Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Late April in Queensland: 2-3 Days Brisbane and 9-10 Days North....Where?

My wife and I will be flying into Brisbane and out of Cairns. We're interested in flora and fauna, history, and a certain amount of local Aussie culture. With only 9-10 days, should we dwell between Brisbane and Cairns, or just get to Cairns quickly and visit Port Douglas, Cooktown, the nearby reef and the Daintree? It looks like it would be fun to visit Noosa, Fraser Island, the Whitsundays, Townsville and more, but we can't do it all.

And how to get from Brisbane to Cairns - if we don't stop enroute, is it worth traveling by train to see the landscape if it burns up 2 days? Or just fly? Is the drive just too long?

Thanks.....

And how to get from Brisbane to Cairns - if we don't stop enroute, is it worth traveling by train to see the landscape if it burns up 2 days? Or just fly? Is the drive just too long?

I can't comment on the train as I've never done it, but driving from Brisbane to Cairns is long and quite boring (around 20 hours of a lot of monotony, and basically no decent hotel once you're past the Sunshine Coast until you get to Cairns, although 'decent' is of course subjective). I would recommend flying and then renting a car to get around.

Personally, I would rather spend more time 'further up north' than around Brisbane. By all means have a bit of a look around Brisbane, maybe North Stradbroke Island or something, and perhaps Mt Tambourine (a bit south of Brisbane towards the Gold Coast) but there are far more interesting things to see further north.

Noosa is nice enough but IMHO over-rated and it's not really 'flora, fauna, history' either, but at least you can easily have a look at it on a day trip from Brisbane. There are some interesting landscape between Brisbane and Noosa.

Townsville itself is quite boring. Magnetic Island nearby is quite nice apparently but I haven't been there.

Port Douglas, the Reef, Mossman Gorge, Daintree etc would be more interesting.

Forget Brisbane: its just another city. Take the first flight north you can. FNQ (Far North Queensland) is the place to go ^

Taking the mid day train (http://www.traveltrain.com.au/2/experience_traveltrain/queensland_trains/the_sunlander/timetables.asp) from Townsville to Cairns would be OK. Leaves at 12:15 pm and gets into Cairn at 7:20 pm. See a little of FNQ out the window.

Look at the Oz Fest 6 thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=9803303) for more info on Cairns

The Brisbane Botanic Gardens may interest you

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:BOTANICG:740260106:pc=PC_1346

This website may give you more info on what to do in Brisbane http://www.ourbrisbane.com/


Evan :->

The Brisbane Botanic Gardens may interest you

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:BOTANICG:740260106:pc=PC_1346

This website may give you more info on what to do in Brisbane http://www.ourbrisbane.com/


Evan :->

Thanks...as the state capital, and a subtropical river city, it seems hard to write off Brisbane. We'll consider the Botanic Gardens, the river cruise to the koala sanctuary, a tour of Parliament, the Queensland Museum, Chinatown while staying at the Conrad Treasury.

Noosa is nice for a day or two but not much in the way of flora and fauna apart from the koalas.

We went to the Tweed Head area earlier this year and we really liked it and plan to return next year.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary was nice - I'm not a fan of these wildlife parks but this was very good and lots of good photo opportunities

Thanks...as the state capital, and a subtropical river city, it seems hard to write off Brisbane. We'll consider the Botanic Gardens, the river cruise to the koala sanctuary, a tour of Parliament, the Queensland Museum, Chinatown while staying at the Conrad Treasury.


If you are going to the Queensland Museum, you may as well check out the Gallery of Modern Art and the Queensland Art Gallery http://qag.qld.gov.au/ and State Library of QLD http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/ all of which are in the same precinct.

Across the road from the museum is the Queensland Performing Arts Centre http://qpac.com.au/home/ (awful site... you almost need to know what's on before you go to the site!). Not sure of your exact dates, but British comedian Steve Coogan is performing on April 20 and Cheech & Chong on April 30 (I'll be there). Chicago the Musical is on all throughout April.


Evan :->