Koalas at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane.
Bluey's classic Queenslander house at Bluey's World.
Can you spot the bullet holes? (Is the image at a high enough resolution?)
It may not have been the best, sunny beach day when I was there, but Noosa was still beautiful.
A red-bellied black snake in the Sunshine Coast hinterlands. Every Australian I told about this snake was excited and horrified. Have you even been to Australia if you haven't seen a dangerous snake?

BRISBANE, Australia ― The first thing you want to do when you get to Australia is pet a koala. The good news is that flying into Brisbane allows you to do it almost the moment you step off the plane.

When American travelers go to Australia, the first places on their list are probably Sydney and Melbourne, maybe Tasmania or the Outback for some wilderness, or Cairns, as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 728,900 visitors from the U.S. entered Australia between Oct. 2024 and Sept. 2025, 4.2% more than in the previous year. Interest in Australian vacations seems to continue on an upward trend for U.S. tourists, according to the bureau.

Those visitors shouldn’t sleep on Brisbane or the rest of Queensland.

From manageable, accessible cosmopolitan delights in Brisbane to Hamptons-style beach luxury and artsy mountain communities along the Sunshine Coast, the state has plenty to keep both city and wilderness-seekers entertained.

On a recent trip to Australia, I got to see many sides of what Queensland has to offer. Here are five things I’d be most excited to go back to see again.

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

This was one of my favorite parts of my trip to Australia, and it was the perfect way to get introduced and adjusted to the country.

Opened in 1927 in response to the near-decimation of the koala population in Australia – the cuddly creatures were hunted for their pelts – Lone Pine is now home to about 100 koalas along with other native Australian fauna.

For just $42 Australian (about $27 US), visitors can explore the grounds and see koalas, dingoes, platypuses and lots of other kinds of animals living their best rescue lives. Family passes and multi-visit discounts are also available.

Entry includes access to free educational programming, as well as the ability to go into the kangaroo enclosure, where you can feed and pet kangaroos, wallabies and emus. The animals in the enclosure aren’t exactly domesticated, but they’re very used to human contact and are super friendly and OK with being touched.

For an extra charge, visitors can also get up close and personal with some of the other animals on the property.

A $35 koala experience (about $23 US) lets you pet a koala and get pictures of the interaction with your own device.

I really could have spent my entire trip at Lone Pine and been in my happy place.

One unique way to visit the sanctuary from Brisbane is to go with Koala and River Cruises, which allows you to see the sites along the Brisbane River on your way to and from the animals.

  • Drive time from Brisbane Airport: Approximately 20-30 minutes

Bluey’s World

Candidly, I’m not the target audience for Bluey’s World, but I appreciate that Brisbane is capitalizing on arguably its biggest cultural export.

Bluey’s world is a fairly intimate, immersive experience where visitors get to step into the lives of the show’s main characters. Groups are guided around an adventure through the house with fun challenges and activities in every room.

It’s not a typical theme park with rides, but it’s a great way for fans of the show to have a one-of-a-kind experience. The whole experience takes about an hour and a half to two hours, including wait time for entry and unstructured free time in a playground atmosphere once the guided portion ends.

  • Drive time from Brisbane Airport: Approximately 10-15 minutes

Touring the city

It’s always nice as a solo traveler to have a guide show you the key sites, so on my first full day in Brisbane, I took a tour with Urban Tours Brisbane, during which I learned about the city’s history and how it’s evolving to become the go-to destination of the future ahead of the 2032 Olympics.

The city is looking to add more accommodations ahead of the games, and to boost accessibility across its major attractions.

Uban Tours Brisbane is locally owned and focuses on small group experiences. A portion of every ticket goes to a local charity, and guides also focus on beautifying the city as they go, encouraging guests to keep an eye out for litter that’s easy to dispose of.

Among the highlights of my tour were an old theater that now serves as a visitor’s center, which still has bullet holes in the ceiling from a famous police chase in its atrium, and a chance to see one of Brisbane’s highest lookouts at the Star Casino.

Guy Watson, my guide on the tour and also Urban Tours’ founder, told me that Brisbane is working to become a more accessible destination, with a goal of becoming one of the most accessible cities in the world. One place this is especially obvious is the Story Bridge Climb, which offers a wheelchair accessible experience, unlike its more well-known counterpart in Sydney.

  • Brisbane’s Central Business District is approximately 20-30 minutes from Brisbane Airport by both road and public transit.

Noosa

About two hours north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast is Noosa, a beach community that reminded me strongly of the Hamptons. With chic shops and upscale eateries along the beach, it’s a great place to spend an afternoon window shopping and chowing down.

I also took a surfing lesson, and it was great to paddle out in warm water with knee-high swells, the perfect conditions for a novice, and no sharks to be seen.

Noosa is a popular vacation destination for Australians, and also has a national park with hiking trails along the shoreline.

  • Noosa Heads Main Beach is approximately an hour and a half by car from Brisbane Airport.

Sunshine Coast hinterlands

The Sunshine Coast region offers more than just beaches, and its inland hinterlands are a great way to find some quieter, less crowded spots to experience Australian culture.

On a tour with Joel’s Journeys I got to experience a few small, artsy mountain towns away from the hustle and bustle of the coast. I picked up a book at an independent bookstore in Maleny, and sampled fudge in Montville. I also got to enjoy locally-distilled spirits at Sunshine & Sons, and even saw a highly poisonous snake, which felt like a must-do in Australia.

The tour picked me up and dropped me off at my lodging in Mooloolaba, and was a fun way to see parts of the country I would definitely have missed if I were guiding myself.

  • The Sunshine Coast is approximately an hour to an hour and a half by car from Brisbane Airport.

The reporter on this story received access from American Airlines and Tourism and Events Queensland. USA TODAY maintains editorial control of content.

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: At this far-off destination, you can pet exotic animals minutes after landing

Reporting by Zach Wichter, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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