Island hopping through the Torres Strait: If it’s Tuesday it must be Friday, because Wednesday will be on Thursday.  Island that is.  Come on an island hopping journey around the Torres Strait Islands. If you’re prepared to do some planning and have patience (island time means it can sometimes take a few days, even weeks, for people to respond to your calls or emails), it’s a unique cultural immersion into a part of Australia that most people have no idea even exists.  
Story by Lee Atkinson

Noosa Biosphere Reserve:Think Noosa, and you probably think Hastings Street...or maybe Noosa National Park. So it's something of a surprise to find that behind the fashion and food, the beaches and bikinis, there's an untouched side to this holiday hot-spot that's made it one of a handful of places in Australia that have attained UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status. Get back to nature visiting local beauty spots along the coast or in the green hinterland, where good walks are as easy to find as craft shops.
Story by Lee Mylne

Treasures of the Tropics: From the tropical Queensland village of Mission Beach take a drive back to Cairns through the hinterland, and you'll come across several hidden treasures. Near Innisfail is the fabulous folly of Paronella Park, a romantic castle built by a Spanish immigrant in the 1930s. Then you will come to the stunning new Mamu Rainforest Canopy Walk in Wooroonooran National Park. This elevated walkway - 40m high and 340m long - through the rainforest canopy leads to a 37m high observation tower overlooking the North Johnstone River gorge.
Story by Lee Mylne

Inside a 747: Discover everything you’ve ever wanted to know about a 747 on the ‘Secrets of the 747’ tour at the Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach in western Qld, the only place in the world where you can tour a fully-equipped 747 jumbo jet. The Wing Walk Tour gives you the chance to climb down in to the computer bay and into the cargo hold, sit in the pilot seat and walk out onto the wing. Story by Lee Atkinson

Raving about Ravenswood: Blink and you might miss it - and that would be a real shame. The heritage listed hamlet of Ravenswood was once home to 48 pubs; today there are only two, but step inside for a cold one and you may never want to leave. Story by Lee Mylne

Try on "Charlie's Trousers": History meets you at every turn in the historic gold mining town of Charter's Towers. The "ghosts of gold" heritage trail includes a visit ot Australia's largest surviving battery relic, the Venus Gold Battery, and in One Square Mile - the town's heart - you'll find a main street lined with beautifully restored buildings. Story by Lee Mylne

Crocs and other critters: Crocodiles (both kinds), kangaroos, koalas, echidnas and platypus. Australia has the world's most unique and amazing creatures...and there are plenty of places to get up close and find out more about them (in safety). In Queensland or around the country, here's a guide to the best wildlife parks and sanctuaries. Story by Lee Mylne

Tropical Townsville: Stroll down the Strand, set sail for the Palm Islands, come face to face with crocodiles and kangaroos, or head up Castle Rock for the best view in town. Townsville's laid-back atmosphere belies a host of things to do. Story by Lee Mylne

Chill out in Chillagoe: Weird rock formations, an abandoned copper smelter, an extensive underground cave system, Aboriginal rock paintings, a couple of country pubs and a small observatory to check out the clear night skies. There's a surprising amount of things to do during a few days in the Queensland outback town of Chillagoe, about 200km west of Cairns on the Wheelbarrow Way. Story by Lee Mylne

Carnarvon's secrets: Carnarvon Gorge is one of western Queensland’s unsung treasures, where you can sit and be lulled to sleep by the sound of dripping water sliding down a hanging garden of mosses and ferns, or wander through sinuously curved ravines with walls so close you can reach out and touch both sides of the gorge at once, cool off with a dip in an icy rock pool and wonder at the aboriginal artists who covered rocky overhangs with hundreds of hand stencils thousands of years ago. Story by Lee Atkinson

Who was Hou Wang? : The bustling north Queensland town of Atherton has a rich and colourful past – a reminder of which can be discovered at one of Australia's oldest temples, the newly restored Hou Wang Temple. Story by Lee Mylne

Jawalbinna dreaming: In 1960, Ansett pilot and renowned artist Percy Trezise discovered one of Queensland's most significant Aboriginal rock painting sites on Cape York. Today, you can still visit the sites, guided by Percy's son Steve, also an artist, who knows the gorges and gullies of this land like the back of his hand.
Story by Lee Mylne

Chillagoe: There are more than 600 limestone caves in the Chillagoe area, and the only place in tropical north Queensland where you’ll find richly decorated caves like these.  Story by Lee Atkinson

Cassowary Country: The sight of a cassowary wandering along the roadside just as we enter Daintree National Park leaves me almost speechless. But it should be no surprise really, for Tropical North Queensland is a place for the unexpected. Driving is the best way to see this region, and the aptly-named Great Tropical Drive links the far north's many attractions. Story by Lee Mylne

Fraser Island: It’s official. Fraser Island in Hervey Bay is Australia’s sexiest island – or so say the folks at the prestigious American business magazine Forbes who have placed it in the top five (the only Australian island to be included) on their annual World’s Sexiest Islands 2005 list. And they’re not the only ones who think so. Story by Lee Atkinson

Whitsunday Best: There are two colours in the Whitsundays: blue and green. We are agreed on this, as I sit with a small group of American visitors gazing across Paradise Bay to the hills of Conway National Park. What we cannot agree on is the exact shade of blue to describe the water and the sky here. Turquoise, azure, kingfisher… Story by Lee Mylne

The Gulf Stream: The Gulf of Carpentaria is a fishing paradise. Just ask any of the hundreds of keen fisherman packed in to the caravan parks of Karumba.  Each year they load up their Toyota LandCruiser or Nissan Patrol, stock up the caravan, strap the tinny onto the roof racks and make their winter pilgrimage across the country from the southern cities to the Gulf, where they meet up with the friends they made last year and spend two months in obsessive pursuit of the elusive barramundi, bream, sooty grunter, Spanish mackerel and other pelagic fish that the Gulf waters are famous for. Story by Lee Atkinson

Outback oasis: Surrounded in every direction by hundreds of kilometres of grassy flatlands, the palm-filled lushness of Lawn Hill National Park in Queensland’s western Gulf country comes as a bit of a surprise for most travellers. Story by Lee Atkinson

Contemplating Cooktown: On Cooktown's wide main drag, Charlotte Street, we seek respite from the heat at the Sovereign Hotel. A gin and tonic on the verandah seems a fitting way to contemplate this historic town, where even the deep stone gutters, laid in 1884, are heritage-listed. There are two other pubs in the street – the Cooktown Hotel, known as “the Top Pub” for its location, and the West Coast Hotel, which has a large and emphatic “No Drunks Allowed” sign on the front door. Story by Lee Mylne

Thrill city: On October 1, 2005, Brisbane joined the elite ranks of just three cities in the world where you can legally, and safely, climb their iconic bridge. Pump up the adrenalin in this adventure guide to Brisbane.
Story by Lee Atkinson

Saintly Setting, Devilish Past: The sound of tramping feet down the stone causeway onto Moreton Bay 's St Helen Island once belonged to the prisoners who called it “the Hell-hole of the Pacific”. Today, the sound comes from the feet of arriving tourists.
Story by Lee Mylne

Quinkan Country: One of Australia’s, and the world’s, best collection of prehistoric rock paintings is also one of the least known, tucked away in remote corner of Cape York Peninsula near the tiny township of Laura, 314km from Cairns and 2104km from Brisbane.
Story by Lee Atkinson

River City: To discover why the Brisbane River is central to the city's life, get out on the water – and the best way to do that is aboard the fast, sleek and comfortable CityCats. Story by Lee Mylne

Loop the loop: It’s a freeze-frame moment. Suspended in time and space, silently hanging upside down in the sky, nothing between you and the ground thousands of metres below except a flimsy 50-year-old piece of scuffed Perspex, time has stopped and all the usual rules of physics have dissolved. It’s a profoundly disorientating feeling on the ultimate roller coaster ride, an aerobatic flight above Brisbane in a vintage fighter plane.  Story by Lee Atkinson

What a Day for a Daydream: There's been a resort on Daydream Island since 1932, when a couple of adventurers sailed up on their graceful timber ketch, dropped anchor and stayed. It's easy to see why.
Story by Lee Mylne

Lava-ly stuff: I know that bats have one of the most refined and sophisticated echo-location systems in the animal kingdom.  But put me in a murky cave with 40,000 micro bats all in mid flight just inches above my head, and all reason and logic goes out the window as I madly wave my arms above about trying to ward off any unexpected bat-caught-in-hair-squealing moments. Welcome to the bat cave, a.k.a. Barkers Cave at Undara Volcanic National Park, near Mt Surprise, 275km west of Cairns.  Story by Lee Atkinson

Queensland Spas: Pampering is becoming an essential part of a Queensland holiday. No matter where you go, you are within easy reach of a white toweling robe and monogrammed slippers.
Story by Lee Mylne

Orpheus Island: When the tide is in at Orpheus Island , the small white seaplane which delivers guests to the resort can land almost on the beach. But when I land, the tide is out and we moor instead at “ Orpheus International Airport ”, a pontoon floating offshore.
Story by Lee Mylne

Twin Waters: The kangaroos of the Sunshine Coast are braver than your average ‘roo.  Certainly the ones that sleep in the shade beside the greens on the Novotel Twin Waters Golf Course at any rate.  Despite our lack of finesse with a nine iron, they seemed blissfully unaware, or at least unconcerned, about our wayward shots and their possible painful ramifications.  Twin Waters is that type of place.
Story by Lee Atkinson

Family Friendly Islands: Whether they are sliding down a towering sand dune, or gently cradling a newly-laid turtle egg in their hand, or learning to fly the trapeze, kids of all ages will find something to challenge them on a Queensland island holiday. The waters off Queensland 's coast, from Cairns to the Gold Coast, are studded with islands providing exciting and interesting options for family holidays.
Story by Lee Mylne

Jewels of the Savannah: Flashes of sapphire, emerald and gold dart past so bright and small it seems unreal; focus and you'll find you're gazing at one of nature's wonders, the Gouldian finch. At the Mareeba Wetlands a program is underway to save these endangered Australian natives. Story by Lee Mylne

Whitsunday Island Idyll: There's no glass in the cabin windows, no key for the door, and no phone on my bedside table. And – best of all – no mobile phone reception. The back of beyond? No, it's South Long Island Nature Lodge, an exclusive and idyllic getaway for a maximum of 14 guests, tucked in a cove aptly called Paradise Bay and looking out to the green hills of Conway National Park. .Story by Lee Mylne

Brisbane's Historic Pubs: There's nowhere better to while away a sub-tropical afternoon than on the wide verandah of one of Brisbane's many historic pubs.
Story by Lee Mylne

Hidden Treasure: “Where are the walls?” asks an American businessman emerging from a limousine at Thala Beach Lodge, in the rainforest outside Port Douglas. Story by Lee Mylne

Grape Escape: Wine-lovers seeking new temptations need look no further than the Gold Coast, which is set to woo visitors with its Hinterland Wine Trail.
Story by Lee Mylne

Undiscovered Gold Coast: Cool misty mountains, vineyards, lush rainforests, colonial homesteads and a burgeoning reputation for fine gourmet produce. Welcome to the Gold Coast. Story by Lee Mylne