Frommer's Australia from $50 a Day 13th Edition - To Parent Directory

QUEENSLAND & THE GREAT BARRIER REEF 253
Follow the Heritage Trails
Queensland’s Heritage Trails Network (& 1800/222 689; www.
queensland-holidays.com.au/qhtn), launched in 2002, links 43 heritage
experiences for visitors keen to get behind the tourist traps and learn
about Queensland’s history, culture, and natural wonders. It’s a network
that celebrates indigenous communities; pioneering feats; pastoral,
mining, wool, and railway industries; ancient dinosaur relics; and
Aboriginal legends of the night skies.
Journeys along the Queensland Heritage Trails Network can start
from any part of Queensland, and all are accessible on sealed roads.
Attractions are identified by distinctive signs, and Heritage Gateways
in Cairns (at the Tourist Information Centre on the Esplanade)
and Maryborough (in the historic Custom’s House) offer information
on other network attractions within the region.
A series of spectacular walking tracks in Tropical North Queensland
is part of the trail. The Wet Tropics Walking Tracks follow in the footsteps
of Australia’s indigenous people as they trekked from the coast
to hinterland, offering the ultimate exploration of the World Heritage
Wet Tropics’ rainforests and mountains in locations as diverse as Atherton,
Tully, Mission Beach, and Kuranda.
Network attractions are linked along major Queensland tourist
routes, including the Matilda Highway (Cunnamulla to Karumba in the
Gulf of Carpentaria); the Overlander’s Way (Townsville to Tennant
Creek in the Northern Territory); the Warrego Highway (Ipswich west
to Charleville); and the Pacific Coast Touring Route (from Cairns south
along the east coast).
You will also find excellent information on the Great Barrier Reef Visitors
Bureau’s website at www.great-barrier-reef.com. This is not an official tourist
office but part of a private company, Travel Online (& 07/3876 4644; fax
07/3876 4645), which offers itinerary planning and booking services for a wide
range of accommodations and tours throughout north Queensland.
For information on B&Bs and farmstays in Cairns, Port Douglas, Mission
Beach, and Townsville, contact the Bed & Breakfast and Farmstay Association
of Far North Queensland, P.O. Box 595, Ravenshoe, QLD 4888 (& 07/4097
7022; www.bnbnq.com.au).
WHEN TO GO Australia’s winter (June–Aug) is high season in Queensland
as shivering southerners from Sydney and Melbourne head north to the sun.
Summer is hot and sticky across most of the state and in Brisbane. From the
Whitsundays northward, winter almost doesn’t exist. See “When to Go” in
chapter 2 for average temperatures and days of rainfall in Brisbane and Cairns.
North Queensland, from around Cairns northward, gets a monsoonal Wet Season
from December to March or April, with heavy rains and cyclones. You can
visit the Great Barrier Reef during the Wet without a problem, but swollen
creeks and floodwaters sometimes cut off parts of the Daintree Rainforest. If you
want to visit north Queensland between January and April, try heading a little