Queensland

By Rail

The Countrylink/XPT service from Sydney is at present the only interstate service. The trip from Sydney to Brisbane takes around 14 hours; the connecting journey from Sydney to Cairns takes a little less than two days if you choose not to break it up along the way.

The Brisbane XPT train runs once a day from Sydney’s Central station to Brisbane’s Roma Street. The train departs at 4:20pm in the afternoon, travels overnight and then arrives in Brisbane at 6:30am the following morning. You can also board the train at Strathfield or Hornsby station, at Broadmeadow in Newcastle or at one of stations along the way.

You can also travel to Brisbane during the day by catching Countrylink’s Casino XPT train from Sydney Central station to Casino, then changing to a connecting bus. The bus takes you from Casino via the Gold Coast to Brisbane’s Roma Street station. The whole journey takes fifteen and a half hours - of which only the final three hours are on the bus. The train departs Sydney Central station every day at 7:15am in the early morning, and the connecting bus arrives at Brisbane Roma Street station at 10:21pm late that same evening.

By bus

There are a number of companies that operate bus services between cities and towns throughout Australia, and there are also interstate trains.

By plane

Most interstate travelers have the choice of flying to Queensland with Qantas (http://www.qantas.com.au), Virgin Australia (http://www.virginaustrali...) or Jetstar. (http://www.jetstar.com.au) Flights to major towns are frequent and regional airports are dispersed throughout the state.

The main international airports are in Brisbane, Cairns and the Gold Coast.

Domestic airports with direct flights from interstate are at Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, the Fraser Coast and the Sunshine Coast.

Other airports in smaller towns in Queensland are served by indirect flights via one of the airports above.

Brisbane Airport

Brisbane Airport (http://www.bne.com.au) is a 15 km or 20 minute drive from the CBD, or about 25 minutes by Airtrain (http://www.airtrain.com.au), which also continues on to the Gold Coast.

The AirTrain runs every 30 minutes from 6am to 7pm every day and connects to Central station.

The domestic terminal is separate from the international terminal, but AirTrain provides a 5-minute connection.

There are shuttle buses which provide direct hotel transfers, and plentiful taxis and hirecar providers.

Both terminals provide undercover parking for short and long term periods.

Brisbane Airport provides a handy map of flight routes and general timetables. (http://www.bne.com.au/fli...)

Cairns Airport

Cairns Airport (http://www.cairnsairport.com) is located 7 kilometers north of the CBD.

Domestically, Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia all operate out of Cairns, with scheduled services to most Australian state capitals, as well as regional locations.

Cairns also handles international flights from Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.

Rental Cars can be located at the domestic terminal in the QantasLink (http://www.qantaslink.com.au) arrival lounge.

Shuttle buses to Cairns and Port Douglas depart hourly.

Taxis are also available 24 hours a day, and the fare to the city centre costs around $16.

Short-term and long-term parking is located next to the passenger terminal.

Gold Coast Airport

Gold Coast Airport (http://www.goldcoastairpo...) is located on the Gold Coast Highway at Bilinga close to Coolangatta on the southern end of the Gold Coast, and is only minutes from the beach. Part of the runway actually extends into New South Wales.

The airport 30 minutes’ drive from Surfers Paradise and an hour from Byron Bay. The drive to Brisbane can take an hour and fifteen minutes.

Jetstar, Qantas, Tiger Airways (http://www.tigerairways.com.au) and Virgin Australia all have frequent domestic flights from Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney.

Internationally, AirAsia X (http://www.airasiax.com), Air New Zealand (http://www.airnewzealand....) and Freedom Air (http://www.freedomair.com.au) fly in from New Zealand and Malaysia.

Surfside Bus Lines (http://www.surfside.com.au) and Gold Coast Tourist Shuttles (http://www.gcshuttles.com.au) offer convenient transfers to hotels and theme parks. The free Airport Link shuttle (http://www.goldcoastairpo...) takes you straight to the Gold Coast Highway, where public transport is readily available.

Car rental companies can be located opposite the check-in counters at the airport.

Taxis are available immediately outside the terminal.

Interstate Travel Times

Sydney to Brisbane – 1 hour

Melbourne to Brisbane – 2 hours

Adelaide to Brisbane – 2.5 hours

Darwin to Brisbane – 4 hours

Perth to Brisbane – 6.5 hours

By ship

Interstate and International Cruise Liners regularly dock into Brisbane, and sail on to the Whitsundays, Cape York, Townsville, Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.

Luxury cruises liners that regularly call into Brisbane include P&O Cruises (http://www.pocruises.com), Carnival (http://www.carnival) and Oceania Cruises. (http://www.oceaniacruises.com)

Travel Times

Sydney to Brisbane: 1 sea day

Brisbane to Whitsundays: 1 sea day

Brisbane to Cairns: 2 sea days

Brisbane to New Caledonia: 2 sea days

Brisbane’s cruise ship port is called Portside Wharf, a recent development located in Hamilton, 6km from the Brisbane CBD or about a 20 minute drive. Buses into town and ferries service the port regularly. It also houses a fresh produce market, riverside restaurants, cafés and eateries, boutiques and cinemas.

Portside Wharf (http://www.portsidewharf....) provides a handy shipping schedule.

By car

Queensland’s wide open spaces make it ideal for exploration by car. The roads are high quality and well-signed so getting here is easy.

Driving Times

Sydney to Brisbane – 9 hours

Melbourne to Brisbane – 21 hours

Adelaide to Brisbane – 25 hours

Darwin to Brisbane – 25-40 hours

The drive from Melbourne is ideally covered over two days minimum, and Sydney to Brisbane can be driven in a day.

Suggested Routes

From Melbourne or Sydney, take the coastal Pacific Highway 1; the more inland New England Highway 15 through New South Wales; or the inland A32 from Adelaide which also goes through New South Wales.

If you have time up your sleeve, you can continue taking the coastal route the Bruce Highway, A1 all the way north to Cairns. The highway is scenic, comfortable to drive and offers plenty of attractions along the way; but you’ll need to allow two to three days for the journey from Brisbane.

For an alternative entry into Queensland, drive up from New South Wales via the New England Highway 15 through the Southern Downs. This will take you through Warwick and Toowoomba, towns rich in pioneer history. From here you can continue north to the vineyards of the Granite Belt and South Burnett regions.

South East Queensland is well-connected with freeways and distributor roads, from the Gold Coast all the way up to the Sunshine Coast.

Serious outback travelers heading east from the Northern Territory can enter Queensland via Mount Isa on the Barkly Highway A2; or drive up from South Australia via the Birdsville Track an old stock route and now a dirt track and on to Longreach. This journey is recommended in a four-wheel drive vehicle.

It is important to be realistic about the distances and travel times involved: for instance the trek from Mount Isa to Brisbane covers over 1800 km of road - which equates to about 22 hours of continuous driving. See Driving in Australia

If backpacking or on a tight budget, check to see if you can double up with other low-budget travellers who may be driving inter-state, or investigate car-hire places that sometimes offer deals charging less to return their stock to capital cities.