Driving Distances in Queensland
 

For the Queensland part of our trip this October, we are going to be staying on the Gold Coast, then on to Lindeman Island, then Cairns. We will have a car on the Gold Coast and are thinking of keeping it and driving up the coast to the other locations rather than taking a plane, which is pretty expensive. My question is how long (in drive time, not distance) a drive is it from the Gold Coast to Shute Harbor (where we would catch a transport to Lindeman island) and then from Shute Harbor to Cairns? Can either of those be done in one day? or do we need to find a mid point to stop. Also, we will not need a car on Lindeman Island. Is there somewhere safe to park cars in Shute Harbor? Lastly, is there another option for transportation at a reasonable cost, like a coach bus? Regular buses and trains seem to hit Shute Harbor like at 2 in the morning, so are not practical, but I hate to pay for the rental car when I won't be using it for 5 days either. Any thoughts?

The mapmaker function at www.travelmate.com.au (cool site!) came up with 13 hours for driving from Surfers Paradise to Shute Harbour...& thats presumably without any breaks so it wouldn't be advisable in one day oratl. Have you checked out Virgin Blue? (www.virginblue.com.au) I just had a quick look & they have one way fares from Brisbane to Mackay for $139 which seems ok. Maybe drop off your car in Brisbane & then pick up another one after LIndeman to drive on to Cairns(which is doable in a day). Cheers.

G'day<BR>Depends on how much time you want to be behind the wheel. I always used to look at every 250 miles to Cairns as being doable in about 4 hours and its Brisbane - Bundaberg 250 - B'berg to Rockhampton 250 - Rocky to Mackay 250 Mackay to Airlie Beach is about 1.5hours as is the drive from GC to Brisbane. The drive to B'berg would be Ok then it becomes a tad boring to Rocky and from there to Mackay it is down right dreadful along the Marlborough stretch as we call it. I too would opt for a plane to Mackay or Hamilton and then get a car and drive to Cairns if you feel that you must but by the time you pay for accommodation and food /petrol there is not that much in it if you get a good e-ticket on a plane. <BR>Shute Harbour to Cairns is a nice days drive though and through better country than further south. <BR>Check the air tickets though as I am sure that its money well spent. Remember that the Au$ is half that of the $US

Thanks Lucy and Liz. I am going to look up the travelmate site. The Brisbane to Mackay fare is not horrible (although there are 4 of us, so it does add up), but how do you get from Mackay to Shute Harbor? I don't think there is tranportation from Mackay to Lindeman. Flying direct to Hamilton is expensive $189 each, and Hamilton to Cairns is $327 each, so I think we will definitely drive that one, unless there is an alternative I am missing.

Go to Dunk Island instead of Lindeman.<BR>Fly Brissy to cairns,bus to dunk then car around cairns.

There's a thought - if you havn't booked Linderman then you could just fly to Cairns ( not that much more than going to Mackay) but if you have already booked the best flight is from Brisbane into Prosepine which is only about another $8 for the flight more than Mackay. There are buses from there to Airlie Beach. There is most probably lots of buses from Mackay as well and/or trains but you would still get off the train at Prosepine anyway - the bus would go right into Airlie Beach.

I am pretty set on Lindeman Island. Looks like flying to Proserpine may be the way to go. I looked at taking a train, but the days and times don't seem to work very well. Thanks