I went on almost this exact trip, albeit six years ago. We rented a car and stayed in hotels/motels, so I have little camping advice, but here are highlights from my trip (we flew into Brisbane and then drove up to Cairns and then took a day excursion even further north):

If you're spending any time in Brisbane itself, I had a very good experience at the affordable Edward Lodge, 75 Sydney St., in the New Farm neighborhood. The city itself is pleasant, but what was particularly nice were excursions outward, to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, where you get to hold koalas and feed kangaroos as well as seeing many other creatures, and to North Stradbroke Island, accessible by ferry and very scenic.

On the roadtrip, we found that most of the (to us) most interesting and lovely places were further north. This was somewhat in contrast to what was described in our guide book - times may have changed, but back then what the book assured us were thriving, interesting towns turned out to frequently be almost abandoned and lifeless. However, the town of Mackay has a cute, art-deco style downtown, and is probably worth a visit.

Things got really good up around Mission Beach, which has both a very nice beach and some lovely rainforests surrounding it, which are one of the few areas where wild cassowaries live. We particularly enjoyed a short hike through an area full of fan palms in Licuala State Forest (a description of the trail can be found here -- it's a hotel page but I don't know anything about the accommodations).

I definitely recommend heading inland to the Atherton Tablelands. We spent a night in the town of Yungaburra, where you can go on various animal-spotting outings, including night hikes to spot tree kangaroos and morning boat rides on Lake Tinaroo to see wild platypuses (they're very cute and smaller than I expected). Nearby is the town of Kuranda, which is very touristy but great for picking up souvenirs.

Cairns the town wasn't too exciting (to us), but the Great Barrier Reef is all it's cracked up to be. Definitely get out into the water - you take a boat out to the reef, and it's wonderful to see while snorkeling if you're not scuba divers.

The excursion north from Cairns was pretty great too, I have to say. Nearby, the Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary in Port Douglas was a great way to see whatever animals we'd missed thus far on the trip up close and in what looked like (for them) comfortable surroundings. The birds in the aviary sections were incredible. Further north, it was a blast to go on a crocodile-spotting boat ride on the Daintree River (departing from the town of Daintree). There are also some great rainforest walks around there and further up toward Cape Tribulation (actually a pleasant beach).

As you can tell, we really like watching animals - that may not be your top priority, but I hope some of these ideas will be useful to you. Enjoy your trip!
posted by unsub at 9:28 PM on June 9

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