Australia’s east coast, from Sydney to Cairns

The east coast road

The journey starts in Sydney and heads north up the coast for more than 3,600 kilometres. The Pacific Highway goes from one surf beach to the next: Port Stephens, Port Macquarie, Byron Bay, then the Gold Coast. After Brisbane and Noosa, the Bruce Highway runs through sugar cane fields. During the harvest, small cane trains cross the road.

Further north, the surf gives way to coral. From Bundaberg and Agnes Water, boats head out to the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. Airlie Beach is the port for the Whitsundays, an archipelago that is home to Whitehaven Beach. From Cairns, a mountain road or the Skyrail cableway climbs to the village of Kuranda, in the forest.

You come across wildlife everywhere: humpback whales offshore in the southern winter, cassowaries around Mission Beach, kangaroos and wallabies by the road and on the beach at Cape Hillsborough at dawn.

Less than three weeks later, further north, the Endeavour struck a reef. Cook named the nearest cape Cape Tribulation and wrote in his journal that “here began all our troubles”. The ship was repaired for nearly seven weeks where Cooktown stands today.

These shores were already home to Aboriginal peoples: the Worimi at Port Stephens, the Bundjalung at Byron Bay, the Kuku Yalanji in the Daintree. Since 2023, Fraser Island has officially carried its Butchulla name, K’gari. This great sand island is visited on a day trip from Hervey Bay.

The Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest

The Great Barrier Reef stretches for more than 2,300 kilometres. It is the largest coral reef system in the world, on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1981. You explore it by boat from Cairns, Port Douglas or Airlie Beach.

North of Port Douglas, the Daintree Rainforest is part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland, listed in 1988. You enter it by a ferry across the river, then a narrow road leads under the trees to Cape Tribulation. Here, two World Heritage Sites meet. The forest comes down to the beach, facing the reef. In 2021, this land was handed back to the Eastern Kuku Yalanji, who run the park together with the state. In Mossman, a shuttle bus links their cultural centre to Mossman Gorge.

What not to miss

1. 1Cape ByronThe easternmost point of mainland Australia, with its 1901 lighthouse.
2. 2Noosa National ParkA coastal path from Main Beach to Hells Gates, between forest and coves.
3. 3The whales of Hervey BayFrom mid-July to late October, humpback whales stop over in the bay.
4. 4Cape Hillsborough at sunriseKangaroos and wallabies come to feed on the beach.
5. 5The WhitsundaysBy boat from Airlie Beach, for Whitehaven and the Hill Inlet lookout.
6. 6Paronella ParkA concrete castle built in the jungle by the Catalan José Paronella, taken over by the vegetation.

Australia’s east coast in pictures

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The white Cape Byron lighthouse under a blue, cloud-flecked sky.

Food on the east coast

You eat fish and seafood: barramundi, prawns and Moreton Bay bugs, a kind of slipper lobster. Port Stephens farms oysters. Everywhere, you find the meat pie and the lamington, a chocolate and coconut cake.

Bowen has given its name to a mango, and Rusty’s Markets in Cairns sell the region’s tropical fruit. In Bundaberg, you can visit the Bundaberg Rum distillery.