Things to do
What: Visit Australia’s leading theme park.
Where: Dreamworld, Pacific Highway, Coomera, North of Surfers Paradise.
Why: How does being tossed up in the air nine stories high, swung at 75km/h while spinning 360 degrees sound? Pretty dire, hey. But if for some perverse reason you fancy it, then The Claw is the ride to try.
If you manage to get off without soiling yourself or throwing up, then maybe you’ll want to sample the other mind-bending experiences at Dreamworld.
Like Tower of Terror. On this one, the electro-magnetically powered ‘Escape Pod’ accelerates passengers to a whopping 160 kph in seven seconds before it climbs to almost 38 storeys high. Then drops just as ferociously.
It’s pretty much the same story on the Giant Drop, while the Cyclone and Wipeout offer yet more stomach-churning antics.
The theme park is also home to Tiger Island, which allows you to get up close and personal with one of the most endangered species on the planet.
Cost: $66. See www.dreamworld.com.au or call 07 5588 1111 for more information.
What: Go diving on the southern Great Barrier Reef
Where: The Town of 1770, Queensland.
Why: Whilst most people tend to go diving from Cairns or the Whitsundays, they will be sharing the water with loads of other people doing the same thing. If you’re wanting a more personal touch, then you might want to try setting off from the laid back town of 1770 between Bundaberg and Gladstone. From there you can head out to the Reef, do an introductory dive or take a full on PADI course. You’ll be surrounded by dazzling coral, turtles, manta rays, moray eels, and, Nemo fans, clown fish. If you wish to, you can do a dive course over a few nights, camping out on the idyllic Lady Musgrave Island in the middle of the Reef.
Who With: Dive 1770 (www.dive1770.com.au / 0428 565 626) do everything from introductory dives to week-long live-aboard trips. Contact them to arrange something that suits you.
What: Learn how to kite surf.
Where: Gold Coast, Queensland.
Why: Now as if surfing isn’t hard enough, why not try doing it while attempting to control a kite at the same time. Kite surfing involves balancing on a board, more like an overgrown skateboard without wheels than a surfboard, and letting a massive kite pull you along in the water. The sporty types that have managed to accomplish it look damn cool pulling off impressive jumps and turns in the air. The rest of us just spend most of the time trying not to drown.
Who With: Kite Surf Gold Coast (0405 197 870) www.kitesurfgoldcoast.com
When: All year round, but you’ll need a wettie in the winter.
What: Watch a crocodile’s eyes glow in the dark.
Where: Cairns Night Zoo, Palm Cove.
Why: Because it’s safer than camping out next to a swamp and risking your life. Cairns’ only night zoo offers a cracking experience, beginning with a traditional Aussie barbecue, so you can stuff your face with steak, sausages, seafood and the obligatory salad.
You’ll walk off the calories with a guided tour around the zoo as you meet the creatures of the night.
After learning how owls hunt, you’ll get to touch a possum and pat a koala – before entering the crocodiles’ lair, where, aided by a torch, you’ll see the 4m beasts scampering around in the dark.
The night concludes with an Aussie bush dance, where you can sing and dance and, if you’re lucky, get to mingle with the kangaroos.
Cost: $122, including transfer from Cairns. $89 without transfer. Call 07 4055 3669 or log on to www.cairnsnightzoo.com.
What: Plunge from nerve-wracking heights on a huge water slide.
Where: Sea World, Main Beach, Sea World Drive, Gold Coast.
Why: Rather wittily named The Plunge, this exciting slide has not long been open at Sea World.
Giant rafts holding up to four people plummet down a steep 80 metre incline, over triple humps and into a splash pool. You’re launched into the 4.5m wide trough from a mighty tower, rising 18 metres above the ground, guaranteeing you an absolute soaking and plenty of heart-fluttering moments.
Away from The Plunge, and other rides like the Corkscrew Rollercoaster and Bermuda Triangle, there’s plenty more to do at Sea World.
You can gasp in awe at the whopping great monsters of the deep at Shark Bay, watch the polar bears imported from Canada in the state-of-the-art arctic display, or make appreciative whooping noises with the rest of the crowd as you admire dolphins performing an array of ridiculous aerobatic stunts.
Cost: $66. See www.seaworld.com.au or call 07 5588 2205 for further details.
What: Speed round the waterways of the Gold Coast
Where: Gold Coast, Queensland.
Why: Trips on the water are usually sedate affairs aimed strictly at coffin-dodging oxygen thieves. Well, jetboating is an altogether more exhilarating affair. With the serious grunt that comes with 370 horsepower engines, you can see the Gold Coast at speeds of up to 80km/h, all the time trying to avoid a healthy dose of spray in your face. If bracing yourself against the draught and flying wake isn’t enough, then you’ve also got to contend with the driver pulling the sort of stunts most usually seen in James Bond movies. That’s spins, slides and powerbrake stops, all of which require an indecent amount of trust in the man at the wheel.
Who with: Paradise Jet Boat (1300 538 2628/www.paradisejetboating.com.au) does a hair-raising 45 minute ride for $60.
What: Cuddle a cute, but sleepy critter, at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.
Where: Jesmond Road, Fig Tree Pocket, Queensland.
Why: Because it is easier than cuddling a kangaroo, more appealing than a crocodile and certainly a whole hell of a lot more desirable than getting friendly with a shark. Also, koala’s are about the closest resemblance you are ever going to get to everyone’s favourite gremlin, Gizmo. The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is the largest of its kind in the world and is home to 130 or so koalas as well as kangaroos, possums and wombats. It costs just $22 to get a cuddle and your picture taken with one of the sleepy furballs. And why not try splashing it with water – see what happens?
Who with: Your koala-loving friends.
Cost: Adults $22, VIP/YHA cardholder $19.
How: Get the No 430 express bus which leaves from the Queen Street Mall bus station, Brisbane. Alternatively, the MV Mirimar cruises to the sanctuary along the Brisbane River from North Quay, next to Victoria Bridge at 10am.
What: Sail on the Barrier Reef in a glass-bottomed boat.
Where: The Town of 1770, Queensland, five hours north of Brisbane.
Why: What’s the point of going to the Reef, if you can’t see any of it, hey? Well, in a glass-bottomed boat, you can see more fish and electric-coloured coral. With fish feeding from the back of the boat, and plenty of food provided for you to chow down on as well, you can spend a day out on the stunning Fitzroy Reef Coral Lagoon. It’s a perfect spot for snorkelling, and was voted by the 2004 Lonely Planet Australia as one of the top seven dive sites in the country. Once underwater, you’ll probably not want to get out again, as it’s a completely different world down there that you’re granted the brief privilege of visiting.
Who with: The Fitzroy Reef Jet is run by 1770 Holidays
(www.1770holidays.com.au 07 4974 9422)
Cost: The day trip will set you back $140, plus a $5 Environmental Management fee.
What: Throw yourself out of a plane strapped to someone else during a tandem skydive.
Where: Surfers Paradise, Mariners Cove, Main Beach, Gold Coast
Why: You’ll experience the biggest adrenaline rush of your life doing this. As you dangle your legs out of the helicopter about to fall 14,000ft, you will most certainly wonder what the hell you’re doing, and why your pants suddenly feel a bit warm and squelchy. Since you’ll be strapped to a more experienced thrill seeker, you will have no other choice but to roll over the edge and hit terminal velocity. It’s fantastic and a must if you’re in this part of Oz, since the views of the beaches are just amazing. And as if that wasn’t enough excitement, the whole thing is recorded on DVD or digital video, and you’ll be snapped during freefall.
Who with: Skydive Queensland. 1300 767 790.
Cost: Prices range depending on high you jump from. Jumps start at 8,000ft ($265) and go up to 14,000ft ($330).
What: Learn to surf at Noosa.
Where: Noosa Spit, Hastings St, Noosa, Sunshine Coast.
Why: Noosa has been a surfing mecca since the Sixties boasting a string of fine breaks around an unspoilt national park, so what better place to cut your surfing teeth? The best year-round break is probably Sunshine Corner, at the northern end of Sunshine Beach – but beware of its brutal beach dump. If you’re new to surfing then probably best to start with the gentler breaks on Noosa Spit, where most of the surf schools do their training.
Who: Wavescene (07 5474 9076 www.wavescene.com.au), Noosing surf lessons (0412 330 850), Merrick’s Learn to Surf (0418 787 577 www.learntosurf.com.au )
How: Two hour group lessons on longboards cost from $35.
What: Go boozing in the town centre where there are an abundance of bars and nightclubs.
Where: Orchid Avenue, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Queensland.
Why: In 1965 a local entrepreneur had the brainwave of employing meter maids in skimpy gold lame bikinis to feed the parking meters on the main strip, and since then the place has gone from classy to positively posh. Orchid Avenue is one block from the Esplanade and is the main nightclub and bar strip.
HOT SPOT: Cocktails and Dreams (07 5592 1955) – a neon-lit nightclub called Cocktails and Dreams just speaks for itself really.
What: Check out the lakes, forests, waterfalls and hills of the Atherton Tablelands.
Where: Atherton Tablelands, Far North Queensland.
Why: You could spend days being at one with nature in the spectacular Atherton Tablelands. Drive or hike through rainforest to crater lakes and endless small waterfalls or pretend you’re David Bellamy and seek out lots of rare speeessshies of animals – while spitting and lisping uncontrollably. Renting a car is the easiest and cheapest way to get around but there are also day trips which run from Cairns.
Who With: Jungle Tours (www.jungletours.com.au or 07 4035 3555)
Cost: Tours are about $80 per day, car rental is from $50 per day.
More: More information is available from the Atherton Tableland Information Centre (www.athertonsc.qld.gov.au 07 4091 4022)
What: A visit to Steve Irwin’s zoo
Where: Australia Zoo, Glass House Mountains Road, Beerwah.
Why: Steve may be gone but he and his conservation work live on in this wonderful zoo. The zoo came from humble beginnings, starting off as a small reptile park in the eighties. Thanks to Irwin’s zany antics and world-wide fame it is now massive and full of wildlife entertainment and education. You will however enjoy a whole host of crocodile, snake, otter and all other sorts of shows. Crikey!
Cost: $49. For more information log onto www.crocodilehunter.com
How: Phone (07) 5494 1134 about free transfers from Noosa or Beerwah train stations.
What: Camp out under the stars, thinking that every noise in the night is a dingo coming to eat you.
Where: Fraser Island.
Why: Because Fraser Island is the world’s biggest sand island with beautiful salt-water lakes, sand dunes and champagne pools. Rent a four-wheel drive jeep and cruise along the beach-front or take the bonce-bumping inroad trail. There are a few camp sites on the island which have cooking and washing facilities but you can also pitch your tent in a secluded sandy spot. Of course, that does come with the down-side of having to dig your own poo hole in the dark while hoping that a deadly dingo isn’t about to gnaw at your dangly bits. As many as 20 people have been attacked on the island in the past six years by the howling wild dogs and, in 2001, a nine-year-old boy was killed. So stay inside your tent after dark.
Cost: $140.
How: Access to Fraser Island is via ferry from Hervey Bay or Rainbow Beach.
What: Learn the basics of sailing in the Whitsundays.
Where: Whitsundays, Airlie Beach, Queensland.
Why: Because you never can tell when knowing how to sail a boat could come in handy. Take, for example, if you overstay your visa and the nasty policeman threatens to throw you in the slammer…it’ll be a whole lot easier to sail home than swim. Or what if Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean invites you to become a pirate on his next voyage? And of course, in the unlikely event that neither of these opportunities occur it is always nice to look like you know what you’re doing in front of your friends and say all the fancy jargon, like err “man overboard.”
Who With: Aussie Adventure Sailing www.aussiesailing.com.au 07 4940 2000
Cost: $549 for three days and two nights.
What Else: You will learn to sail with the Whitsunday Marine Academy while also getting time for relaxing, swimming, snorkelling and lazing on the beach around the beautiful Whitsunday islands.
What Do I Need to Bring? BYO alcohol and your favourite music, towel and a hat.
What: Get a bit of luxury on the resorts of Hamilton or South Molle Island.
Where: Whitsunday Islands, Queensland.
Why: If you have been travelling up the east coast, roughing it on Fraser Island and at campsites along the way, then why not treat yourself to a stay in a resort with gym facilities and a health spa? Go on, you deserve it. Both Hamilton and South Molle Island resorts have amazing views over the Whitsundays and offer loads of exciting activities like waterskiing, windsurfing, parasailing, tennis, squash and even golf. It might cost you a bit more than staying with the hordes of mosquitoes in the youth hostels on Airlie Beach, but what the hell, it’s only money.
More: For accommodation availability and prices log onto www.hamiltonislandresort.com 1800 075 110, or www.southmolleisland.com.au 1800 075 080.
Plus: You might be able to get a cheap last minute deal as the resorts are members of laterate.com.
What: Jump aboard the choo-choo with a view, on the Kuranda Scenic Railway.
Where: Kuranda, Far North Queensland.
Why: Kuranda is a mellow mountain town set in stunning rainforest but unfortunately hordes of camera-happy visitors have turned it into a bit of a resort village. Still, you can escape the throngs by hopping on the Kuranda scenic railway (actually, they’ll probably be sitting right next to you.) On the journey you will take in views of World Heritage Listed rainforest, steep ravines and picturesque waterfalls within the Barron Gorge National Park. The famous railway was constructed between 1882 and 1891 and is considered an engineering feat of tremendous magnitude – if you like that kind of thing.
More: www.ksr.com.au/ (07) 4036 9333.
Cost: From $39, the train departs Kuranda at 2pm.
What: Go bungee jumping on Cypress Avenue or get fired upwards in the nearby Sling Shot.
Where: Cypress Avenue, Surfers Paradise, Southern Gold Coast, Queensland.
Why: Well, if you’re the kind of person that likes to feel like you are hurtling to your certain death, only to be saved at the last minute by a bit of coil precariously attached to your ankle – then this is for you. And this is no bungee for sissies. There’s no soft landings in the sea if the rope happens to break. Oh no, if this bad boy breaks you’re certain to make a big impact because it’s situated smack bang over a big slab of concrete. Another adrenaline-soaked adventure is the nearby sling shot which is basically a giant catapult which flings you flying up towards the sky.
How: Banzai Bungee, from $99 (07 5526 7611), Sling Shot, $30 (07 5570 2700).
What: Test your nerve by going rafting on the Tully River Rapids.
Where: Tully, about 180km south of Cairns.
Why: Because it’s the best rafting river Down Under, with Grade 3 to 4 rapids (that’s pretty steep), providing a spectacularly exciting ride. Hold on to your hats as you bump and grind your way down through the river’s 45 rapids. With names like “mine field” “doors of deception” and “corkscrew”, you know it’s going to be a white-knuckle ride, well worth splashing out for. Day trips include transfers from Mission Beach, Cairns or Port Douglas, and a BBQ lunch.
Who with: Raging Thunder Adventures (07 4030 7990 or www.ragingthunder.com.au) or R ‘n’ R White Water Rafting (07 4051 777, 1800 079 039, www.raft.com.au)
Cost: About $135.
What: Hire a Quad Bike and hit top speed along a 10km long purpose-built adventure track.
Where: Whitsunday Coast, 385 Sugarloaf Rd, Sugarloaf.
Why: For the most exciting ride you’ll get outside of Sydney’s red light district. Start off on a confidence course which gives you plenty of time to get used to having a beast between your legs and then the adventure begins. You’ll climb steep hills, negotiate tight corners and rip roar it through farmland and rainforest. The track is purpose-built to accommodate the experienced and novice quad bike rider and is carefully laid out to be “challenging and not frightening.” Vrrrrrrrroooommm.
Who With: Quad Bike Bush Adventures (www.bushadventures.com.au 07 4946 1020)
Cost: From $70.
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