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Queensland is a huge chunk of land comprising the northeast corner of Australia,
and is four times the size of California.
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The State of Queensland is traditionally
sliced into more digestible segments for visitors to swallow.
The upper coast is
called Tropical North Queensland with Cairns the jumping-off point for the rain
forest and reef adventures of far north Queensland. This region is also home
to a spectacular gay resort opened just over a year ago, which OutUK correspondent
Ernie Alderete highly recommends.
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The sun sets over one of the Liberty Resort's pools.
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In a land of superlatives, it is only appropriate to find the largest gay and
lesbian resort in the world, Liberty. The facilities and grounds are nothing
less than magnificent. Two free-form swimming pools fringed by mature palm trees
adjoin the enormous reception area and lobby, which are enclosed beneath a soaring
A-frame roof. We’re talking airport hangar huge here, but remarkably, never impersonal.
The grand shelter is well furnished with antique sofas, comfy chairs
and coffee tables loaded with gay magazines creating a warm, personal and inviting
space you might never want to leave.
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The full service bar in the lobby faces both the dining area and the pool, and on
one side features swim-up underwater bar stools! The romantic one and two bedroom private
hardwood villas built on stilts are Polynesian in design, like you might expect to
find in Hawaii or Tahiti.
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The grounds at Liberty Resort.
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Every room is the epitome of tropical elegance. Colour
cable TV in the two-level villas is featured both in the downstairs bedroom and the
upstairs loft reached by ladder. The fine linens cocoon your body in style.
The chef at Liberty was always glad to whip up whatever I wanted, whether it was on the
extensive menu or not. One of my favourite dishes is his Rib Eye Steak, which is
served on a bed of mildly curried mashed vegetables. Of course fish dishes abound,
often some reef fish you never heard of but will never forget. Breakfast is so
good you can’t wait to open your eyes in the morning.
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Facilities include a gymnasium and steam room. The theatre shows movies until 10:30 p.m.,
when it magically transforms itself into a seedy porno lounge showing the latest
adult gay hardcore until 4 a.m.
The breezy villas at Liberty are reasonably priced. Half the price of a deluxe hotel
room in a major city. Liberty even offers shared bunkhouse accommodations for budget travellers.
Liberty’s clientele is around 70% gay and 30% lesbian. Straight people are welcome only
in the restaurant area.
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Spotting in Liberty's gym.
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There are of course plenty of other hotel options in all price ranges available
and you can get unbeatable offers from our hotel partners
Bookings. For flight deals we recommend checking out
lastminute.com
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RAINFOREST & REEF
Liberty is located in the cool Tablelands a thousand feet above the coast.
There's no beachfront, which is Liberty’s only fault, but it makes an excellent base of operations
to visit the two top tourist sites in Queensland, the Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef.
It would
border on insanity to miss visiting either the oldest rainforest in the world or the
largest, at 1,200 miles long, barrier reef on the planet which is the only living thing
visible from outer space.
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Exploring the Rainforest with a 4WD.
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The best way to initially get a feel for the Daintree Rainforest National Park is from above, aboard Skyrail,
the longest, at five miles, cable car ride in the world. The four-person gondolas seem to
glide through the clouds, affording you a perspective previously reserved only for
the eagles that soar below you.
Daytrips to the reef feature a boat ride to the Frankland Islands, where you can spend
hours snorkeling, scuba diving, swimming, beach combing, hiking around the island with a
naturalist guide, or just lounging on the sand while the staff cooks up lunch on portable
stoves. Everything has to be carted in and out with each visit, as the ten thousand year-old
Great Barrier Reef is a national park.
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Skyrail over the rainforest.
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GARDEN OF EDEN
Queensland is currently a virtual Garden of Eden. It's an oasis of calm and peace
in a world beset by instability and problems. You can walk the streets virtually anywhere
with little concern about safety.
Public health services are efficient, roadways are well
maintained, the streets are clean, water is safe to drink.
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In effect, you have
the exoticness of the third world combined with the security of the first.
With a state government actively encouraging gay visitors, Queensland could well develop into
the number one adventure tourist destination for gay travellers worldwide.
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Michaelemas Cay on the Great Barrier Reef off Cairns.
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THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK
GayQueensland Website
Liberty Resort (3 Greenhills Road, Kuranda 4872 T: 0061 7 4093 7556)Website
Pink Guide Website
Queensland images supplied courtesy Tourism Queensland.
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