Are you over winter? Then head to Queensland where you can hike through lush rainforest, dip your toes in warm water and white sand, swim with sharks or just stretch out and defrost in the sunshine. By Leigh Robshaw
If winter has left you feeling low on energy and in need of a recharge, here are five Queensland holiday destinations guaranteed to get your motor running.
Turquoise water, lush rainforests and loads of sunshine - the perfect winter antidote. While you can't bottle it, you can get a good dose of it on Queensland's Fraser Island.
June to November is the perfect time to visit this wonderful piece of World Heritage paradise. Rainfall is low, daytime temperatures hover pleasantly around the mid-20s and the evenings are cool enough for snuggling inside a sleeping bag.
Being the world's biggest sand island you need a 4WD to tour Fraser but beware, with 800 kilometres of sandy tracks to negotiate, it's not easy. People roll their 4WDs here all the time, so I opted for the safety of a guided tour.
Our guide, Tony Bright, from Sunrover Expeditions, is a botanist with extensive knowledge of the island's unique ecosystem. We were happy to be in his care, not only because we could relax and watch the scenery go by, but because he knew loads about the island's 40 freshwater lakes, majestic forests and unique flora and fauna.
We camped at Dilli Village, a convenient base for exploring some of the island's best-known lakes. We started the next day with a seven-kilometre walk through eucalypt forest to Lake Boomajin, the world's largest perched dune lake. Next, we headed to the snow-white sands and turquoise shoreline of Lake Birrabeen - a little like the Caribbean without the hordes of people.
Nearby Central Station is a pleasant picnic spot and good base for walks through gorgeous rainforest dripping in palms, ferns and 40-metre-high satinay trees. Piles of the island's glorious satinays were transported from Central Station to the port by rail to refurbish the Suez Canal in the 1920s and London's docks after WWII (they were later found to have outlasted the concrete). Logging came to an end in 1991 when the island was officially nominated for World Heritage status. Fraser Island is the only place in the world where rainforest grows in sand, and thankfully, the then Department of Forests declared some of the rainforest near Central Station a 'beauty spot' in 1937, thus conserving it while the rest of the island was at the mercy of loggers.
North of Central Station is Lake Mackenzie, one of the most photogenic perched lakes in the world, with its dazzling ring of sugar-like sand framing aquamarine- and sapphire-shaded waters. It's the most popular lake on the island and the main beach gets quite crowded, so if you want to bask in its beauty by yourself, wander around the circumference where you'll find more secluded spots for a dip.
Less obvious in its beauty is Lake Wabby, the deepest lake on the island and my favourite. It was once a sacred corroboree site and is still considered a 'women's place' by the area's traditional landowners, the Butchulla people. This might explain the incredible feeling of peace that came over me as I floated in its calm water, which is being silently smothered under the sands of the immense Hammerstone Sandblow. In 20 years it will have disappeared below the sand, along with surrounding trees including 2000-year-old melaleucas. It's sad, but that's life on Fraser.
It looked as if there was nothing to see but sand as we left Lake Wabby and walked across the sandblow towards Seventy-Five Mile Beach, the island's main thoroughfare. We would have walked straight passed it if Tony hadn't pointed out a nearby 'midden' heap - shell mounds left by Aborigines dating back at least 5,000 years. The shells were from pippis, which we stopped to collect for dinner as we headed home along the beach. Some things never change.
You can bump around Fraser Island's interior roads for days and feel like you're seeing a lot, but take a 15-minute flight and you soon realise you've hardly scratched the surface of this vast wilderness, which extends for 122 kilometres. From the air, the huge forests are bunches of broccoli and the lakes just small dollops of blue on an immense green canvas, all being erased by the ever-advancing sands.
When you visit a prehistoric place like Carnarvon Gorge, you can't help but leave with a big piece of it inside you. Located 750 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, it's a natural wonder, 230 million years in the making, and a treasure trove of Aboriginal rock art.
The gorge is a relatively small part of the gigantic Carnarvon Gorge National Park, but most of the 20,000 people who visit the park each year come to experience the magic of the gorge, meandering below soaring sandstone cliffs for 30 kilometres. These cliffs have both trapped and protected the gorge's lush remnant rainforest, presenting us with a thriving example of the kind of vegetation that cloaked million years in the making, and forming an unusual contrast to the dry surrounding eucalypt forests. It's as if some exotic Asian paradise has been cut and pasted into the middle of the Blue Mountains.
The diversity of flora and fauna living in this compact area is truly remarkable. Giant king ferns (the largest fern in the world), ancient cycads and palms, colourful orchids and gnarled vines share the gorge with huge she-oaks and eucalypts. Kangaroos and wallabies hop around unperturbed by hikers, echidnas fossick for food in the bushes and platypus play in the creeks.
Birdwatchers will wear out their binoculars trying to spot 183 different feathered species, including the peregrine falcon, thought to be the fastest bird in the world, and Australia's largest raptor, the wedge-tailed eagle.
People of all ages and fitness levels can explore most of the gorge, as the walking tracks are all graded and well maintained, and the main track is fairly flat. It crosses Carnarvon Creek 22 times on its way to Big Bend (11kms), and sturdy stepping stones allow safe passage across. The creek has only twice been reported dry (1902 and 1931), amazing when you remember you're in the heart of Central Queensland.
A series of side tracks lead to pretty oases like the Moss Garden, and other hiking areas, such as Wards Canyon. It's a steep 300-metre climb up 935 stairs to reach Boolimba Bluff, but the panoramic views are well worth a bit of puffing. While the gorge's natural beauty makes for superb hiking, the Aboriginal art sites are just as compelling. Considered some of the richest examples of stencil art in the world, the Cathedral Cave and Art Gallery are literally plastered in ochre-coloured stencils, freehand drawings and engravings of hands, boomerangs, fishing nets, spirit figures, serpents and other objects relating to daily life.
Researchers aren't sure how far back the sites date, but there is some knowledge about the meaning of the drawings and the significance of the rituals surrounding their creation. There are interpretive plaques placed along the boardwalks in front of the rock faces enabling viewers to identify and read short explanations of particular images. The art sites lie on the southern side of the gorge and face north, north-east, so morning is the best time for photos.
You need to spend at least four days at Carnarvon Gorge to do it justice, but you could spend weeks there and discover something new every day. The 10-hour drive from Brisbane may seem daunting, but once you're there you'll forget all about it as you lose yourself in this land that time forgot.
June to September is arguably the best time to visit Cairns, when the days are warm but not unbearably hot, evenings are balmy and water visibility is great for diving and snorkelling.
Festival Cairns provides another good reason to visit at this time. This year it runs from September 3-25, offering a feast of music, dance, theatre, art, sport and entertainment.
Cairns is a mecca for scuba divers and numerous tour operators run trips to the Great Barrier Reef and its islands.
NRMA Members can obtain discounts on diving and snorkelling trips with Quicksilver Cruises and on glass-bottom boat trips with Great Adventures Reef and Island Cruises. You can pre-purchase discounted tickets at mynrma.com.au or call NRMA Travel and Touring on 13 11 22 for more information.
What if you could swim with sharks and be certain your arms and legs would be intact at the end of it? Awesome, huh?
Sea World on the Gold Coast is home to Shark Bay, the world's largest lagoon system and home to some of the most dangerous of the species. The game can don wet suits (included in the price) and take a 'Predator Plunge' into Shark Lagoon via an enclosed glass cage and poke around with massive tiger sharks.
The less brave can snorkel with smaller leopard and epaulette sharks, as well as sting rays, gropers and multi-hued reef fish in the Reef Lagoon, while kids can go wading with exotic sea stars and clown fish in the Rock Pools.
NRMA Members can pre-purchase discounted tickets to Sea World or a 3 Park Super Pass (Sea World, Movie World and Wet'n'Wild Water World) on 13 11 22 or via mynrma.com.au. You should also book your dive in advance on (07) 5588 2400 or visit www.seaworld.com.au.
August to October is when the most acrobatic of all the whales, the magnificent humpbacks, migrate south to Antarctica after calving. One of the best places to see them is Hervey Bay, a few hours north of Brisbane and one of the gateways to Fraser Island. Up to 3,000 whales have been known to visit Hervey Bay during the season and as many as 40 can be seen at any one time.
Fraser Island protects Hervey Bay's warm, shallow waters from ocean currents, providing a placid playground for the whales who have just given birth and are in a frolicking good mood by the time they pass through.
The reason why some of Australia's best whale watching happens in Hervey Bay is that the whales traditionally stop here during their migration to relax with their calves, concentrate on feeding and prepare them for their 5,000-kilometre journey south.
The 40,000-kilogram creatures put on an almighty show, leaping out of the ocean, saluting with their flippers, splashing their powerful tails into the water and rolling over like puppies. They even interact with the boats, coming in close for a spot of people watching!
All types of whales have been dropping into Hervey Bay unannounced for centuries, but it wasn't until September 1987 that a local charter fishing boat owner realised people were more interested in watching the whales than they were fishing, and started whale watching tours. Since then a variety of tour operators have sprung up, giving Hervey Bay its reputation as Australia's whale watching capital.
Boat tours depart daily, weather permitting, and they're so sure you'll see a whale that you get a free return trip if for some reason they don't show.
Responsible whale watching has now become a concern and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is working to ensure tour operators adhere to responsible codes of practice.
IFAW's website has excellent information on whale conservation and migration, and lists daily whale sightings around Australia. To see where the whales are before you plan your trip to Queensland or for information on responsible whale watching, visit www.ifaw.org.au/whalewatching.
NRMA's Experience Queensland guide has places to stay, maps and things to see and do in Queensland. To purchase a copy (Member discounts apply) visit mynrma.com.au or call 13 11 22.
Getting there: Follow the Bruce Highway from Brisbane to Gympie and Rainbow Beach village. Follow the signs to Inskip Point and drive across the beach to the barge. You can also access the island via Hervey Bay to Moon Point, Wanggoolba and Kingfisher Bay Resort on Fraser's western beaches.
Vehicle permits: a VSP (Vehicle Service Permit) is compulsory for all vehicles entering Fraser Island. Call 13 13 04 or visit www.epa.qld.gov.au for details.
Accommodation: Resorts, holiday homes and units. QPWS (Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service) runs most camping grounds. For more details visit www.epa.qld.gov.au or call 13 13 04.
Guided tours: Several companies offer walking, safari and specialised tours. The Open Road travelled with Sunrover Expeditions, Tel: 1800 353 717, or visit www.sunrover.com.au.
When to go: Spring is the best time to visit for warm days and wildflowers.
More information: Call QPWS on 13 13 04 or visit www.epa.qld.gov.au. For important information on minimising damage to your vehicle and sand-driving advice on Fraser Island, purchase a copy of NRMA's Great Driving Adventures for $10.95 plus $1.95 postage and packaging per item. Make cheques payable to Special Publications and send to:
The Open Road, Level 23,
388 George St. Sydney NSW 2000.
Please allow 28 days for delivery.
Getting there: From Roma, head north to Injune and drive 111km to the Carnarvon Gorge turn-off. From Emerald, go south to Springsure, and east to Rolleston, then drive 61km south to the turn-off. The 20-km road to the park is unsealed, so call the QPWS office in Roma on (07) 4622 4266 to check road conditions after heavy rain.
Accommodation: Takarakka Bush Resort, Carnarvon Gorge Wilderness Lodge (see review page 51) and limited camping. Guided tours: You can book guided tours through Takarakka or the Wilderness Lodge. Sunrover Wilderness Adventures offers six-day safaris to the gorge from Brisbane. Call 1800 353 717 or visit www.sunrover.com.au.
When to go: April to November, when rainfall is low and daytime temperatures are mild, though nights are cold. More information: Call 13 13 04 or visit www.epa.qld.gov.au.
4WD
