Stop 4: Queensland

Welcome to the Australia's Sunshine State - Queensland! You won't be needing your thick furs up here - but you might need your gumboots and canoes (it's been a little flooded up this way lately!)

Queensland is Australia's second largest state, and it's third most populous. From the Northern Territory border in the west to Sandy Cape in the east, the distance is more than 1350 km. It is 3000 km from Coolangatta (on the New South Wales border) to the tip of Cape York in the state's far north. In contrast, it is only about 160 km from the tip of Cape York to New Guinea!

There are several major world heritage sites in Queensland, including the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree National Park. Eastern Queensland has a climate ranging from subtropical to tropical. Large areas of western Queensland are very arid. Much of Queensland has a wet and dry season due to its latitude, and this is more notable further north you travel.

The Daintree Rainforest, a World Heritage listed site, is the single largest block of tropical rainforest in Australia.

From a total of 19 primitive flowering plant families on Earth, 12 families are represented in the Daintree region making the highest concentration of these plants worldwide. Idiospermum australiense (commonly known as the Idiot Fruit) one of the rarest and most primitive of the flowering plants, can be found here. Its discovery in 1970 was arguably Australia's most significant botanical find, greatly increasing scientists awareness of just how ancient these forests really are.

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world. It is composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands and stretches for over 3000 kiometres. It is also the only living organic collective visible from Earth's orbit.

Here we will find many different types of marine life, including loggerhead turtles, stingray, zebra fish, fusilee fish and the anenome fish (made famous in 'Finding Nemo').