cities of high rise resorts, hotels, motels, shopping, and entertainment facilities including theme parks, have easy access to the coast and beaches, some offering activities along rivers and lakes, or you can do a self-drive exploring providing an easy way to get around, or better yet book on a guided charter or tour.
Next door to the coast is of course the worlds most famous and worlds largest living organism, The Great Barrier Reef spanning 2,000 km from the tip of Cape York to Gladstone in the south. Make this the year to visit the reef.
For those who want something different, head inland to experience the vast outback, whether it is the wonderful Overlander’s Way, a 1,550 km drive connecting Townsville to Tennant Creek or the very special Dinosaur Trail, where creatures that have been dead for over 100,000 million years are carefully brought back to life, in some wonderful recreations of what they look like and what life was like when outback Queensland was once covered by an Cretaceous Inland Sea. You can even get involved, as more and more discoveries are made, or head out to some of the designated places to do your own fossil fossicking.
Check out our Southern Downs section, with some of the great fauna to be discovered from our friend Marc Newman. Keep an eye out as we expand our section on Lamington National Park.
For those planning a visit to Cape York, drop into the Mount Carbine Caravan Park where they offer you ‘Free Van Storage’ to their customers while they go to the Cape.
If that was not enough to entice you, there are major national park attractions such as the Daintree, Whitsunday Islands and Carnarvon Gorge, to name just a few and many villages and towns where you can experience the friendly local welcome. With something for everyone, including rock climbing, bush walking, deep sea fishing, diving, snorkelling and more, you can be sure there is something for you all year round.
For those planning to fly, there are a number of airports in Queensland including Brisbane, Gold Coast, Cairns, Hervey Bay, Sunshine Coast, Mackay, Rockhampton and Townsville.
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Check out the following external tourism link for:
- Queensland – the official website for Queensland, Australia. Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ)
- Visitor Information Centres – Discover Queensland
- Queensland – Tourism Australia. Australian Government agency responsible for attracting international visitors to Australia, both for leisure and business events.
Carousel Wildlife/Fauna index: 1. Welcome Swallows (Hirundo neoxena), 2. Lipotriches muscosa, 3. Red-winged Fairywren (Malurus elegans), 4. Amegilla (Zonamegilla) asserta, 5. Bower of Satin Bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus), 6. Amegilla (Zonamegilla) adelaidae female, 7. Amegilla (Asaropoda) rhodoscymna (Red Singer), 8. Male Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus), 9. Paracolletes crassipes, Brolga (Antigone rubicunda), 10. Thyreus caeruleopunctatus, 11. Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris), 12. Male Exoneura sp, 13. Meroglossa impressifrons penetrata, 14. Amegilla (Zonamegilla) asserta male, 15. Superb Fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus), 16. Hylaeus (Rhodohylaeus) maiellus, 17. Eurglossa adelaidae males, 18. White-capped Noddy, also known as the Black Noddy (Anous minutus), 19. Paracolletes crassipes, 20. Xylocopa (Lestis) aeratus
QueenslandGold Coast Region Lamington National Park Southern Downs QLD