Gold Coast
Your best bet would be to rent a car when visiting the Gold coast. That way you can drive south to Northern Rivers and then also north up to the Sunshine Coast! Surfers Paradise is right in the center and perhaps a bit Touristy but right on the beach!
One of my favorite beaches with the clearest water!
Northern Rivers (QLD & NSW Border)
Rent a car and spend at least 2-3 days exploring this area up and down the coast.
A night or two in Kingscliffe (i suggest Salt and Peppers resort) is the perfect spot to relax. In a sleepy town only 40 minutes north of Byron, you can fly into the Gold Coast's local airport (OOL) and rent and car and head south! One of my all time favorite places to visit when i go home.
Byron Bay- About 1.5- 2 hours south of the Gold Coast and a MUST when you're in the area. Stay a couple days if you can and enjoy amazing food, great live music, and INCREDIBLE beaches. You can drive or hike up to the lighthouse to catch a glimpse of the whales and incredible views.
Sunshine Coast
If you are driving North from Brisbane or the Gold Coast, you can stop at Steve Irwins zoo on your way up!
Great Barrier Reef
There are 2 main spots to stay and explore what the reef has to offer;
Airlie Beach (Whitsundays) and/ or Cairns.
Airlie Beach
We did this scenic flight and it was INCREDIBLE. This left out of Airlie beach and was such a highlight seeing everything from above.
We have also done this snorkeling trip before and it was the perfect mix of scenic boat ride, hiking and snorkeling over the whitsundays.
Cairns
I highly recommend staying in Cairns then doing lots of day trips to places if you want a variety of experiences.
There are plenty of spots you can book day trips from there, that’s what we did when we booked our scuba dive trip as we were planning based on the weather. There are a couple boats that will do intro scuba dives, a 20 minute practice dive and then a longer 40 minute dive and i highly recommend!!!
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