Brisbane Airport (BNE) is the main international gateway, with direct flights from Asia, the Pacific, North America and the Middle East. Cairns Airport (CNS) is the practical entry point for the Great Barrier Reef and the tropical north, and has direct connections to Singapore, Tokyo, Auckland and several Chinese cities. The Gold Coast (OOL) handles mostly domestic and Trans-Tasman traffic.
Long-distance trains connect Brisbane to Sydney (the daily XPT) and run up the coast as far as Cairns on the Spirit of Queensland — a slow but scenic option that takes around 24 hours. Greyhound Australia's coast service runs the same route by bus, with frequent stops at the surf towns and reef gateways along the way. Driving the Bruce Highway from Brisbane to Cairns covers nearly 1,700 km and is best broken up over a week or more.