Visitor Information -- Drop by the Capricorn Tourism information center, at the city's southern entrance on Gladstone Road (Bruce Highway) at the Capricorn Spire (tel. 07/4927 2055; www.capricornholidays.com.au). It's open daily from 9am to 5pm. In the city center, you'll find the Rockhampton Customs House Tourist Information Centre at 208 Quay St. (tel. 07/4922 5625). It's open weekdays 8:30am to 4:30pm, weekends and public holidays 9am to 4pm.

Getting Around -- Avis (tel. 07/4924 1699), Budget (tel. 07/4922 8064), Europcar (tel. 07/4922 0044), Hertz (tel. 07/4922 2721), and Thrifty (tel. 07/4927 8755) have offices in Rockhampton. The local bus is Sunbus (tel. 07/4936 2133).

Getting There

Rockhampton is on the Bruce Highway, a 3 1/2-hour drive south of Mackay, and about 90 minutes north of Gladstone.

QantasLink (tel. 13 13 13 in Australia) has flights from Brisbane and Gladstone. Virgin Blue (tel. 13 67 89 in Australia) flies direct from Brisbane, Townsville, and Sydney. Jetstar (tel. 13 15 38 in Australia) flies from Mackay, and new budget carrier Tiger Airways (tel. 03/9335 3033; www.tigerairways.com) flies from Melbourne and Brisbane.

Queensland Rail (tel. 1300 131 722 in Queensland; www.queenslandrail.com.au) trains stop at Rockhampton daily. The trip from Brisbane takes just 7 hours on the high-speed Tilt Train; the fare is A$108 in economy class and A$161 in business class.

Greyhound Australia (tel. 1300/473 946 in Australia or 07/4920 3900 in Rockhampton) serves Rockhampton on its many daily runs between Brisbane and Cairns. The fare is A$138 from Brisbane (trip time: 12 hr.) and A$215 from Cairns (trip time: 18 hr.).

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