Australia's Brisbane & Queensland (Unabridged‪)‬

Following are a few paragraphs from this inspiring and astonishingly detailed audio guide. The author, a native Australian, covers everything you might want to know about Queensland - guaranteed! The places to stay in every part of Queensland, from budget to luxury, rentals to B&Bs; the restaurants, from fast food to the highest quality; the beachwalks and bushwalks; the wildlife and how to see it; exploring the country by air, on water, by bike, and every other way.

The immense state of Queensland nearly takes up Australia's entire northeastern quadrant, stretching from halfway up the rough-chiseled east coast all the way to the middle of the Gulf of Carpentaria. With a landmass of 1,727,200 square kilometers, it's the second-largest state after Western Australia, and it encompasses every environment imaginable. To the east, golden beaches and touristy surf towns are cloaked in thick swathes of rainforest and fronted by palm-fringed islands in clear, azure bays. The verdant greenery runs right over the rugged Great Dividing Range, ending in high, windswept central plains and stark-red, dusty western deserts. This is Australia's holiday state, with a Florida-style beach culture and more than 300 sunny days every year. There's a ton to do for anyone and everyone, from just lazing on the sand to finding physical challenges galore.

Hiking, watching wildlife, skydiving, and spelunking provide just a few tastes off the menu of grand land adventures, which are linked by scenic train and cable-car journeys, meandering back-road drives, and sprawling desert explorations. On the water there are endless choices for sailing and kayaking, surfing, snorkeling, and diving along the coast and through the Great Barrier Reef. It's the most popular vacation spot in the country because everything's here: nature, culture, history, and adventure, all conveniently set upon a framework of modern towns and wrapped up in some of the world's wildest environments.