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