Five road trips you can take from Brisbane with Uber Carshare

Find a dream car through Uber Carshare and head down the M1 with the Weeknd blaring. It’s hard to miss Australia’s tallest building, Q1, in Surfers Paradise. Pull up at the imposing beacon to conquer SkyPoint Climb, Australia’s highest external climb. See that plateau to the west? That’s Springbrook National Park, part of Australia’s World Heritage-listed Gondwana Rainforests. Roads leading into the park are scenic but winding so take it easy while driving to the Natural Bridge section. Here, after exploring the park’s many walks through rugged rainforests, enter a cave after sunset to stand beneath a constellation of blue-green glow-worm bioluminescence.

Find a cosy compact Uber Carshare car near you and zip off on a romantic getaway – and with plenty of pet-friendly vehicles available, your fur baby won't have to be left behind. The cool-climate Granite Belt wine region is under three hours from Brisbane. The Stanthorpe area is home to more than 40 cellar doors including Tobin Wines, Golden Grove Estate and Symphony Hill Wines (be sure to always drink responsibly). Dine at the Queensland College of Wine Tourism’s Varias Restaurant, go Japanese at Hanasaku, or arrive famished for an Italian-inspired feast at Ballandean Estate Wines’ Barrelroom. Don't forget to explore the massive boulders of Donnelly's Castle, a granite formation that was once the hideout of bushranger Captain Thunderbolt.

Carnarvon Gorge is the centrepiece of this awe-inspiring park in central Queensland’s Sandstone Belt (it’s a 4.5-hour drive southwest of Rockhampton and 8.5 hours from Brissie). Get there with a 4WD or ute that you have cleverly found near you on your Uber Carshare app. Walk between the main gorge’s towering white sandstone cliffs to discover ferns, cycads, streams and endemic Carnarvon fan palms. Detour into side gorges and explore remnant rainforest and a moss garden. Don’t leave without seeing the Art Gallery of some 2,000 ancient Aboriginal paintings and hand stencils. To cool down after your hiking adventures, strike out for Rock Pool – the Gorge’s only designated swimming hole. Need somewhere to stop on the drive to Carnarvon? Try the outback cattle town of Roma. 

Gather the troops, hit up Uber Carshare for a storage-savvy people mover or SUV, then head north for Mooloolaba. Swim in the perfect waves of the Main Beach, walk the Rock Wall and show the kids the seals, sharks, rays and turtles of Sea Life Sunshine Coast. On the way, the Glass House Mountains Visitor and Interpretive Centre’s playground includes miniatures of the volcanic plugs that collectively form the Glass House Mountains. Get up close to one with a 3.3km stroll around the base of Mount Tibrogargan, which resembles an ogre. See another otherworldly beast at Kilcoy’s Yowie Park – a statue there commemorates a 1979 sighting by two students.

Yeppoon is almost eight hours’ drive from Brisbane, so plan a few breaks along the way. Tick off two Big Things: the Big Pineapple near Nambour and Matilda the Kangaroo (1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games mascot) at the Traveston Service Centre near Gympie. In Yeppoon, splash into the infinity-edge swimming lagoon on the foreshore with views of the Keppel Islands. Take a day-trip to Great Keppel to snorkel, or float in the turquoise waters of Upper Stony Creek in the Byfield State Forest 30 minutes’ drive north of Yeppoon.