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-   -   Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas (https://britishexpats.com/forum/australia-54/sugesstion-driving-brisbane-port-douglas-402421/)

steve99 Oct 16th 2006 2:35 am

Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 
In the early planning stages of a trip from Brissie to Port Douglas next May/June time.
Looking at flying over to Brisbane and heading straight to the Sunshine coast, (have been to Mooloolabe/Noosa etc before and liked that area) then plan to drive up to Port Douglas enjoying stopping off for the day/night/couple of nights in various places on route finishing up with a few night in PD (have stayed in Cairs/Palm Cove and Port Douglas a number of times before) before coming back to Perth.
I had a look at the map at the weekend and these were the places that stood out as places id actually heard of:
Mooloolaba
Noosa
Hervey Bay
Fraser Island
Bundaberg
Rockhampton
Whitsundays
Airlie Beach
Townsville
Mission Beach
Cairns
Palm Cove
Port Douglas

Any suggestions/comments/reviews etc from anyone who's either lived up that way or visited etc on the places ive got between Noosa and Cairns?
Anywhere else ive missed, places not worth going to (other than driving through) anywhere inland worth diverting to etc?
dont have a fixed number of total days but probably looking at 14-18 days (ish) all up.
Steve :)

232Bar Oct 16th 2006 6:54 am

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 

Originally Posted by steve99
In the early planning stages of a trip from Brissie to Port Douglas next May/June time.
Looking at flying over to Brisbane and heading straight to the Sunshine coast, (have been to Mooloolabe/Noosa etc before and liked that area) then plan to drive up to Port Douglas enjoying stopping off for the day/night/couple of nights in various places on route finishing up with a few night in PD (have stayed in Cairs/Palm Cove and Port Douglas a number of times before) before coming back to Perth.
I had a look at the map at the weekend and these were the places that stood out as places id actually heard of:
Mooloolaba
Noosa
Hervey Bay
Fraser Island
Bundaberg
Rockhampton
Whitsundays
Airlie Beach
Townsville
Mission Beach
Cairns
Palm Cove
Port Douglas

Any suggestions/comments/reviews etc from anyone who's either lived up that way or visited etc on the places ive got between Noosa and Cairns?
Anywhere else ive missed, places not worth going to (other than driving through) anywhere inland worth diverting to etc?
dont have a fixed number of total days but probably looking at 14-18 days (ish) all up.
Steve :)

We did it in reverse (North to South) Do it in small chunks and drive in the daylight. Night driving on the Bruce highway isn't too much fun. If the B-Doubles don't get you the roos etc will.

Robbo2 Oct 16th 2006 8:31 am

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 
Would be interested in replies also. We're hoping to drive from Brisbane to the Whitsundays. We hope to have a two week holiday, taking a few days to drive up there and stay a few days and then drive back.

rebnatoli Oct 16th 2006 9:04 am

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 
We did this trip a couple of years ago - great time. I would give Rockhampton a miss - its a big agricultural industrial town - we arrived about 4.30pm and at 6 the town centre was dead - couldn't find anywhere to eat and ended up buying crisps and coke from the garage next to our motel. We only went there because my OH worked with someone from there who nicknamed it Rockvegas very sarcastically and we wanted to see if it was as bad as she said. At Airlie Beach we stayed in a beachfront apartment which was great and a lot less expensive than anything else around - (off season many apartments are cheaper than motels), can't remember the name though. We did head inland a couple of times - once to a mountain retreat to try and see some platypus which we did, and also to the gemfields - good to experience just how hot it gets inland - but not sure about whether its worth a detour - we just like to see a bit oof variety so quite liked the experience of driving through miles of sugar cane fields. If you're missing the UK we thought the Atherton Tablelands looked a bit like the Dales and Yorkshire after all the wonderful tropical beaches. We took about 15 days and really had a wonderful relaxing trip staying one or two nights at each place and 4 nights at Palm Cove.

rebnatoli Oct 16th 2006 9:14 am

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 
The mountain retreat place was Broken river Mountain Retreat Eungella - for anyone else who has always wanted to see a platypus (or loo brush as my OH calls them). Also good for possums - weird to see them as precious things in Oz then a few weeks later in NZ them being hated and possum killing being a national pasttime! I've put the link in for any nature lovers

http://www.brokenrivermr.com.au/

borolad Oct 16th 2006 9:57 am

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 

Originally Posted by steve99
In the early planning stages of a trip from Brissie to Port Douglas next May/June time.
Looking at flying over to Brisbane and heading straight to the Sunshine coast, (have been to Mooloolabe/Noosa etc before and liked that area) then plan to drive up to Port Douglas enjoying stopping off for the day/night/couple of nights in various places on route finishing up with a few night in PD (have stayed in Cairs/Palm Cove and Port Douglas a number of times before) before coming back to Perth.
I had a look at the map at the weekend and these were the places that stood out as places id actually heard of:
Mooloolaba
Noosa
Hervey Bay
Fraser Island
Bundaberg
Rockhampton
Whitsundays
Airlie Beach
Townsville
Mission Beach
Cairns
Palm Cove
Port Douglas

Any suggestions/comments/reviews etc from anyone who's either lived up that way or visited etc on the places ive got between Noosa and Cairns?
Anywhere else ive missed, places not worth going to (other than driving through) anywhere inland worth diverting to etc?
dont have a fixed number of total days but probably looking at 14-18 days (ish) all up.
Steve :)

dont miss kepple island .. a short boat ride but a fantastic location

DrWho Oct 16th 2006 11:08 am

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 

Originally Posted by steve99
In the early planning stages of a trip from Brissie to Port Douglas next May/June time.
Looking at flying over to Brisbane and heading straight to the Sunshine coast, (have been to Mooloolabe/Noosa etc before and liked that area) then plan to drive up to Port Douglas enjoying stopping off for the day/night/couple of nights in various places on route finishing up with a few night in PD (have stayed in Cairs/Palm Cove and Port Douglas a number of times before) before coming back to Perth.
I had a look at the map at the weekend and these were the places that stood out as places id actually heard of:
Mooloolaba
Noosa
Hervey Bay
Fraser Island
Bundaberg
Rockhampton
Whitsundays
Airlie Beach
Townsville
Mission Beach
Cairns
Palm Cove
Port Douglas

Any suggestions/comments/reviews etc from anyone who's either lived up that way or visited etc on the places ive got between Noosa and Cairns?
Anywhere else ive missed, places not worth going to (other than driving through) anywhere inland worth diverting to etc?
dont have a fixed number of total days but probably looking at 14-18 days (ish) all up.
Steve :)

Drove Sydney to Cape Tribulation and back August/September... Personally I'd give Bundaberg, Rockhampton & Townsville a miss... Did nothing for us... The rest was great... (but didn't do Mission Beach...)

HiddenPaw Oct 16th 2006 12:24 pm

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 

Originally Posted by rodders39
Drove Sydney to Cape Tribulation and back August/September... Personally I'd give Bundaberg, Rockhampton & Townsville a miss... Did nothing for us... The rest was great... (but didn't do Mission Beach...)

Have done the drive twice and I'd agree about Rocky and Townsville. Can't remember if we stopped in Bundaberg or not. I'd seen that much sugar cane by then it all started to look the same! We had same prob in Rocky with trying to find somewhere to eat after 8pm. Wasn't a lot going on there.

You missed a stunner with Mission Beach tho, IMO. I thought it was beautiful, looking out over Dunk Island...just so peaceful, empty and calm.

Whale watching at Hervey Bay was a great experience, and one I would do again. Also loved the Whitsundays but found Airlie Beach to be neon hell! It's cheaper to stay on the mainland than on the islands (unless camping) so we stayed outside of AB and it was a lot nicer than town centre. Water taxis and flying are great ways to get around the islands and there are lots of nice walking trails on some islands. Also water plane out to GBR was a highlight. Snorkelling in Whitsundays was good (but diving out on the GBR in Cairns was better)!

Sunshine Coast hinterland also very beautiful - loved the hills, forests, waterfalls, walks, etc. I liked Noosa too and would say that's worth a visit as has lots of nice restaurants, etc as well as being very pretty.

Fraser Island defo worth a visit, perhaps Magnetic Island too?

Baz Oct 16th 2006 5:22 pm

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 
Hi Mate,

We did exactly the same trip this summer, here was the report is submiited about it, which will hopefully be of use to you. Be prepared for lots od driving, one centimeter on a map does not look much on the map, but it equates to about twelve hours driving in real terms!

My partner and me have just returned from Queensland, which was a trip to validate our permanent residency, and a fact finding mission. I thought I would give everyone our thoughts on a few of the places we visited, for those people who are thinking of making the move to Queensland, and are not sure where to move to.

On our trip we flew into Brisbane, and then made our way overland up to Cairns, stopping off at most places in between. We then flew out of Cairns.

One thing I will say, is that we did huge amounts of research on Queensland prior to our trip, we got various recommendations, and opinions on the different towns up the coast. What was apparent, is that one persons idea of paradise is usually very different to another’s. At the end of the day you really have to see the places for yourself, to get a feel for what you like (and don’t like.) We also found (understandably so,) that residents in one town would “big up” their town, and emphasize the “sore points” of another town, in an attempt to get you to like / move to their town. This was quite touching, as it does make you feel wanted, but sometimes we had to take what people said with a pinch of salt.

We spent our first week in Brisbane, which seems like a nice city. One thing that is nice about it is that it is not too big, and it has nice little touches like an artificial lagoon which people can swim in by the river. It was rather unfortunate that the weather was not so good when we were there, but there you go. I do not think Brisbane would be the kind of place we would want to live, mainly because we are not city people, but also we felt that though it was nice, there was not really any “wow” factor about it as-far as a city goes. Not like Sydney say for example (around the harbour,) or a few other cities I have been to around the world. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with it, quite the contrary, just not quite our cup of tea. It would be a great place to live near though, as there is so much going on there, for example if you lived outside the city and commuted in. We also visited Moreton Island while we were there which was great, and did the dolphin feeding thing which was also fun.

We then went to the Sunshine Coast, which was not quite what we expected. We thought the Sunshine Coast would be sleepy towns and villages, but it appears to have suffered from over development as far as I could tell. Quite a few high rise blocks all over the place. The hinterland is very beautiful though, and I believe you can get quite cheap property there, which is not too far away from the coast for when you have the urge to visit the beach. We thought Noosa was great, it was a bit more what we thought the Sunshine Coast would be like. The only problem with Noosa is that property is quite expensive, but you can opt to live inland of Noosa, and then you can just make the short drive into town when you want some action. The restaurants in Noosa were amazing too. Another bonus to Noosa is the surfing, if you happen to be into that sort of thing.

After Noosa we headed up to Fraser Island which was amazing. We spent two nights on the island, the weather was a bit intermittent while we were there, but it was still beautiful. Swimming in lake Mackenzie was a great experience. I have never swum in such clear water.

After Fraser Island we went to Rockhampton, to be honest we only stayed there for lunch, but it was a very pleasant town, and it was from this point up that we really felt like we were in “real Australia.” By this I mean the houses, building and streets (very wide,) looked much more like what I imagined Australian built up areas to look like.

After “Rocky” we made our way to Mackay where we spent a few nights. Mackay is really nice, there is a big beach there, the town is a nice size, and it has a real laid back Australian feel.

We then made our way to Airlie Beach, which was very picturesque, but it also had a touch of “backpacker hell.” The place is crawling with back packers, and the associated party crowd (maybe I am just getting old,) and the town seems entirely dedicated to this end, and of course sailing. We spent three nights sailing and diving around the Whitsunday’s, which was of course great, and then when we got back to shore we went skydiving, and jumped from 14000 feet which is a “must do” (one of those things you have to do once in your life.)

After Airlie we went and spent a night in Ayre to do some diving on the Yongala wreck which was awesome. Ayre is really pretty but a bit too small for us to consider living there.

Townsville was next on our itinery. We liked Townsville, it was nice, it has a nice promenade on the waterfront, you can go up Castle Hill where there is quite a spectacular view of the town and beaches. Townsville was somewhere we were considering living, and though it was nice, there was just nothing there which really “wowed” us. Again this does not mean that there is anything wrong with the place, it has a lot going for it, international airport, university, etc, etc, etc, I just could not see us living there.

Mission Beach was next, which was lovely. Unless you like “village living” I’m not sure Mission Beach would be your cup of tea for living, but it is a really picturesque, pretty place, with a nice beach and great restaurants. A really good place for a weekend getaway or something similar. We went white water rafting on the Tully River which was a great experience.

We then went to the Atherton Tablelands and Cairns. We loved this area, Cairns has so much going for it, I think it is quite an attractive city, surrounded by mountains with rain forest on them, it is not too big but has everything you need, a few shopping malls, a international airport, a university etc, etc. It also has really nice botanical gardens, nice restaurants, and an amazing man made lagoon on the waterfront with a promenade where you can just “hang out” and people watch. The city is also very green and lush, no sign of the “concrete jungle” associated with some cities / towns. Cairns is also nice because there is quiet a bit to do around it, you have the Atherton Tablelands near-bye which are beautiful, Port Douglas to its north which is a great get-away, and then Cape York beyond Port Douglas. So in the end Cairns is where we will move to, it fitted all our criteria nicely, the only negative thing I have heard about it is the heat and humidity in the summer, but there you go, you can’t have it all I guess (and it was folk in Townsville who kept on mentioning this by the way!)

We had a great time in Oz, we were thoroughly impressed with the place. Everything seems to work very well, there is so much to do, it is very outdoors orientated, and the Ozzi’s really seem to try to take care of their environment. Their wildlife / forestry service does a great job. The Ozzi’s themselves were also really friendly, and really seemed keen for us to move over. There is no “not another bloody expat” type attitude, one gets the feeling that because the Ozzi’s themselves were all ultimately migrants at one stage or another, they seem to appreciate that part of what has made their country great, are the migrants with the skills and diversity they have brought to the country. This is a really refreshing change to where we currently live, which is a small island in the Caribbean, and as an expat you are seen as an “invader,” taking local jobs etc, etc, etc. I also got the feeling that you do not need to have an Ozzi accent to be accepted as Australian, the people that make up the country seem to come from all over the world, so you will not feel or be treated like a foreigner, just because you may have a different accent or skin colour. I can really see why the place is called the “lucky country.”

Any regrets? I think our only regret is that we did not think about moving over to Oz sooner!

DrWho Oct 16th 2006 9:14 pm

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 

Originally Posted by Baz
Hi Mate,

We did exactly the same trip this summer, <snip>

Hi Baz,

Really agree with you here... We didn't like much around the sunshine coast except Noosa... Airlie Beach is deffo backpacker central, Hervey Bay was great, and also for us the only place we would have considered that we saw in Queensland was Cairns...

Baz Oct 16th 2006 10:38 pm

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 
Rod,

All i can say is "great minds think alike" (!)

We were dissapointed with the Sunshine Coast, we pretty much went to Queensland thinking it would be the place for us. Just goes to show you can't really make a decision until you have seen a place for yourself, brochures only show you so much.

biggy Oct 16th 2006 10:58 pm

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 

Originally Posted by rebnatoli
We did this trip a couple of years ago - great time. I would give Rockhampton a miss - its a big agricultural industrial town - we arrived about 4.30pm and at 6 the town centre was dead - couldn't find anywhere to eat and ended up buying crisps and coke from the garage next to our motel. We only went there because my OH worked with someone from there who nicknamed it Rockvegas very sarcastically and we wanted to see if it was as bad as she said. At Airlie Beach we stayed in a beachfront apartment which was great and a lot less expensive than anything else around - (off season many apartments are cheaper than motels), can't remember the name though. We did head inland a couple of times - once to a mountain retreat to try and see some platypus which we did, and also to the gemfields - good to experience just how hot it gets inland - but not sure about whether its worth a detour - we just like to see a bit oof variety so quite liked the experience of driving through miles of sugar cane fields. If you're missing the UK we thought the Atherton Tablelands looked a bit like the Dales and Yorkshire after all the wonderful tropical beaches. We took about 15 days and really had a wonderful relaxing trip staying one or two nights at each place and 4 nights at Palm Cove.


Have to disagree about Rockhampton....for a city it is very clean, and has great facilities. I dont know how you couldnt get anything to eat as there are loads of eateries in Rocky open late. Although there are loads of very nice accomodation in Rocky, if you want to be on the coast...spend the extra 30mins and come to Yeppoon and if you can have a trip over to Great Keppel Island www.capricorncoast.com.au

DrWho Oct 16th 2006 11:09 pm

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 

Originally Posted by biggy
Have to disagree about Rockhampton....for a city it is very clean, and has great facilities. I dont know how you couldnt get anything to eat as there are loads of eateries in Rocky open late. Although there are loads of very nice accomodation in Rocky, if you want to be on the coast...spend the extra 30mins and come to Yeppoon and if you can have a trip over to Great Keppel Island www.capricorncoast.com.au

Yup, we spent a day in Yeppoon and it was very pleasant...

biggy Oct 16th 2006 11:51 pm

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 

Originally Posted by rodders39
Yup, we spent a day in Yeppoon and it was very pleasant...


I spend everyday here and its fab.......:)

steve99 Oct 17th 2006 2:53 am

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 
Thanks to everyone who has replied, some very useful info to take into account when trying to allocate days/night to places etc.
Anyone have any specific recommendations on accomodation in any of the areas mentioned?
Also with the drive from around Hervey Bay it looks to be about 400KM to Rockhampton and another 350ish further to Mackay, given most people have indicated giving Rockhampton a miss would you try and cover getting to Mackay in one hit or spend the night in Rockhampton?

Steve :)

biggy Oct 17th 2006 3:00 am

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 

Originally Posted by steve99
Thanks to everyone who has replied, some very useful info to take into account when trying to allocate days/night to places etc.
Anyone have any specific recommendations on accomodation in any of the areas mentioned?
Also with the drive from around Hervey Bay it looks to be about 400KM to Rockhampton and another 350ish further to Mackay, given most people have indicated giving Rockhampton a miss would you try and cover getting to Mackay in one hit or spend the night in Rockhampton?

Steve :)

I wouldnt recommend that you do it all in one, the drive from Rocky to Mackay is the most boring drive ever, and would be crap when tired. If you dont fancy Rocky then come out to Yeppoon for the night I can give you some good places to stay if you can tell me your rough budget for a nights accom

DrWho Oct 17th 2006 3:10 am

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 

Originally Posted by steve99
Thanks to everyone who has replied, some very useful info to take into account when trying to allocate days/night to places etc.
Anyone have any specific recommendations on accomodation in any of the areas mentioned?
Also with the drive from around Hervey Bay it looks to be about 400KM to Rockhampton and another 350ish further to Mackay, given most people have indicated giving Rockhampton a miss would you try and cover getting to Mackay in one hit or spend the night in Rockhampton?

Steve :)

We stayed in Big4 Caravan parks during our journey. We found them to be very good; particularly liked the ones in Cairns, Hervey Bay & Airlie Beach. If you join I think it costs $40 per year but you get 10% discount up to $30 per stay, so if you're moving about a bit you'll soon rack the discount up. Also each place you go to will do your forward bookings for you so takes a bit of hassle out of it... Be warned though, they are hugely popular and during any school holidays you'd have to book everything well in advance... Unfortunately I don't think there's one in Makay... :(

steve99 Oct 17th 2006 3:27 am

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 

Originally Posted by biggy
I wouldnt recommend that you do it all in one, the drive from Rocky to Mackay is the most boring drive ever, and would be crap when tired. If you dont fancy Rocky then come out to Yeppoon for the night I can give you some good places to stay if you can tell me your rough budget for a nights accom

Budget wise, within reason we dont really have one...
Would expect for June time in one of the more non touristy places to be paying anything from $80 - $150 night, but really depends on what it is.
If its just somewhere to crash for the night then as long as its clean,tidy, has walking access to somewhere for dinner etc then cheaper the better I guess.
Havent ruled out Rockhampton totally, so if you know of anywhere there thats worth considering then let me know.
Thx
S

Bordy Oct 17th 2006 4:03 am

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 

Originally Posted by biggy
I spend everyday here and its fab.......:)


Yeppoon is on TV next week. Its on The real seachange on Monday night.

biggy Oct 17th 2006 4:58 am

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 

Originally Posted by Bordy
Yeppoon is on TV next week. Its on The real seachange on Monday night.


Ohhh is it.......cool I will need to watch that....remind me will ye lol

Del Boy Oct 17th 2006 5:58 am

Re: Sugesstion on driving Brisbane to Port Douglas
 

Originally Posted by biggy
I wouldnt recommend that you do it all in one, the drive from Rocky to Mackay is the most boring drive ever, and would be crap when tired. If you dont fancy Rocky then come out to Yeppoon for the night I can give you some good places to stay if you can tell me your rough budget for a nights accom

I've done that drive more times than I care to remember, usually Gold Coast or Brisbane to Mackay arriving late at night, in the small hours after a 10 or 11 hour drive. Always thought the straights of Sarina was a lonely stretch. The locals informed me later that there were a spate of murders along there, of motorists travelling along there in the 80s. Hopefully the perpetrators have moved away now.


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