One of the best part of my travel experience in Queensland, Australia was to drive and tour around various coastal cities of Queensland. Queensland Australia is a huge state of Australia with a total area of over 1.8Milion Km² and a long coastline of over 3,000km! Travel attractions are wide ranging from highland trekking, hinterland exploration, beach surfing to deep sea diving.

Eventhough great attractions of Queensland are scattered all over the state, the advanced public transportation in Queensland connects all major destinations of long distance away. Having said there, if you wish to explore the coastal cities of Gold Coast and Sunshine coast, driving cars could be a better option, albeit various transportation options are available.

When I visited Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast a few years ago, I chose to travel around by driving a car! If you are traveling to Australia in a small group of at least 2 persons, driving tour could be a cheaper options to explore a few nearby cities. Here are the top 5 advantages of exploring Gold Coast and nearby cities by driving a car:

1.  The average transportation cost per person is lower if you are traveling in a group of 2 to 4 persons. A small car is sufficient for 2 person traveling, adding in petrol and parking charges and it will cost you similar to what you need to pay for trains and taxis. If there are 4 of you in a larger car and you will save more averagely;
2. Driving trip can ease us from carrying heavy stuffs to and from train stations with us. We can leave all our day packs, drinking waters or camera tripod in the car while we explore the city until we need any of them to go back and take it out. We actually checked out our hotel much earlier than our flight at night and carried along our luggages with us in the car! It is convenient!
3. To drive off the beaten tracks. By driving around Gold Coast, we actually saw much more and experienced more. We could conveniently stop over to buy some cheese cakes from a local bakery we spotted on the way or, drove out at at midnight to the local casino!
4. To explore Hinterland. Hinterland of Gold Coast is one of Queensland’s most significant tourist destinations where travelers to Gold Coast must at least pay a visit to, if not staying in one of the famous guesthouses there. Driving there is easy and convenient and you could stop over to one of the vineyards when on your way up to the highland!
5. City road network in Gold Coast and Australia is very well planned and laid. Motorways are connecting major cities such as Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast while inner city roads are well maintained, wide premixed and all tourist spots are accessible and extremely well indicated with clear directions. If we were driving a larger seven seat car, we could have driven all the way 1000km down to Sydney from Gold Coast and made the car as our accommodation! Roads in Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast are far less congested if compared to similar popular travel destinations elsewhere and free parking are widely available at travel attractions such as theme parks, hinterland and of course casinos. However, traffic enforcers are also relatively strict who actually caught us on driving without fastening our back passengers’ seat belts!

The fun of a driving trip to Australia is definitely more than the above if you are a driving addicts who enjoy driving than sleeping! The best of all, at the end of our Gold Coast holidays, we drove to our departing airport in Brisbane, parked our rented car at the airport, left our keys inside and went straight to the check-in counter without a hint of hassle! – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo guide to Australia