My wife and I will have a week for vacation mid-September after my conference in Brisbane. We are thinking of ~3 days on Fraser Island, then maybe Hunter Valley or some other destination in NSW or southern Queensland. We have been to Cairns/GBR/Whitsundays, and spent a few days in Sydney before so we are interested in some other ideas. Any thoughts on this? I know it is very subjective but that is what travel is about! Thanks in advance for any suggestions. We expect to get quality beach time on Fraser Island so a contrast would be nice.

We always visiting the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane. Our favourite town is Maroochydore which has a good range of accommodation and restaurants. You could also go to Toowoomba (about 90 minutes inland from Brisbane).

Heron Island on the Barrier Reef is quite close and complements Fraser Island well . We've done both islands on the same trip and had a great time.

We have family and friends who live on the Gold Coast (just south of Brisbane) so I am very familiar with the area. We love the GC Hinterland and Northern NSW - Lamington Natl Park, Mt Tamborine, Springbrook, Byron Bay etc. A beautiful part of the world.

Carnarvon Gorge is another possibility - perhaps a 3-4 h drive inland from Fraser/Hervey Bay. Great walks and wildlife.

I think RalphR's suggestion of Gold Coast Hinterland is a great idea. It's very beautiful. We also weekend a lot just over the border at Murwillumbah and the countryside around there as Ralph suggested is really lovely.

Carnarvon Gorge is absolutely beautiful but by my calculations it's a good 700kms from Hervey Bay and would take more than 3-4 hours.

Apologies, should have done more homework before posting. Hervey Bay - Carnarvon is about 900 km (600 miles). We stayed in Roma en route from Brisbane and in Biloela on the return. That was in 1995...somehow I don't remember it being that far. But it's still a great place and offere a chance to see some of Outback Australia.

Thanks for everyone's replies, sorry busy packing my mom up for a move to Independent Living apartment! Mom comes before vacation planning.