# Gold Coast to GBR Road Trip



## TheDirtyDrunk (May 21, 2013)

Hello,
My soon to be wife and I are planning on taking a 15 day vacation to queensland in January 2014. We are planning on flying into Brisbane and going on a road trip up to see the great barrier reef. 
Can people recommend places to stop, what to see and do along the way? We plan on taking our time, but at least staying a few days in the gold coast and of course by the GBR, we just don't know whether what town is best for our needs, cairns, Townsville, mackay?
We'r active people, we like to hike, surf, and drink, hangovers are best removed by sunshine preferably with sand underneath you. 
Please give us some ideas. Thanks
-TDD


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## waitingwaiting (Feb 17, 2013)

Sounds like a great trip... but do you realise it's about a 1700 km trip from Brisbane to Cairns.


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## TheDirtyDrunk (May 21, 2013)

Yup, well aware of the miles, we're renting a car and going up the coast to see the sights.


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## jmcd16 (Aug 5, 2012)

Rainbow Beach and 1776 are nice and typically you can surf. Southwest Rocks dive at Fish Rock cave is epic (but it might be south of you... I just remember we fit it in on our Brissie to Cairns road trip, but we might have gone South for it). 
Yongala (obviously) in Ayr or Townsville... but good luck, it's always a crapshoot since it went down in open ocean.
When you get to Cairns, dive with Tusa. It's not the cheapest, but it's my favorite. If you want cheap, you can always go CDC or Reef Experience, but the experience won't be as good.


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