Queensland Getting There

There are several major air carriers serving Brisbane and Queensland, including Air New Zealand (NZ), British Airways (BA), Qantas (QF), United Airlines (UA) and Singapore Airlines (SQ). For more flight details, see Getting There in the general Australia section. Domestic carriers include Qantas (QF) (www.qantas.com.au), Jetstar (JQ) (www.jetstar.com.au), Tiger Airways (TR) (www.tigerairways.com.au) and Virgin Blue (DJ) (www.virginblue.com.au).

QantasLink also provides services from Brisbane to assorted towns throughout Queensland.

The extensive internal airline system means that Queensland is connected with nearly all major Australian gateways.

From London to Brisbane is 23 hours 30 minutes.

Brisbane Airport (BNE) (www.bne.com.au) is 13km (8 miles) northeast of the city centre (journey time - 25 minutes). To/from the airport: The Airtrain takes 15 minutes to Roma Street Transit Centre. Otherwise buses and taxis operate services to the city. Facilities: Left luggage, first aid, banks, bureaux de change, bars, car hire, duty-free shops, restaurants and tourist information.

Cairns Airport (CNS) (www.cairnsairport.com) is 8km (5 miles) from the city. To/from the airport: Airport shuttle buses (journey time - 30 minutes) and taxis operate services to the city. Facilities: ATMs, bureaux de change, restaurants, newsagent, post office and left luggage.

Gold Coast Airport (www.goldcoastairport.com.au) is located on the Gold Coast Highway, close to Coolangatta. To/from the airport: AAExpress buses operates scheduled transfers to Gold Coast hotels and Brisbane. Facilities: Bureau de change, newsagent, duty-free shops, car hire and restaurants.

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Queensland has its own railway system, run by QR (tel: 131 617; www.qr.com.au). The main routes are the Sunlander and the Tilt Train which connect coastal towns from Brisbane to Cairns. In addition, other services, such as the Inlander (Townsville to Mount Isa), Westlander (Brisbane to Charlesville), and Spirit of the Outback (from Brisbane to Longreach), open up the outback to travellers. The main tourist services are the famous Kuranda Scenic Rail (Kuranda to Cairns) and the Gulflander (Normanton to Croydon). The main railway stations are Central and Roma Street in Brisbane.

Sunshine Rail pass: allows unlimited travel on Queensland's rail routes. Passes are valid for 14, 21 and 30 days in first- or economy-class, offering excellent travel facilities for those intending extensive travel throughout the state.

Wanderer Rail pass: travel north of Brisbane or south of Cairns stopping where and when you like as long as you travel in one continuous direction. For more information about rail travel and passes, visit QR online.

There is a high standard of highways and road networks offering easy connections between towns and cities. The Bruce Highway runs down the whole east coast from Cairns to Brisbane and continues into New South Wales.

You can explore the inland areas with 4-wheel drive vehicles (many of the interior roads are unsealed). The main highways running into the interior are the Capricorn Highway (Rockhampton-Winton), the Flinders Highway (Townsville-Mount Isa, connecting with the network in the Northern Territory) and the Warrego Highway (Brisbane-Charleville).

The Mitchell and Landsborough Highways, which in places have unsealed road surfaces, run roughly north-south, connecting the main east-west highways and terminating at Sydney. The Newell Highway runs inland between Brisbane and Melbourne. For more information about driving in Queensland, visit Queensland Transport (www.transport.qld.gov.au).

Coach: An extensive coach network offers an easy and cheap way of getting around. Greyhound (tel: 1300 473 946; www.greyhound.com.au) is the main operator.