"homePagePath": "/content/australia/en_us.html", There is creekside camping at Jourama Falls suitable for campervans. . Give yourself half a day to enjoy everything this scenic drive has to offer. day 1: townsville to charters towers (137km / 1hr 30m) Start your overland journey in Townsville, the North Queensland city that puts the sun in the Sunshine State. This self drive route will take you through some of Australia's most beautiful and best known attractions. 6:32 pm arrive in Cairns. Facilities include flush toilets, hot showers and undercover BBQs and eating areas. Take Moss Road (off the Bruce Highway) for about 100 metres until you see a narrow gravel track on the right marked with a red rectangle. Hit the highway for a drive to remember on the Great Green Way. Picture: Supplied. By limiting the number of hikers, you have a chance to connect with and appreciate the raw beauty of Hinchinbrook. Dunk Island is only 4km off the coast of Mission Beach, and takes only 10mins with Mission Beach Water Taxi, so its almost rude not to visit. Heres where to quench your thirst in Cairns, whether youre a cocktail connoisseur, beer buff, gin junkie or simply love a glass of wine with a view. Forget what you've heard, Townsville is just as much a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef as any of its northern neighbours. You can stop off at Lake Barrine for morning tea and scones, then onto the curtain fig tree, then onto the Hypipamee Crater . Air Conditioning. I was commissioned to write a travel story for Luxury Travel . 12 Road Trips from Sydney for campervan travellers Cairns is located in Australia with (-16.923,145.7663) coordinates and Townsville is located in Australia with (-19.2664,146.8057) coordinates. Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Experiences that will make you feel like an Aussie. He and fellow Gold Coaster Seb Twaddell, 22, head to the US this weekend for the World Long Drive tour, golf's answer to cricket's Big Bash. Other less-frequented highlights of the park include: Free Camping at Japoonvale Rest Area - is on the banks of Liverpool Creek. Spend at least 2-3 days of your Brisbane to Cairns drive itinerary off the road in Townsville. Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . Were here to reveal all. Buckle up for aTexas Longhorn Wagon Tourthen explore the custom saddlery shop. The Ultimate Cairns to Darwin Road Trip Itinerary All of that glorious rainfall makes Tully River an awesome place forwhite water rafting, with rapids ranging from grade three to the more challenging grade four. Year round. Users can also use shortcuts such as M (menus), H (headings), F (forms), B (buttons), and G (graphics) to jump to specific elements. Stay: Paronella Park has on-site camping and cabins, or stay 2mins down the road at Mena Creek Hotel, also promising a tasty pub feed. Sydney to Cairns train. The area is named after the endangered Eastern Grass Owl (TYTO Capensis) and is one of the few places in the world where you may be fortunate enough to spot one. Known as the greatest detour in the North, opt for the scenic route by deviating onto the Canecutter Way. }, because there's an entire community of travelers talking From: 1 traveler 2 travelers 3 travelers 4 travelers 5 travelers 6 travelers. This is the eastern half of the . Getting Here - Undara Bamboo grove at Paronella Park. Richmond to Julia Creek. Townsville. Parking is on a private sugar cane farm so don't block the road. Your return journey to Cairns will end with a dash of luxury if you take the time to spend the night at Mount Mulligan Lodge. Next stop, Ingham. Day 4. Hervey Bay-Rockhampton 470km. Starting in Tropical North Queensland and finishing in the Top End, this epic 3500-kilometre journey of a lifetime from Cairns to Darwin cuts through a sensational swathe of northern Australia's tablelands, savannah, cattle stations and rust-red outback. Continue 400 kilometres south (249 miles) to the enchanting outback town ofCharters Towers, where the heritage streetscapes hark back to the gold rush days of the late 19th century. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. Mackay-Airlie Beach 150km. "screenSet": "Aus-V3-RegistrationLogin", The entire route takes around 12 days and travels over 2079 kilometres from Cairns to Townsville. First things first brekkie! Detour to Queensland's oldest hotel at the Nindigully Pub and try the 1.2 kilogram 'Road Train' hamburger - if you dare! Take a refreshing dip in the main pool and wander along the rainforest path to the eeringly-named Devils Pools and discover the Indigenous legend behind this spooky spot. Located within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and a 20-minute ferry from Townsville, "Maggie," as the locals call it, tends to be off the typical traveller trail. Although you cant walk on the jetty, you can head to the nearby fishing jetty to throw a line for giant trevally, Spanish mackerel, queenfish or northern bluefin tuna. Hit the wheel and head 25mins down the road, keeping your eyes peeled for these big birds as you go. The direct drive from Townsville to Cairns is 216 mi (347 km), and should have a drive time of 4 hrs 42 mins in normal traffic. Day 11. Traffic reports and road conditions can be found on the QLDTraffic website qld.traffic.qld.gov.au, download the QLDTraffic app or call 13 19 40. The Townsville to Cairns drive is 347km in distance, with a driving time of 4h4m. Don't miss out on the headlines from Townsville. Follow the Bruce Highway north for about an hour before taking a break in the Mount Spec section ofPaluma Range National Park. VisitJames Cook Museum, housed in a stunning 19th century former convent, for a look into Cooktowns remarkable history. Queensland 4814 Phone: 1800 216 223, 2023 Camperman Australia, All Rights Reserved; ABN 26 108 103 206, Australian Toll Free Number: 1800 216 223. Photo: Simona_198735 of Instagram, Paluma Range National Park. Facilities include a pizza oven, pool, gym, camp kitchen, BBQ area, showers and laundry. Stay: Castaways Resort has a poolside sun lounger with your name on it and the onsite restaurant Buko offers an awesome feed too. Cairns to Townsville Distance: 347 Kilometers | 4 hours and 30 minutes. Once youre full enough to face the day, make way for Babinda Boulders, a stunning rainforest swimming hole just seven minutes away from the township. Overland Travel: Driving The Overlander's Way from Townsville to Mt Isa Explore seaside towns where the locals hang, walk to giant waterfalls, explore a castle, and see . driving 4 hours. Does anyone have any suggestions? Again making it a good spot to stop for fuel and other supplies, particularly if you've not stocked up and are doing the trip in the other direction. "event": "taCustEvent", This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. Cairns to Townsville by bus. Once back on land, drive 45 minutes north to Cardwell. Facilities are basic - compost toilets and BBQs, but no showers. Mission Beach, situated midway between Townsville and Cairns is made up of four beach villages linked by 14 kilometres of wide golden sands. Say sayonara to the city and head 65km north to Paluma Range National Park, the southern gateway to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Rainforest. Etty Bay itself is a stunner of a beach, but its locals make it even more amazing cassowaries are often spotted sneaking along the sand. "screenSet": "Aus-ProfileUpdate", The drive from Rockhampton to Noosa Heads is one of the longest so far, so get an early start to make the most of the day. AppNexus sets the anj cookie that contains data stating whether a cookie ID is synced with partners. Rockhampton, Queensland. Zoe Falls on Hinchinbrook Island. If youre feeling like a big kid, or youre travelling with actual kids, the natural waterslide here will be very popular. Experience the best Tropical North Queensland has to offer, from the rugged outback to tropical islands. City: round-trip one-way. The uuid2 cookie is set by AppNexus and records information that helps in differentiating between devices and browsers. Stops and things to do on Townsville to Cairns drive or road trip Password (8+ characters) . The drive from Townsville to Cairns connects northern Queenslands two largest cities. > 6. Answer 1 of 7: We are planning to drive between Cairns and Townsville next September, and are looking at a possible overnight stay about half way. Here's a detailed Cairns to Brisbane road trip itinerary that takes in the best sights along the east coast of Australia with your JUCY rental. For a fittingly European-inspired stay,Villa Veronis a charming bed and breakfast which also hosts an Italian festival every year. Distance: 1,718km. There are lots of campervan hire companies in Cairns we decided to go with Britz which was a great solution and gave us plenty of flexibility to change our itinerary if we needed. Appropriately named, you wont be surprised to discover a series of smooth granite boulders at this freshwater swimming hole. The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The giant golden gumboot is 7.9 metres tall, homage to the highest annual rainfall this town has received. for images that are not described. 10:00 am start in Cairnsdrive for about 45 minutes, 10:45 am The Boulders Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. As you pass through the lush pine forest plantations, watch out for the lookout point, which provides uninterrupted views out to Hinchinbrook Island, before continuing along the forest drive until you reach Attie Creek. YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages. This will take you to a small parking area and the path begins here. Turn it into a road trip instead, and the first stop should be the Paluma Range National Park. to double check the weather. David Whitley. Children $10. Australia's Best Teachers 2023: Digital technologies teacher David Etty Bay is known as one of the regions most scenic beaches, but what really makes this little cove so special is its inhabitants home to the magnificent Southern Cassowary, youre very likely to see these notoriously hard to spot birds roaming the beachfront in the late afternoon or early morning. Self-made Spanish immigrant Jos Paronella built Paronella Park as a gift to his wife Margarita. This cookie is used to collect user information such as what pages have been viewed on the website for creating profiles. Visit the Aquarium. News; Australia's Best Teachers 2023: Digital technologies teacher David Titherley praised for his unique approach to teaching. and leave at 5:47 pm. Attractions in Townsville include the eco-tourism Billabong Sanctuary, the Museum of Tropical Queensland, and the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery. Considered one of Australias favourite skydiving destinations, Mission Beach is made up of four small towns spread along a 14km stretch of palm-fringed beach. In addition to the highlights listed on road trips #4 and #5, the Sydney to Cairns drive includes Babinda Boulders, Josephine falls, The Pyramid summit climb, Paronella Park, Mission Beach, Hinchinbrook Island, and empty palm-fringed beaches and national parks in which to camp. This road trip from Townsville to Cairns may only be four and a half hours, but it is packed with heaps of sights and attractions. Lesser known are the smaller beaches and coves that make up a huge part of its charming appeal. EPIC Cairns To Brisbane (Or Viceversa) 2-Week Road Trip! - Greta's Travels The Ultimate North Queensland Road trip - 2 week itinerary Cape Road Trip: Cairns To Airlie Beach Drive | Blog | JUCY Townsville to Cairns drive - plan a road trip Kuranda Scenic Railway day trip. You also have the option of cutting the Canecutter Way short and joining back onto the Bruce Highway after youve passed Silkwood to resume your adventure. Sydney to Ballina road trip: Distance, driving time & best stops. Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. Save. 21 Weekly Buses. You can also sign up for SMS traffic alerts for selected far north or south coast regions. It is a popular swimming and picnic spot. Try searching for places within 4 hours of Cairns. 2 Cairns to Brisbane 14-days itinerary with map (or viceversa!) Flights from CNS to TSV are operated 33 times a week, with an average of 5 flights per day. Afterwards, spend the evening at the historic Civic Club, play billiards on one of two 100-year-old tables and don't forget to make a booking for their famous Friday night barbecue. Your journey may draw to an end in Townsville, but there are plenty of things to do in this historic town before continuing your East Coast adventure. Spend the day on board a snorkelling and diving cruise of theGreat Barrier Reef. Drive time: three hours to Mount Mulligan, 2.5 hours to Cairns. We've listed some beautiful places to camp along the way, some of them free, so this is a great journey to do in a campervan. There are even daily transfers available from Mission Beach so that you can take a break from driving for the day. Underneath the waters surface though, is a kaleidoscope of coral and other aquatic life including tropical fish, dolphins, manta rays, sea turtles and giant clams, which you can swim with. 532 helpful votes. | website by. Follow the signs to Henrietta Creek Campground where you'll find the beginning of theNandroya Falls circuit. 203km. Museum of Underwater Art, Townsville, Queensland Tourism and Events Queensland. After parking the campervan at Port Hinchinbrook or Cardwell, you can ferry across to Hinchinbrook Island. Shady rainforest hikes take you to some magical places such as Devils Pool. Drive just 20 minutes to the coastal town of Lucinda where you can board aferry to Hinchinbrook Islandfor the day. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's pageview limit. script.async = true; Turn the drive into a Townsville to Cairns road trip, instead, and you can enjoy the Paluma Range National Park, Mission Beach and Behana Gorge. The ultimate 3-day itinerary to Magnetic Island | Townsville North After breakfast atCaffiend, one of many hip cafsalong Grafton Street in Cairns, drive 68 kilometres (42 miles) north towardsPort Douglas. Drive: Cairns to Townsville Roadtrip | SIXT Car Rental We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, Townsville - Queensland Rail Travel The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. Project management and a drive for high quality service; High level of attention to detail with a creative approach to problem-solving; We have a range of suggested self-drive itineraries. This self drive itinerary offers a handy guideline to base your day of exploring Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest. At over 1,853 million km Queensland is Australia's second-largest state. Spend the night atPeppers Beach Club, nestled in a garden setting just steps from the beach. 5. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive > 9. Hughenden to Richmond. - is right on the beach. suggest every local activity or attraction, we'll leave it With more than 320 days of sunshine each year, Townsville is an ideal destination for a tropical holiday in North Queensland. Scenic Drives around Cairns Great Tropical Drive - Route 1. What may come as a surprise is that the spectacular waterfalls and crystal-clear pools tucked away in this lush green paradise are so easily accessible, despite feeling worlds away from the hustle and bustle of nearby city life. The Great Tropical Drive is an amazing way to experience Tropical North Queensland. Continue reading. Its a perfect spot to park the campervan and cool off in crystal clear water amid granite boulders. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. You can see it rising from the sugar can fields, a rock pyramid, and it beckons you to climb it and once at the top you have uninterrupted 360 degree views. CAIRNS TO CAPE TRIB. Day 11: Drive from Townsville to Mission Beach, with a detour to Wallaman Falls. > 4. Day 12-13. Day 3. Spend a few days exploring the Whitsunday Islands and Whitehaven Beach before embarking on this 6 day Airlie Beach to Cairns drive. This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others. Thus a trip to the Great Barrier Reef should be on your agenda! From the beach landing, take a short walk through rainforest to the sparkling freshwater pool at the base of Zoe Falls, an idyllic swimming hole. The bus journey time between Cairns and Townsville is around 5h 30m and covers a distance of around 376 km. The first decent-sized town on the Bruce Highway going north is Ingham. The best bets for Townsville accommodation are For beachside location: Water's Edge The Strand. With its pristine beaches, rainforests, mangroves and inlets, Australias largest island National Park is worth planning for. Mission Beach would be better referred to as Mission Beaches with its 14km stretch of sand interlinking three beaches and four villages. Heart of Reef Shuttles, 48-50 Carlo Drive, Cannonvale, Queensland 4802 Phone: 1800 216 223, 40 French Street, Eagle Farm, Queensland 4009 Hotjar sets this cookie to detect the first pageview session of a user. Take a 20min ferry to this true-blue paradise and spot koalas, hang at one of the many bays or pull up a pew at one of the many beach-front bars and restaurants. Hope this helps But what makes Ingham particularly interesting is Lee's Hotel (formerly known as the Day Dawn hotel). How long do I need for my trip to Australia? Cairns & Great Barrier Reef And how far/driving time is Cairns to Townsville. With over 240 species of birds, TYTO Wetlands is the perfect spot for some bird-watching. Near Townsville until May 1. Walk one kilometre (0.6 miles) return toAlligator Creek lookoutfor a photogenic canopy-level view of the creek, before a quick dip in the nearby swimming area. But the facilities are in need of an upgrade. And, if you didnt manage to spot a cassowary at Etty Bay good news, you may find that youre second time lucky; Mission Beach supports the highest density of the endangered birds. This oft-overlooked coastal town gives you a base to reach Magnetic Island. Cairns to Townsville - 4 ways to travel via train, plane - Rome2rio Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. "validationFavouritesUrl": "/bin/australia/favourites/sanitycheck", Flights from Cairns (CNS) to Townsville (TSV) | Qantas AU Weather conditions: Check road conditions from Cairns to Townsville, or you can get reverse directions from Townsville to Cairns.If you're trying to avoid mountains or steep grade roads, check the elevation profile from Cairns to Townsville.Or if you are hungry, look for places to eat between Cairns and Townsville.If you want to plan a road trip with stops along the way, you can view a full . > 11. Townsville-Cairns 350km. Townsville to Cloncurry road trip: Distance, drive time and stops Cairns to Townsville - Cairns Forum - Tripadvisor This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. A Road Trip Guide: Cairns to Brisbane | JUCY AU Townsville to Cairns - 4 ways to travel via train, plane - Rome2rio Peruse the chic boutiques along Macrossan Street before a sunset stroll along the white sands of Four Mile Beach up to Flagstaff Hill Lookout. }, Drive through the wetlands of Eubenangee Swamp National Park, a bird lovers paradise. Julia Creek to Mount Isa. Once you arrive in Noosa National Park . The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. Moderator of the Cairns and Townsville stolen cars and sightings Facebook group Sam Testa claimed one of the boys charged was alleged to have been behind the wheel of the stolen Toyota Yaris that . Drive from Cairns to Whitsundays - where to stay on route? Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas, Queensland Tourism Australia. var cachebuster = Date.now(); Drive the Great Green Way Tropical Drive between Cairns and Townsville, see high country and amazing waterfalls, spectacular rainforests, quaint towns, picture perfect beaches and expect the unexpected en-route, where nature displays its frivolity with massive vibrant butterflies and huge, colourful, flightless cassowary birds. Take the ten-minute water taxi out to Dunk Island; situated only 4km off of the mainland. Head back to Paronella Park for their Evening Experience, exploring the grounds and night and seeing the castle and Mena Creek Falls come alive with lights. ), even more waterfalls. } Explore the islands 23 bays and beaches via extensive walking tracks or rent a Barbie car and cruise around in style. RACQ's Trip Planner allows you to find places, get directions or plan your next road trip. We've listed the highlights from north to south so if you're traveling from Townsville to Cairns, start from the bottom and work up. More chilled than thrill? And how can we get a piece of sand cay action? Hop aboard Mission Beach Dive to explore the coral gardens of the outer reef, or snorkel the fringing reefs of Dunk Island. Wake up with a 45-minute walk to Cape Tribulation lookout on Cape Tribulation Beach, right next to the resort. 7 km south of Cardwell, and just off the highway, is Five Mile Creek Swimming Hole where you can take a quick dip and enjoy a picnic. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. drive for about 1.5 hours. The North Queensland coastline while driving from Townsville to Cairns features some of the most incredible beaches, spectacular scenery, great fishing and exciting things to do.. Cairns to Townsville Bus | Greyhound Australia All car and Motor home rental companies allow their conventional vehicles to go to Undara, or have offered discounted rates on their 4WD hire vehicles. Additionally, the background process scans all of the websites images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag Edmund Kennedy National Park. What is the biggest national park in Australia? August Moon - Located in Innisfail, August Moon gets five stars on Trip Advisor and has large sites and full facilities including a beautiful swimming pool. Premier Motor Service also services this route once daily.