Road Trip: Sydney to Cairns (Updated)

Planning (or not much planning) a road trip to Cairns (from Sydney) next week, thinking about 2 weeks including the return trips.

Fairly familiar with the stops in NSW, and somewhat up to Gold Coast, but have not drove beyond Brisbane. Is there any major points of interests (between Brisbane and Cairns) that are worth of stopping for a day or two?

Otherwise, the plan is to stop over at Brisbane and Mackay for the nights:

  • Sydney -> Brisbane (950km)
  • Brisbane -> Mackay (950km)
  • Mackay -> Cairns (1000km)

So basically 6 days on the road (3 days each way), that leaves 8 days for Cairns. Depends on how things go, might stop at Gold Coast for a couple of days on the way back, that leaves 6 days for Cairns.

Any reason to spend time in Mackay if we are going to Cairns for the Reef?

Your thoughts?

Update

6,000km later we are back, thanks all for your input and advice. Road trip itself was fun, surprisingly the kids love it and they did not mind the long drive. But weather wasn't the best, pretty much rained continuously up North.

Due to lack of prior planning, the trip was pretty much constrained by available accommodation. I figured that we need 4 full days at Cairns, that means 5 nights of accommodation. Most places are either not available for that many nights or super expensive. At last found an apartment at Port Douglas through Airbnb and so we went.

Once we had the dates locked in, we left 2 days in advance, stopped at Brisbane and Mackay. Arrived Port Douglas at around 4pm on the third day, unloaded the car and went to Four Mile Beach to have a look. It was high tide, so not much beach. Then just went to town centre for dinner and groceries.

The main attractions we visited were Daintree Rainforest up to Cape Tribulation, the Daintree Discovery Centre, some beaches and walking tracks along the way. We also visited Mossman Gorge and did the 2km walking track in heavy down pour. I found Mossman Gorge is much more enjoyable, it's closer and more accessible. I would not recommend going further north unless you have deep appreciation of rainforest, love to bush walk, or want to do crocodile cruise.

We went to see the Great Barrier Reef with Quicksilver, the cruise itself was fine. We did ocean walk and snockering at the platform, they also have an underwater gallery and mini submarine going around to see the corals. But the overall experience was a little underwhelming, probably diving is only way to fully experience the reef.

I would recommend taking the Skyrail from Smithfield to Kuranda, it was quite a sight seeing the Wet Tropics from the top down, the forest goes on and on and on. Barron Falls also put on an impressive display from recent rainfalls. A disappointment was that the scenic railway did not operate due to the rainfalls. Kuranda was a nice tourisy town to spend the afternoon nonetheless.

Somewhere along Captain Cook Highway is a beach full of balancing rocks, was an interesting sight, it's call the Gatz Balancing Rocks on Google Map if you want to look it up. Right next to Smithfield terminal is the Australian Tank and Artillery Museum, it wasn't in our plan but I'm glad we saw it, the kids were in for a treat.

Leaving Port Douglas, we drove to Kuranda again in order to head inland. Kennedy Highway is made of beautiful and twisty mountain passes, wish I was on the bike. We had a quick look see at some fruit wineries in Atherton Tablelands and stopped at Jaques Coffee Plantation for lunch. There are lots of waterfalls in the tableland region, which required frequent stop to check them out, in fact there's the whole Waterfall Circuit if you have the time. We spent the night at Yungaburra, did not see any platypus, but the Curtain Fig Tree is impressive.

The next day was Paronella Park, though the history was fascinating it's probably not everyone's cup of tea, but if you are driving pass then might as well have a look. The hydro power plant was well ahead of its time in the region.

From then on we stopped at Townsville, Rockhampton, Hervey Bay, Surfers Paradise, and home. Spent half a day each at Townsville and Rockhampton to check out the local attractions. 2 nights at Hervey Bay, to do a day tour of Fraser Island. 3 nights at Surfers because the kids want to go to Sea World, and to unwind before the long drive home.

Comments

  • +7

    Driving 10 hours a day is brutal, and not fun, driving those distances why not just fly to cairns / Gold Coast

    Look at imoova for one way rentals?

    Some places in qld —> Bundaberg, Townsville, Rockhampton

    1770 is nice

    • Driving 10 hours a day is brutal

      Yep!

    • Yep, I love road tripping but if you're planning on driving 10 hours a day it's just not fun.

      I'm doing that next week on a 20 hour road trip, but I literally need to deliver a car back to the father-in-law otherwise I'd either drive or do it over 3 days so I can go stop at some places and have some fun on the way.

  • +1

    I had bad weather when I visited Cairns and ended up driving to the Whitsundays/Airlie Beach. The Daintree is worth the visit. And if I went to that area again I would skip Townsville or limit my time there.

  • From my limited research it seem 2 full days at Cairns are required, one each for GBR cruise and Daintree. Then it’s just bits in and around the area.

    Plan is still fluid (due to no plan), which makes booking accomodation difficult but very much want to make it happen.

    If 4 days (including 2 full days) are all there’s needed at Cairns, will plan something along the way, probably focusing on the northern part of the trip (furtherer places from Sydney).

    • Daintree is quite far north, beyond Port Douglas. Rather, I think you should take the Kuranda historic rail up to Kuranda and then the skyrail back down. You will need a full day for this.

    • why book accomodation, just turn up, you can literally book on expedia in the car park outside if its cheaper.

      • You reckon? What about availability? I'm not particular if it's just me, but for family of 4 I would like some certainty.

        But the convenience of turning up without planning sounds great. I'm having a hard time locking in the when/where/what.

        • Man I’ve travelled the world over.many times and not once gotten to a city and had every single hotel booked out, even with kids n tow around Central America / South America .

          You will have a better holiday deciding on the fly ie if you hate Gold Coast don’t stay.

          But driving ten hours a day with kids would be delightful , I would seriously reconsider that

  • +3

    That is a lot of sugarcane to watch as you pass it on your drive.

    North of Brisbane: I know it isn't far past Brisbane, but always like visiting Mooloolaba as it has a nice relaxed old-school beach feel (unlike Noosa or Surfers). The surf club is great.
    I don't dislike Brisbane, but maybe stay on the Sunshine Coast rather than Brisbane for your stop-over?

    • Sugarcane on the road?

      Stopping at Brisbane primarily for choices of accommodations, many options.

  • +4

    As someone who hates long drives this sounds like hell to me

  • +1

    i recently drove brisbane to airlie beach and then a few weeks later brisbane down to sydney. Places i really like are noosa, rainbow beach, 1770 and yeppoon and south to sydney byron, balina and beaches around coffs. I did this with 2 small children but depends on what you want if you are looking to party then other places might be better.

  • +1

    That's a helluva lot of driving in three days. I've driven Sydney-Byron Bay in a day on a few occasions which is doable but hard going. Don't know about backing up and effectively doing that (and more) three days in a row.

  • Rent a caravan or motor home so you only need to find caravan park which it is cheap and easy

  • +2

    Worst time of the year for a trip like this.

    • Please elaborate, because of traffic I presume or something else?

      • +1

        Crazy traffic, all the coastal towns are heaving with people (entitled city people), accommodation prices skyrocket or else everything is booked out. Also not uncommon for there to be flooding in northern NSW & QLD at that time of year, at times closing major highways. Plus winter is the most pleasant time to go to Cairns, weather wise.

        • Entitled city people? what does that make country folk? I had never thought of myself as 'entitled'. More likely 'we' all are entitled to travel where ever we like as Australians. I certainly never look at people who are 'clearly' small town/country people and view them as not entitled to visit 'my' city.

          • -1

            @mikekiwimike: I meant it in the negative. Like parking their X5 in the disabled spot outside the cafe because they simply had to sample the locally sourced organic hand picked beans in their takeaway soy caramel extra shot latte.

            • @Peter Enis: You seem like someone who bases their opinions on what you've heard rather than what you've experienced

    • Traffic was ok, we left Sydney in the early hours, so was already out of town before other traffics.

      Roads were generally quiet, no concerns.

      However, weather at Port Douglas was bad, lots of rain and strong wind. If there's any consolation, the lighting condition for photos in the rainforest is prefect (as long as you don't mind getting wet and your gear is weather sealed).

  • Hervey Bay
    Bundaberg rum factory
    Australia zoo

  • I like to go places, done a trip from Sydney to Armidale for lunch and back the same day earlier this year. Just under 1,200km round trip, on my motorbike.

    Rode up to Tamworth then Coffs Harbour and back to Sydney in November, 1,700km in two days.

  • +2

    Id skip daintree and do Mossman Gorge

    Its like half the distance from cairns and experience is similar unless you plan on riding horses or something on cape tribulation

    • Agreed.

      Especially in raining seasons. We only found out afterwards, the ferry was closed just 2 days prior due to flooding. Also there were mud slides while we were driving along Cape Tribulation Road.

      After visiting Mossman Gorge the next day, we felt in our case, the trip (time/cost/risk) going all the way was not worth it.

  • i did drive 17 hours once from alberqueuque to bismark in the usa, but i was in a zone and on some cr*p

  • +3

    I went from cairns to Sydney on the bus in 2005 and these are the places I stopped at:

    Cairns
    Townsville /Magnetic Island
    Airlie Beach/Whitsundays
    Maybe 1770, but I can't remember
    Hervey Bay/Fraser Island
    Brisbane
    Surfers Paradise
    Byron Bay

    My favourite place was probably Fraser and Cairns.

  • Driving those distances in the winter is taxing..summer even more so. I did Syd to Cns a few years back during winter. It was a long..long way.
    Holiday traffic will slow your journey, and most days you will get thunderstorms in the PM.
    When you get to Cairns it will be stinking hot and very humid.The over night temperature will be about 25C.
    I'd suggest go to Brisbane..(lots of cheap accommodation this time of year).
    Base your self there and you can do day trips if needed to Sunshine or Gold Coast.

  • There’s loads of beautiful places up the Qld Coast. If you plan to zoom past them all, then you’d be better off flying. It will be peak season, with limited accomodation, but I would suggest visiting Sunshine Coast (Mooloolaba, Noosa), Fraser Coast (Rainbow Beach, Fraser Island, Hervey Bay), Bunderberg/Bargara/Mon Repo/Childers (turtle sanctuary, rum factory, cane fields, backpacker memorial), Agnes Waters/1770 (beach scenery), Gladstone (port development), Yeppoon, Airley Beach (Whitsundays), Townsville/Magnetic Island, Cairns (incl northern beaches), Port Douglas (Daintree, GB Reef), and so much more … have a great holiday

  • FNQ is my favourite part of Australia. If you have never been, then i suggest flying 1 or both ways and rent a car from Apex in Cairns. Although i agree, it is the worst time of the year to go there (hot, crowded and super expensive).
    Cairns is beautiful, also a day on the reef is a must.
    You should also go to Port Douglas and Daintree.
    You should definitely do the inland way as well from Cairns to Innisfail via Mareeba and Millaa millaa. Very scenic (Hunter valley on steroids).
    And beware, anything north of Gladstone is considered croc country.

    • Sounds good, will try the inland way on the way back. I think once we get the main attractions done, it will become more leisurely.

  • I've traveled quite a bit up and down the QLD coast.

    Whitsundays is definitely worth a stop but you would need a boat trip to get out of Airlie.

    Check out where the commercial tour operators stop. They know the best places:

    Fraser Island needs a 4x4 tour or there's companies that also let you hire them.

    FYI for good deals on booking local tours etc check out https://www.bookme.com.au/

    There's heaps of nice places around Sunshine Coast and the hinterland. Feel free to PM me if you want any tips.

    There's not a lot between Whitsundays and Fraser except perhaps Agnes Water/1770. Bundaberg is just another sugar town like all the others IMHO.

  • Thanks all for your comments, preliminary plan is to get up to Port Douglas quickly, with stops at Brisbane and Mackay. On the way back will checkout some places suggested here.

    Our friends recommend Fraser Island also, not sure if we can fit it in this time.

    • +1

      Can do a one-day tour from Hervey Bay.

      • +1

        Thanks, did not know that, always though that Fraser Island is a multiple day trip.

        Did the one day tour with Fraser Explorer Tour, Lake McKenize is amazing.

  • Can you post a post trip report, would like to know how much you achieved.

  • +1

    Don’t forget it’s rain season up here, TSV to Cairns roads already closed once last week. Rivers are all full. Atherton Tablelands great drive, Great Food, easy rainforest walks, platypus viewing. Definitely Karanda train & Skyrail over Barron falls.

    • Thanks! Did the Skyrail, but railway was closed due to falling tree.

  • Dates are getting closer.

    Other than the reef cruise that requires pre-book, anything else or mostly walk in and pay on the day?

  • +2

    Updated original post to include quick summary of the trip.

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