EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

GLADSTONE is a busy port, and also the site of the Boyne Island processing plant which refines aluminium from ore mined at Weipa on the Cape York Peninsula. Glaringly hot, there's no reason to stop here unless you're trying to reach the reef. If you're planning to camp on any of the southern cays, Gladstone is where you need to make arrangements through the NPWS office , at 136 Goondoon St (Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm; tel 07/4972 6055); if booking by post, mail the office at PO Box 5065, Gladstone.

The main strip is Goondoon Street, where there's a "mall" - just the usual high-street shops, post office and banks - and a couple of hotels and motels. You'll find a helpful information centre (Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm, Sat-Sun 9am-5pm) inside the ferry terminal at the marina , about 2km north of the centre on Bryan Jordan Drive. A casual, basic hostel is hidden away at 12 Rollo St (tel 07/4972 5744, fax 4972 4266; under $20); to get there, go to the marina end of Goondoon Street, turn left and it's three streets down past a small real estate agent, or give them a call and they'll pick you up when you arrive. Gladstone Reef Hotel , 38 Goondoon St (tel 07/4972 1000; $90-115), has ordinary motel rooms and good views from a rooftop pool. Cafés in the mall range from Munchies at 46 Goondoon St, a cheap and cheerful Mexican place with budget lunches during the week, to Swaggy's at no. 52, where you can spoil yourself with native cuisine - emu, crocodile, kangaroo - at gourmet prices.

Diving can be arranged through Gladstone Diving at Last Wave Watersports, 16 Goondoon St (tel 07/4972 9185). They take qualified divers out on day-trips to Lamont reef ($155 plus $30 gear hire for two dives), and for the weekend to Llewellyn and Fitzroy reefs south of Heron (Fri-Sun; $350 plus gear for 6-8 dives) - both good value. Their seven-day dive courses cost $495 and are actually conducted at Great Keppel Island up near Rockhampton.