Getting around Australia by Greyhound Bus
Travelling by Greyhound is a really easy way to travel Australia, with hop on hop off passes or kilometres passes available, these comfy coaches will get you from A to B and everywhere in between! The coaches run multiple times a day so you can travel as and when you please but, how long does it take to travel between the main locations?
We’ll be telling you where you can:
- Chill out on Magnetic Island
- Start your Whitsunday Tour
- Join your Fraser island tour
- AND exactly how long it will take between each hot spot
Before we begin, if you book a Greyhound bus pass with us it’s cheaper than going direct or waiting to book once you get there. Once we generate you a pass we’ll send you a unique booking code and pin number so you can manage your booking online to book specific in specific dates and select a departure time that suits you.
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Journey times
Cairns > Townsville
Journey time: around 5 hours
Things to note: When you arrive in Townsville, the coach will drop you off at the same place the ferry terminal is that will take you to Magnetic Island. Check out our unreal offer for Magnetic Island here.
Townsville > Airlie Beach
Journey time: 4.5 hours
Things to note: Airlie beach is where you will need to get off for all of the epic Whitsunday Island tours! Check out the unreal options here.
Airlie Beach > Agnes Water
Journey time: 9 hours (make this one an overnight journey)
Things to note: Agnes Water is an ideal place to break up this long stretch as it’s about half way down the east coast. We recommend FOR sure staying at Cool Bananas, it’s a great spot to kick back and relax in a hammock!
Agnes Water > Noosa
Journey time: 9 hours (again, make this an overnight journey)
Things to note: Noosa is where you’ll stop off for your Fraser Island trip! Heads up, some Fraser island trips depart from Rainbow Beach too, there is no difference in where you start, its purely based on the company and where they are based.
Noosa > Brisbane
Journey time: 2.5 hours
Things to note: You can chill out here after all of your jam packed tours in Fraser and Airlie.
with RatPack Travel?
Brisbane > Byron Bay
Journey time: Around 3 hours
Things to note: Wellccommmeee to the home of RatPack…
Byron Bay > Sydney
Journey time: 12 hours (make this one an overnight journey)
Things to note: Your last stop – make it a good one!
Ready to hit the road?
Some of the journeys between destinations can be long – you’ve gotta remember, Australia is hugeeee – so here are some of our tips to make the long journeys more manageable:
- Make use of the night buses, if you only have a limited time to travel! You can save yourself a buck on accommodation!
- Download podcasts or films before you travel (there is wifi on the coaches – but it can be a little slow).
- Get to the bus stop 15 mins early to get a decent seat (it’s first come first serve, so you want all the leg room you can get on a long journey).
- Spend the time researching your next destination and getting some sick activities planned.
Hit us up for the best Greyhound deals in the game!
From our RatPackers
I booked my campervan to travel in NZ via RatPack Travel, who managed to find me the perfect van at relatively short notice and with a discount! It was a real help to have someone do the searching and mediate with the company, once they had dates and information from me. Thanks for the prompt and friendly service!
Great service! Jenner was so much help and gave us lots of options to suit our journey. Very attentive and made it an easy process.
This was the best customer service I ever experienced! I highly recommend you if you are looking for a Van or Camper to leave your email address so somebody of their team can get in touch with you. They compare for you all camper hire company’s and you can choose with one suits you the best. I literally talk to this awesome lady from Holland (as I’m only available after 8pm MEL time, so the arrange for me a call with somebody from the EU team for free) and she got our dream van for the most incredible price few minutes after we talked! And not even one day later I got my booking confirmation from the camper company. Their service is free of charge as they earn commission of your booking but this doesn’t cost you a cent. I did my own research before but the deals they give me was way better than I could find by my own. I highly recommend to get in touch with this team and let them find your Van. They literally saved us our fuel cost for a 3 weeks travel from Cairns to Sydney. Yes- that’s almost $1000 they saved us! Go and get your van! You won’t regret it.
So far, so so good. I should have started with RatPack to begin with and saved all that time searching for a camper and feeling like I was getting nowhere. Jenna was incredibly helpful -doing all the hard yards and getting us the best deal. Very prompt service. Thanks for making it so easy !
Very friendly service with Tammy. Super attentive and keen to help us. Got us a discount and one of the last available options.
Ratpack was super helpful! They were extremely responsive and helped us get an amazing deal on two 3-person camper vans. Highly recommend giving them a shot!
Really straight forward helpful and friendly people!
Mike helped us with finding the best van for us for our 3 week trip and was very knowledgeable. With some quick phone calls he gave us the best quotes and walked us through the process in detail. Everything was made clear and we booked our trip in just an hour! I would highly recommend their service.
Great experience with the RatPack travel team! Really went out of their way to help us book our Van’s for two different trips! They have great rapport with the various Van companies, were able to help us book the last available Van for our time in WA and were able to get us some discounts as well. Zan and Mikey were both so easy going, made it feel like we were chatting with friends who genuinely cared about our travels haha, awesome guys! Definitely recommend the RatPack service, will save you time and money fellow travellers!
Mike was amazing - helped me find a van and gave me quotes, a full breakdown, etc super quickly no stress! Just what I needed. Can't wait to start my trip. Thanks dude!
Booked a 3 week trip with MIKEY! Customer service was on point. No Buls**t straight to the point. Saved us a further % on the original price of the campervan and sent me a map of the east coast with highlighted areas he highly recommended to stop at. looking forward to our trip! 🇮🇪 🇦🇺
Highly recommend this company! Mike was incredibly helpful; he gave us lots of useful info and managed to get an excellent deal on a camper for our trip. The whole process was quick and easy. Thank you! Alison and Amy x
Mikey was amazing at helping us plan our 3 week schedule for the east coast. He went over and above to make sure that we were able to fit everything in that we wanted to in the time we have. His knowledge has been a great asset for us making an itinerary. Can't recommend enough!
If you want to book a camper for your trip, you should only do so with Ratpack. The team is incredibly fast and provides great service. No annoying comparison of providers, since Ratpack takes over. They are looking for the best deal and can offer great discounts. they respond individually to your wishes and give you additional tips for the trip. Since there is also an EU team, you could make calls at individual times of the day - simply excellent all around - thanks for everything
Absolutely delighted with the service provided by RatPack Travel. In particular, the excellent guidance and support offered by Jules! We explained our plans and she found a suitable solution to meet our needs. Very grateful and suggest other travellers use this facility. Thank you 😊
