Queensland

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Top Places

Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast & Noosa, Lamington National Park, Springbrook, The Great Barrier Reef, Whitsunday Islands, Hamilton Island, Whitehaven Beach, Fraser Island, Dunk Island, Cairns, Port Douglas, Daintree Rainforest, Kuranda.

About

Queensland is the second largest state in Australia and is home to Australia's third largest city, Brisbane. The Gold Coast further to the south is another major city. Northern Queensland's largest city is Townsville.

The state is renown for thousands of kilometers of beautiful coastline much of it being white sand beaches. Combine this with a sub tropical to tropical climate and you have a superb travel destination. Tourists do flock to Queensland for these very reasons, but it must be noted that most of the beaches are not crowded. In fact it is actually possible to find a beach all to yourself if you are willing to go off the beaten track.

Queensland's most impressive geographical feature is the world famous Great Barrier Reef. This reef system is about 2000 km long (about the same size as the Atlantic coastline of the United Sates). The reef is one of the natural wonders of the world as it is the world's richest area of marine life and contains some of the world's best diving. Above the water there are around 900 beautiful tropical islands that personify paradise to many, some have resorts while others remain completely untouched due to being protected wilderness areas. The Whitsunday Islands in the Great Barrier Reef are the most famous group of islands in the Barrier Reef.

Near the north of Queensland lies Daintree National Park. The park is made up of the world's oldest rainforest and is located in the hills of the Great Dividing Range. The rainforest here runs uninterrupted to the coast especially in and around scenic Cape Tribulation. Daintree National Park has a World Heritage listing and is located right next to the Great Barrier Reef, another World Heritage area. This area of Australia is the only place in the world where two distinct natural World Heritage areas exist next to each other.

Inland Queensland contains vast areas of desert like most other states. Australians call the inland areas of Australia by the term, ' Outback'. The Outback starts hundreds of kilometers from the western edge of the Great Dividing Range and toward the Northern Territory. South Australia also touches Queensland but this area is extremely remote. To the south of the state you can cross the New South Wales border via a main coastal highway, and inland highway, as well as many smaller roads and tracks.

Queensland is also bordered by the Torres Straits to the north and this stretch of water separates Australia and Papua New Guinea. This is where the Great Barrier Reef ends, due to rich nutrients flowing into the sea from rivers in neigbouring Papua New Guinea. The Torres Straits contain many beautiful tropical islands. These islands belong to Australia and Torres Strait Islanders are Australian citizens.

Photo Galleries

Brisbane	Gold Coast	Marina Village	Kuranda
Noosa	Port Douglas	Cape Tribulation	Fraser Island
Gold Coast	Barrier Reef	Sunshine Coast	Fraser Coast
Barron Gorge	Whitehaven	Haslewood Is	Hamilton Is
Springbrook	Glasshouse Mts	Cairns	Port Douglas
Girraween	Daintree Forest	Mt Tamborine	Davies Creek
Natural Bridge	Purling Brook

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Travel Links

More Australian states →

Queensland Travel Itinerary →

Brisbane Travel Guide →

Gold Coast Travel Guide →