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The Whitsundays picture perfect Whitehaven Beach
kangaroos, wallabies, turtles and sugar gliders (those flying possums with a soft spot for honey).
Townsville & Magnetic Island Halfway up the Great Barrier Reef, Townsville is the largest city in Tropical Queensland. It’s surrounded by both rainforest and outback, being one of those rare places where the dusty interior meets the Coral Sea, and is known as the “sunshine capital of Australia”, because it hardly ever rains. Most travellers come here to pay a visit to Magnetic Island, a laidback tropical paradise just a swift ferry ride from town.
Out in Townsville Much of the nightlife is concentrated around riverside Flinders Street but there are also pleasant alfresco bars over the river at Palmer Street. If there’s a US ship in port you can be sure the town, which has a big military base, will be partying extra-hard. Don’t miss Reef HQ during the day – a living reef aquarium experience, the IMAX Dome Theatre and the modern, fun, interactive Museum of Tropical Queensland. Just out of town is the popular
Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary, where you can feed kangaroos and get up-close to local animals like koalas and crocodiles.
Magnetic Island Known fondly as ‘Maggie’, Magnetic Island has wild koalas, 5,000ha of national park, secluded and barely-accessible beaches, wreck diving, beachy nightlife, action adventure, great seafood and beach bumming galore. “Maggie” is also popular for its full moon parties, regarded by some as one of the east coast nightlife highlights. There’s a good choice of hostels here. Getting around the island is best done by renting a bike or in a Mini Moke. Stay at Base Backpackers for their legendary Island Bar – home of the only Full Moon party in Australia.
Further afield Via Townsville you can visit outback Charters Towers and Ravenswood, historic towns from the gold mining era. Drive to Wallaman Falls (100km north of Townsville), Australia’s highest single-drop waterfall in thick mountain rainforest. Watch the water rush down a 300m gorge and into a large swimming hole. TNTDOWNUNDER.COM
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