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Date: April 2006
Location: Queensland Australia
Nothing quite compares with your first dive amid iridescent fish and coral, or the peace you feel sitting in a silent rainforest or the twinkling of a million stars in an outback sky. Jane Hodges reports on the wonders of Queensland.
It can be said Queensland is the best of Australia's holiday destinations rolled into one. Some of the world's most treasured natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef, Fraser Island, and the ancient Wet Tropics Rainforests are found in the Sunshine State. You can experience a cruisy capital city, dazzling beaches, exotic food, stunning national parks, a vast outback and a diversity of experiences within easy reach.
Brisbane City: chew with a view!
Pull up a chair for a casual meal at Eagle Street Pier overlooking the Storey Bridge or sample the best of CBD dining at E'cco bistro, one of the five restaurants at Hotel Conrad, Circa on Adelaide Street or Gianni's on Edward Street. For a quiet haven offering excellent modern cuisine, pull up a chair at Tomoko in the new Roma Street Parklands. Albert Street offers a choice of sidewalk cafes perfect for people-watching and dotted around the city are four Bar Merlo cafes for the best caffeine hit in town.
Milton, Red Hill, Rosalie and Paddington
Park Road at Milton is lined with European-style restaurants, coffee houses and boutique shopping. Don't go past Arrivederci for pizza and pasta or coffee at La Dolce Vita. The adjoining suburbs of Red Hill, Rosalie and Paddington are known for well stocked delis, great little BYOs, licensed restaurants and classic Queenslander houses. Try the Kitchen FoodStore for coffee and delicious sweeties, breakfast at Sassafras and dinner at Olivetto's.
The Valley and New Farm
Home to an array of cultures, you can enjoy modern Australian, Italian, Indian, the tastes and aromas of Chinatown's Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Malaysian restaurants. On Wickham Terrace, don't miss King of Kings for yum cha, and the cheap and cheerful Vietnamese. Along Brunswick Street, cafes and wine bars spill out onto the streets and the atmosphere buzzes. Try Ric's Cafe Bar for pre-dinner drinks and live music, Giardinetto for mouth-watering Italian, Watt for great food and service overlooking the river, Gerties for tapas, wine and people-watching and breakfast at New Farm Deli. Centro on James Street is a new cafe precinct well worth sampling.
West End
West End is a melting pot of flavours. It is home to BYO Indian, African, Vietnamese, Chinese and modern Australian restaurants, groovy wine bars, Asian supermarkets, well-stocked delicatessens, health food stores, and organic fruit and vegie merchants. On Boundary Street, pull up a stool at the groovy Lychee Lounge, do breakfast at Espressohead and grab a souvlaki to die for at King Ahirams. You have to get up early to score a table for breakfast at West End's latest darling, the Gun Shop on Mollison Street. The health conscious rub shoulders with those who simply love good food at the all organic Mondo on Hargrave Road.
Moreton Bay & Islands
When you've shopped til you've dropped and eaten some of the best food of your life chill-out on nearby Moreton Bay. It's a world-class National Park home to dolphins, dugong, turtles and migrating humpback whales. Take a cruise or sailing adventure around the 300 Bay Islands. Stradbroke and Moreton are two beautiful sand islands surrounded by turquoise waters, offering resort accommodation or DIY camping in paradise.
Gold Coast
Famous for it's beaches, glitzy nightclubs, glamorous social events, sophisticated shopping, and world-class theme parks, the Gold Coast is one of Australia's favourite tourist destinations. There's a thriving caf society centred on outdoor eating but the biggest attraction remains the wide surf beaches, including world-famous Surfers Paradise. And when the sun gets too much, you can escape to the magical Gold Coast rainforest hinterland - a short drive, but another world away.
Sunshine Coast
North of Brisbane lies the aptly-named Sunshine Coast, a heavenly stretch of white sandy beaches, crystal-clear waters, and rolling green mountains. Charming mountain towns like Maleny and the stunning beauty of the Glass House Mountains typify the hinterland. Dramatic surfing beaches, sophisticated caf society resort shopping and family attractions are what Noosa, Coolum, Mooloolaba, Maroochydore and Caloundra are all about.
South East Queensland Country
Pretty inland rural towns like Toowoomba, Warwick and Stanthorpe are complimented by boutique wineries, untouched national parks and breathtaking scenery. The garden city of Toowoomba, Australia's largest inland city, is famous for beautiful parks and private gardens. Elsewhere, sample fine wines, go fishing or indulge your tastebuds with locally produced fruits, olive oil and cheeses. Romantic bed and breakfast accommodation, country cottages and farmstays abound, and the hospitality is among the warmest you'll find.
Queensland's tropics
Book a flight further north and explore some of nature's finest attractions. The Great Barrier Reef, a collection of 2,900 individual coral reefs stretching 2,300km along the Queensland coast, is home to an incredible myriad of colourful corals, fish and exotic marine creatures. In the tropical north around the cosmopolitan city of Cairns, the World Heritage-listed Wet Tropics rainforests are among the oldest on earth and cascade down steep mountain ranges to the coast, where the rainforest meets the reef. Queensland's tropics offer fabulous on-the-water activities, including snorkelling, scuba diving and day and extended cruises to the islands and reefs. In the Whitsundays, a collection of 74 tropical islands, you can 'skipper' your own boat and head to any island you want. Further south, you can camp or stay at a resort on the world's largest sand island, Fraser Island, located just off the coast from Hervey Bay. This pristine island paradise offers spectacular beaches, peaceful rainforest and dazzlingly blue, fresh-water lakes.
The Outback
Grassy plains spreading to the horizon, red mesas lining a vivid blue sky, the spangle of stars in a clear night sky - this is Queensland's Outback. A spectacular place where colourful characters and hilarious festivals hold away.
There are lizard races, yabby races, poetry festivals, picnic races, rodeos and much, much more.
A fabulous festival in mid-April is the Easter in the Outback celebrations. The central west towns of Longreach, Winton, Barcaldine and Ilfracombe are gearing up for country music concerts, a race meeting, outback food and craft markets, regional arts, championship motorcross plus a kids' rodeo.
Family Fun
Queensland promises a diverse range of family-geared holidays.
Many of Brisbane's family attractions are free or at a very reasonable admission. Southbank Parklands provides a lifesaver-patrolled beach, free barbeques, picnic areas, weekend markets, cafes and an IMAX theatre within five minutes walk of the CBD. Bikes can be hired near the Botanic Gardens and Lone Pine Wildlife Sanctuary is an easy river cruise from the city.
Keeping the kids happy is easy on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts. Options include learning to surf, beach and river fishing, walking in national parks and the theme park circuit.
Many of the southern and Great Barrier Reef islands provide fully supervised kids' club facilities, often included in the tariff. You can relax on the beach while the kids are off having a ball. Kids' Clubs are located on Dunk, Hamilton Island, Fraser, Brampton, South Molle, Club Crocodile Long Island, and Hayman Island.
Adventure Abounds
Let's face it, Queensland is the land of Adventure. The entire area covering the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, from the Tropical North to Bundaberg in the south-east, offers spectacular leisure opportunities.
Visitors can snorkel and scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef, go white-water rafting on raging rivers, hire a skipper-yourself bareboat yacht and sail among the Whitsunday Islands or hire a kayak and paddle along remote, tropical coastlines. There's so much to do in a tropical paradise of rainforests, deserted beaches, islands and coral reefs.
And the adventure doesn't stop there; you can abseil down the Kangaroo Point cliffs while enjoying views of the Brisbane city skyline or four-wheel drive in the Cape York Wilderness. Soft adventurers may like to tee off at one of more than 200 golf courses throughout the state, join an Aboriginal bush tucker tour or glide silently in a hot air balloon over a patchwork of lush fields in the Atherton Tableland.
Food & Wine
Thanks to its geography and climate almost everything grows in the Sunshine State. The coastal regions provide a bounty of seafood; exotic fruits such as mangoes and black sapotes thrive in the tropical north; the Sunshine Coast hinterland grows everything from macadamia nuts, figs and pineapples to ginger and Asian greens; and grapes are grown in the South Burnett Valley, the Southern Downs, Toowoomba, and the Sunshine and Gold Coast hinterlands. Distinct regional cuisines have emerged in restaurants in the Cairns and Port Douglas and Palm Cove regions, in Brisbane and in Noosa and the wider Sunshine Coast.
Eat Streets in Noosa are Thomas Street, Gympie Terrace overlooking the river and famous Hastings Street where people travel from Brisbane just to have lunch and often stay for dinner!
Wine in Queensland? That's right our fledgling wine industry is one of our best-kept secrets and it's sure to surprise you. Award winners are being produced in The Southern Downs, The Sunshine & Gold Coast Hinterlands and The South Burnett Valley.
You can enjoy cellar door tours, tastings and sales as an integral part of a country weekend getaway to Toowoomba, Stanthorpe, Warwick, Maleny and the Bunya Mountains.
Events
Queensland's annual calendar is packed with a myriad events, from food and wine festivals celebrating our multi-culturalism to music, dance, sports, colourful markets and art exhibitions, catering to all ages, tastes and budgets. Every day of the week in Brisbane you will find music, theatre, dance and art galleries to visit.
- By Jane Hodges
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