Cairns to Brisbane Roadtrip - Britz

Seven nights and 1,680 kilometres down the Queensland coast from Cairns to Brisbane in a campervan.

Mission Beach comes first, where the rainforest meets the sand and cassowaries occasionally walk out of it, then Townsville and the ferry to Magnetic Island, which has koalas in the eucalypts and a ring of bays reached on foot or by hire moke.

Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays follow, with Whitehaven Beach and its silica sand reached by boat, then the route turns inland at St Lawrence before returning to the water at Agnes Water, which marks the southern end of the reef, and Hervey Bay, the jumping-off point for Fraser Island with its sand tracks, perched lakes and dingoes. Brisbane closes the run south.

Britz supply the camper and the day-by-day plan, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Eight days for 1,680 kilometres is a fair pace with this much coast to stop on, and the reef and island trips all need booking rather than turning up. Fraser Island itself requires a 4WD and a permit, so it is usually taken as a tour rather than driven in a hire camper. Winter and spring are the better seasons, with whales in Hervey Bay from July. The inland leg at St Lawrence is the dull stretch and the one to drive early, since everything either side of it is worth stopping for and the coast road south of Mackay has very little on it.