Top places: Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast & Noosa, The Great Barrier Reef, Whitsunday Islands, Fraser Island, Cairns & Port Douglas, Daintree Rainforest, Kuranda.
Queensland
is the second largest state in Australia and is home to Australia's third
largest city, Brisbane. The Gold Coast further to the south
is another major city. Northern Queensland's largest city is Townsville.
Queensland proudly boasts thousands of kilometers of coastline with the pristine white sand beaches. Combine this with a sub tropical to tropical climate and you have a superb travel destination. Tourists do flock to Queensland for these very reasons, but it must be noted that most of the beaches are not crowded. In fact it is actually possible to find a beach all to yourself if you are willing to go off the beaten track.
Queensland's most impressive geographical feature is the Great Barrier Reef which is about
2000 km long (about the same size as the Atlantic coastline of the United Sates). The reef is one of the natural wonders of the world as it is the world's richest area of marine life and contains some of the best diving in the world. Above the water you have around 900 beautiful tropical islands to explore, some have resorts while others remain completely
untouched because they are protected wilderness areas.The
Whitsunday Islands in the Great Barrier Reef are exceptional, and some islands have resorts that have won many international awards.
One particularly beautiful area in Queensland is Cape Tribulation in the Daintree National Park. The park is made up of the world's oldest rainforest and is located in the hills of the Great Dividing Range. The rainforest here runs uninterrupted to the coast. This area has a World Heritage listing and is located right
next to teh Barrier Reef, another World Heritage area.
In fact this
part of Australia is the only place in the world where 2 World Heritage areas
meet.
Queensland also contains vast areas of desert, which Australians call the Outback. The Outback starts at the western side of the Great Dividing Range all the way to the Northern Territory. You can cross over the South Australian Border too further south in inland Queensland, but you would have to be a hardened traveler to do that, as there are no roads here, only tracks. To the south you can cross the New South Wales border via some good roads.
Queensland is also bordered by the Torres Straits to the north and this stretch of water separates Australia and Papua New Guinea. This is also where the Great Barrier Reef ends, due to the rich nutrients
flowing into the sea from the rivers of Papua New Guinea. The Torres Straits
contain many beautiful tropical islands. These islands belong to Australia
and the Torres Strait Islanders are in fact Australian citizens.
| Related pages
Gold Coast Sunshine Coast Dunk Island Kuranda Port Douglas Daintree Rainforest More Australian States |
All images can be purchased for commercial and non-commercial use.