Brisbane Travel Forum

Hi, there, planning a 2 weeks trip with a bunch of friends to Brisbane/Gold coast in Jun/Jul 08, and thought of renting a car. Anyone has any suggestions for the itinerary? I'd prefer more road trips and natural sceneries stuff than those historical places and theme parks. I heard the weather's cold during that time of the year.

Hi there

There are plenty of trips you can do in a car. The sunshine coast, the gold coast, the hinterland of both is great as well. There are several national parks in the region that have plenty of walking tracks as well.

Go to any of the Brisbane residents pages here in VT and I am sure you will find plenty of idea's.

And as for the weather, it depends what you are used to, but the winter months here are often in the low to middle 20's. I am from NZ and recon that Brisbane does not have a winter.

Have a great time

I was in Brisbane in june, but the weather was nice and sunny, about mid 20's. Are you really going on a road trip? Cause then you could drive up or down the coast and see places like Noosa...

oh yea a road trip. Any rough route to take?

To the sunshine coast, the gold coast, and both their hinterlands are roughly 1 1/2 to 2 hours drive each way, so Brisbane is in fact very central. The views from both the hinterlands are spectacular, and both have wineries that are open for tastings if that is to your liking. There are restaurants all over in these 4 places, again in the hinterlands they usually have spectacular views.

Supposing that out of the two weeks you'll have 10 days for the road trip, you'd be able to go as far north as Bundaberg. You could go up the coast and back down through the hinterlands or the other way around. The first thing to see is the Glass House Mountains north of Caboolture, also with Steve Irwins Zoo in Beerwah. Then there's Noosa, a really nice town, also with a National Park where you can do some walks. Then it's a long drive to Rainbow Beach, but in between there's the Great Sandy NP. You can drive throuh it, but you can see more with a boat. From Rainbow Beach you can do a trip to Fraser Island, this is also the last spot to get some surfing done. You could also go to Fraser Island from Hervey Bay, there's more tour operators from there, also one day tours. In Bundaberg you can visit the rum distillery.
Then from Bundaberg you can go inland to Rolleston to enter the Carnarvon NP, it's got gorges and Aboriginal Art. There's a road through it going to Roma. From Roma you can go to Toowoomba, near the Great Dividing Range and Warwick from where you can visit Girraween NP. Ipswich is very near Brisbane, you can visit Main Range NP, which is great for walking.
Have fun!

On your way up North, you may want to stop for a day or two to do the Glasshouse Mountains and Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin's zoo).
Check out this site: http://www.glasshousemountains.com.au/

I did the mountains in a day and the zoo in another. After the visit to the zoo, I drove up north and had a short swim in Sunshine Beach.

And while there, I stayed 2 nights at this Ecolodge that is cheap and clean and quiet. And its owner is warm and welcoming. With a car, it is easily accessible. Check this out: http://www.glasshouseecolodge.com