International Travel:Getting There by AirThere are several major air carriers serving Brisbane and Queensland, including
Air New Zealand,
British Airways,
Qantas,
United Airlines and
Singapore Airlines. For more flight details, see
Getting There in the general
Australia section. Domestic carriers include
Qantas (website:
www.qantas.com.au)
, Jetstar (website:
www.jetstar.com.au),
Tiger Airways (website:
www.tigerairways.com.au)
and
Virgin Blue (website:
www.virginblue.com.au). Airlines such
as
MacAir Airlines (website:
www.macair.com.au)
offer charter flights and feeder services to Queensland’s main towns and Barrier Reef island resorts.
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.
Departure TaxNone.
Main AirportsBrisbane International (BNE) (website:
www.bne.com.au) is 13km (8 miles) northeast of the city center (journey time - 25 minutes).
To/from the airport: The Airtrain takes 15 minutes to Roma Street Transit Center. 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 (CNS) (website:
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.
Getting There by RailQueensland has its own railway system, run by
QR (tel: (07) 3235 1133; website:
www.qr.com.au), the main routes being the
Sunlander and the
Tilt Train which connect coastal towns from Brisbane to Cairns. In addition, other services, such as the
Inlander,
Westlander and
Spirit of the Outback (from Brisbane to Longreach) open up the Outback to travelers. The main tourist services are the famous
Kuranda Scenic Rail and the
Gulflander. The main train stations are Central and Roma Street in Brisbane.
Rail PassesSunshine Railpass: 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 Railpass: 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.
Getting There by RoadThere 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.
An extensive
coach network offers an easy and cheap way of getting around.
The inland areas can be explored with
4-wheel drive vehicles, many of the interior roads being unsealed. The other 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 (website:
www.queenslandholidays.com.au/transport/motor.cfm).
In Brisbane there are cross-river
ferries, suburban trains and a comprehensive
bus network with zonal fares and 10-journey pre-purchase fares obtainable through newsagents. Day and other period tickets are also available. In Cairns, bus services operate from early morning to late evening and there is a touring bus that follows a circular route,
Cairns Red Explorer.
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