Mackay Region

This stretch of coast runs from cane country to coral reef, with two hundred kilometres of shoreline and a rugged, mining-shaped outback just inland. At Cape Hillsborough, kangaroos and wallabies wander down onto the sand most mornings, one of the only places in the country where that happens reliably. Head inland to Eungella National Park, where the Broken River platypus sightings are among the most consistent anywhere in Australia. Finch Hatton Gorge holds its own rainforest swimming holes in the Pioneer Valley below. Two hundred kilometres of coast, and hardly anyone rushing.