Brisbane Outback & Tropics Self-Guided Motorcycle Tour

Queensland is big enough that the outback and the tropics are both a week apart from Brisbane. This self-guided loop takes fourteen days and 3,600 kilometres and visits both.

It starts on the coast and then turns its back on it for a week. The Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba come first, then the road runs west to Roma and out into the outback proper, where the towns get smaller, the horizon gets further away and the sky does most of the work. That stretch inland is the real reason to take the long version of this trip rather than sticking to the coast road.

The tropics fill the second half. The route reaches Port Douglas, then the Atherton Tablelands above Cairns with their waterfalls and crater lakes, then the Daintree and Cape Tribulation where the oldest rainforest on earth meets the sea. Coming south, Eungella sits in the hills above Mackay and is one of the better places in Australia to see a platypus in the wild, then the Whitsundays before the long run back to Brisbane.

BikeRoundOz provides the bike of your choice, thirteen nights in three and a half to four star hotels, a detailed itinerary document, digital maps and pre-tour route advice. A pillion stays free on the accommodation. Fuel, meals, excursions and insurance are separate, and the season runs March to November. For riders who want outback distance and tropical coast in one trip without a guide setting the pace, this covers a remarkable amount of one very large state.