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Brisbane

Coming & Going

AIR

Brisbane is well connected by air and it is increasingly affordable to fly in and out of here.

Brisbane's Eagle Farm airport (website www.brisbaneairport.com.au) is located about 16km northwest of the city centre and is comprised of two terminals – domestic and international – located 2km apart.

The easiest way to the airport is by the Air Train (website www.airtrain.com.au). The Air Train runs to the city centre four times an hour and to the Gold Coast twice an hour. The trip between the airport and the city centre takes 22 minutes and costs $10. Many hostels sell discounted tickets for the Air Train.

Alternatively, Coachtrans (website www.coachtrans.com.au) run buses into central Brisbane that cost $9-11 each way.

BUS

McCafferty's/Greyhound and Premier Motor Service buses arrive at the Roma Street Transit Centre. There are daily buses to most destinations with more frequent services on the popular Sydney and Cairns routes.

TRAIN

The Roma Street Transit Centre is also Brisbane's main train station for long-distance travel with daily trains to most major destinations including interstate services and trains on the Brisbane-Cairns line.

HITCHHIKING

Because Brisbane is so close to the Sunshine and Gold Coasts, a lot of traffic heading out of town is local traffic bound for the nearby resort cities. If you're hitching from Brisbane, your best bet is to catch a train beyond either the Gold or Sunshine Coast where you're more likely to catch long-distance traffic.

Heading north, catch a train to Gympie. Both Citytrain and long-distance services should stop here. Once in Gympie, it's just a matter of walking to the northern edge of town and hitching a lift on the Bruce Highway.

Alternatively you can get off the train in either Cooroy or Eumundi, both a little closer to Brisbane (and cheaper to get to). However Cooroy and Eumundi are both located a couple of kilometres off the Bruce Highway, so you'll have a bit of a walk to get to the prime hitching spots.

Heading south from Brisbane, you'll need to get to Bilinga, near Coolangatta on the Gold Coast. You can take either a bus from Brisbane or a train to Robina and a connecting bus.

Once you're on the Gold Coast, you'll need to hop on a local bus heading south to Coolangatta and ask to be let off on the Gold Coast Highway outside Coolangatta Airport. This should place you just before the turn-off for the Tweed Heads Bypass where you can find a safe stretch of road to stick your thumb out.

An easier option is to use a web-based ride sharing service such as BUG Ride (website http://australia.bugride.com), this website allows travellers to both offer lifts and search for rides throughout Australia.