Hervey Bay and Fraser Coast

When the humpbacks arrive in Hervey Bay, usually in late July, something remarkable happens. The bay's shallow, protected waters are warm enough and calm enough that the whales don't just pass through — they stop. Mothers rest with their calves. Adult males breach and tail-slap and surface alongside the tour boats with apparent curiosity. This is consistently rated among the top three whale watching experiences on earth, and it runs through to November.

K'gari — Fraser Island — is reached by ferry from Hervey Bay or Rainbow Beach, a crossing of fifteen minutes that takes you to the world's largest sand island and a genuinely other-worldly landscape. Fresh water flows through 200-kilometre dune systems, forming clear lakes perched above sea level. Rainforest grows directly out of sand without visible soil. The surf coast runs a hundred kilometres without a town or a road.

Camping on Fraser Island requires planning, a four-wheel drive and a permit, but it rewards preparation with some of the most dramatic beach camping in Australia: ocean at your door, stars above, dingoes walking camp at dusk. Inland, the coloured sand formations of the Pinnacles and the tea-coloured Mirror Lake make even the most photographed landscape feel fresh.