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FrançaisCape Hillsborough National Park is the stretch of Queensland coast where kangaroos and agile wallabies come down onto the sand at first light, and that hour on the beach is the reason almost everyone drives out here. Cape Hillsborough sits about 50 km (31 mi) up the coast from Mackay, roughly 45 minutes by car and about 1,025 km (637 mi) north of Brisbane, on a small volcanic headland where rainforest runs down to the tideline.
The sunrise is not the only thing to do here, though. Below are the six that filled our stay on a road trip along the central Queensland coast, plus where to sleep, what the 2026 camping fees are and the tide and safety rules that decide half of them. For the rest of the country, our Australia travel guide covers the practicalities.
Things to do at Cape Hillsborough National Park
There are 6 things worth planning your time around at Cape Hillsborough National Park, and they are set out below in the order we would do them again, starting with the one that dictates what time you get up.
1. Watch the kangaroos and wallabies at sunrise
Get to Cape Hillsborough beach before first light, because the animals are already there when the sky starts to colour and most of them have moved off shortly after the sun clears the horizon. The beach is known locally as Cape Hillsborough Kangaroos Beach, and you are more likely to see agile wallabies than kangaroos, although kangaroos do come down too. Both feed on the seaweed and mangrove seeds that wash up overnight, which is what brings them to the sand rather than any feeding schedule of ours.
Word spread, the beach became the area’s main draw, and a ranger now oversees the morning. When we arrived, the ranger had marked a line for everyone to stay behind, explained how to keep the animals safe and answered questions while we watched. She was also the only person feeding them. That sat awkwardly with her own point about keeping the animals wild, and the honest answer she gave is that it is a compromise: it keeps visitors at a safe distance, keeps the wallabies fed with things already in their diet, and keeps them turning up at the same spot each morning instead of being chased around the beach.
There are three ways to do this morning, listed below.
- Walk down from the campsite, which costs nothing and is the simplest option if you have spent the night at Cape Hillsborough Nature Tourist Park.
- Drive in from Mackay, which means leaving town in the dark roughly 45 minutes before you want to be standing on the sand.
- Book a guided sunrise tour, which adds a headset commentary and, on some operators’ versions, breakfast afterwards.
The beach itself is free either way, so a tour buys the guiding and the transport rather than the access. When we stayed in June, the receptionist told us what time to be up and the animals reached the sand at about 6 a.m.; in summer they are usually down by around 5.30 a.m. If you genuinely cannot face that alarm, the wallabies also graze around the campsite and the day-use picnic area during the day, and we saw them several times in under 24 hours. It is not the same as watching them against a sunrise, but it is not nothing either.
2. Walk the four Cape Hillsborough tracks
Cape Hillsborough National Park has four walking tracks, and all four start within a few minutes of the day-use area or the campsite. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service grades them 2 and 3, which in practice means one boardwalk anyone can manage and one proper climb.
Andrews Point track
The Andrews Point track is the longest and the one to do if you only do one, at 5.2 km (3.2 mi) return along the track or 2.8 km (1.7 mi) return if you come back along the beach at low tide. Queensland Parks suggests 2 to 2.5 hours of walking and grades it 3. It climbs steadily and then pays for it across five lookouts, with views along the coast and out to the Cumberland Islands.
The beach return is the catch. It works only at low tide, so check the Mackay tide times before you set off rather than after. We had not timed the tides at all and got lucky, reaching the end of the track at the right moment to come back along the sand. Start it from the beach or from directly behind the Nature Tourist Park; the changing scenery and the animals along the way made it our favourite of the four. In the first half hour we passed a rock wallaby and a spider the size of a hand.
The Diversity boardwalk
The Diversity boardwalk is a 1.2 km (0.7 mi) return walk through mangroves, eucalypts, melaleucas and vine thicket, and Queensland Parks allows 40 minutes for it at grade 2. The first section is a raised wooden boardwalk over mudflats, which is the good part: small crabs work the mud a metre below your feet while you walk.
About the first 300 m (330 yd) is wheelchair accessible, with assistance, after which the boardwalk becomes a dirt track. Signs along the way explain what particular plants were used for by the traditional owners. There is a free car park at the start of the track, on your right as you drive into the national park.
Yuwi plant trail
The Yuwi plant trail is a 1.2 km (0.7 mi) circuit that Queensland Parks allows 40 minutes for, and it runs past cliffs and a bay to a billabong ringed by rainforest. Interpretive panels explain how the traditional owners used the plants along it, from hickory wattle for spears and axes to ghost gum as an antiseptic.
Two things about this one have changed since most write-ups of it were published. Queensland Parks now lists the trailhead as 4WD access, not conventional vehicle, so do not assume you can drive the track in behind the campsite in a hire car; walking in adds roughly 1.2 km (0.7 mi) each way and turns a 40-minute walk into the better part of two hours. The trail is also now spelled Yuwi on the park’s own signage and website, where older guides and some local material still write Yuibera; it is the same people, the traditional owners of this country, under a spelling the park service has updated.
Beachcomber Cove track
The Beachcomber Cove track starts at the northern end of the Cape Hillsborough day-use area, 2.3 km (1.4 mi) from the park entrance on Cape Hillsborough Road, and runs through eucalypt forest and rainforest to a lookout above the cove. It was closed for maintenance when we were there, so what follows is from the park service rather than from us.
You can return along the beach at low tide, and at high tide you walk back the way you came, which is the same tide rule that governs Andrews Point. In the cooler months the track is known for native butterflies; in the wet season it has waterfalls, springs and a swimming hole.
3. Cross to Wedge Island at low tide
Cross to Wedge Island on the causeway that appears at low tide, at the far end of Cape Hillsborough beach below the Andrews Point track. Wedge Island gives you a view back along the whole beach and the headland, and people fish off the rocks there.
Getting stranded is the real risk and Queensland Parks names it specifically: know the Mackay tide times before you walk across, and remember that mobile coverage at Cape Hillsborough is poor to non-existent, so check at the campsite reception rather than on your phone at the water’s edge. If the tide will not cooperate, you can kayak across instead.
4. Spend a morning on Cape Hillsborough beach
Cape Hillsborough beach is worth an unhurried hour of its own, quite apart from the sunrise, and the sand is the interesting part. The whole beach was pitted with tiny holes when we were there, and every so often something would sprint sideways along the tideline. Those are sand bubbler crabs, and the patterns of sand pellets they leave are the neatest thing on the beach at low tide.
The bay here is Casuarina Bay, between the cape itself and Andrews Point, with caves, rock pools and rock formations at the northern end. At low tide it is sometimes possible to spot coral, which we only read about after we left and so never went looking for. Dogs and other pets are not allowed in the day-use area, so make other arrangements for them before you drive out.
5. Go fishing from the beach or the headland
Fish from Cape Hillsborough beach or from the rocky headlands at Wedge Island, both of which are open to recreational fishing. We came back from Andrews Point to find people fishing off the rocks at Wedge Island, which is the spot most people use.
Queensland’s normal marine safety rules apply and two of them matter here more than most. Cape Hillsborough is in Croc Country, so treat the estuarine creeks and mangrove edges as crocodile habitat and read the Be Crocwise guidance before you fish. Carry a way of calling for help that does not depend on the mobile network, because there is effectively none here.
6. Watch for whales and turtles between May and October
Look for whales and turtles from the Andrews Point lookouts between May and October, which is the window Cape Hillsborough Nature Tourist Park gives for sightings off this stretch of coast. Five lookouts along the track face the water and the Cumberland Islands, so you get several chances on one walk.
Bring binoculars if you have them, because the animals are usually well offshore. A calm, clear morning after the sunrise session is the obvious pairing, and it uses the same walk you were going to do anyway.
Where to stay at Cape Hillsborough
There are 2 places to stay at Cape Hillsborough itself, and the choice is a straightforward one between a serviced holiday park with beach access and a bush campground with pit toilets. Both are described below.
1. Cape Hillsborough Nature Tourist Park
Cape Hillsborough Nature Tourist Park is the holiday park directly behind the beach, and it is where we stayed. The park has powered and unpowered sites for tents, caravans, camper trailers, campervans and motorhomes, plus cabins, huts and beachside studio units, and published nightly rates in September 2026 run from about A$127 (about €79, $91, £67) for the two-person Queenslander glamping hut to about A$282 (about €175, $202, £150) for a two-bedroom cabin sleeping six.
Facilities on site cover barbecue areas, camp kitchens, amenity blocks, a laundry, a pool and waterslides, and a kiosk selling drinks, snacks and quick meals. When the kiosk is closed for service you can still sit inside or on the terrace, where there are board games, books and puzzles, and the same space is used for the regular outdoor film screening.
It is not a big site, which we liked: room enough to spread out, small enough to cross in under five minutes. What it really has going for it is position, with direct access to the beach and to two of the four walking tracks, and wallabies grazing on the grounds. Check-in came with a rundown of the walking trails, the sunrise wallaby session and a brochure of things to do nearby, which is more use here than it sounds given there is no phone signal to look anything up. We spent one night and would happily have spent three.
2. Smalleys Beach camping area
Smalleys Beach is the Queensland Parks campground at Cape Hillsborough, set behind the beach in large shady sites, and it costs A$7.75 (about €5, $6, £4) per person per night or A$31.00 (about €19, $22, £16) per family per night as of the fees that took effect on 1 July 2026. A family is one or two adults plus their under-18s, up to eight people, and under-fives camp free.
You must hold a camping permit before you arrive, and you book it through the Queensland National Parks Booking Service, which emails the permit to you. Book it before you leave Mackay: there is practically no phone reception at Cape Hillsborough, so booking on arrival is not an option. Queensland Parks recommends booking at least six weeks ahead for popular sites, especially in school and public holidays. You can find the booking service and the current camping fees here.
Smalleys Beach has non-flush toilets, allows campfires under conditions, takes tents, caravans, camper trailers, campervans and motorhomes, and has no rubbish bins, so everything you bring in leaves with you. Agile wallabies come down onto the broad beach there in the late afternoon as well as at dawn.
If Cape Hillsborough is full or you would rather base yourself in Mackay and drive out for the sunrise, check prices and availability across Queensland here.
Planning a visit to Cape Hillsborough National Park
Plan a Cape Hillsborough visit around two things: the tide table and the fact that your phone will not work. Cape Hillsborough National Park is open all year, the day-use area has toilets, picnic tables, barbecues and wheelchair access with assistance, and there were no park alerts in force when this guide was last checked.
The practical points to sort out before you drive in are listed below.
- Tides decide three of the walks. Check the Mackay tide times before you cross to Wedge Island or walk Andrews Point or Beachcomber Cove, because all three have a beach return that only exists at low water.
- Mobile coverage is poor to absent. Queensland Parks recommends carrying a satellite phone or a personal locator beacon in this area, and at a minimum you should tell someone your plan.
- Crocodiles are a genuine consideration. This is Croc Country, and the Be Crocwise rules apply to the creeks, the mangroves and the water’s edge.
- There are no rubbish bins anywhere in the park, so carry everything out with you.
- Fires are limited to Smalleys Beach, under conditions, and a fuel or gas stove is preferred everywhere.
- Dogs are not permitted in the day-use area, and there is nowhere on site to leave them.
For what to leave for the ranger, the kiosk staff and the guides, our guide to tipping in Australia sets out where it is expected and where it is not. Cape Hillsborough also pairs well with Eungella National Park, the platypus-spotting park inland from Mackay, if you are working your way along the central Queensland coast towards the Great Barrier Reef.
Don’t forget travel insurance
No matter how well you plan a trip, something unexpected can happen. A reservation can be cancelled, you can get sick, or you can drop and break a new camera. In all of those cases, good travel insurance has you covered.
I have had ongoing travel insurance ever since I started travelling, so that I am covered for every trip I go on, but if you travel just a few times a year you can insure each trip separately instead. Don’t have travel insurance yet? Check out SafetyWing. They offer flexible plans you can sign up for while you are already on your trip. They were also the first travel insurance to cover COVID, and when I got COVID they reimbursed all of my expenses without making a fuss. Their customer support team is good and I can personally recommend them.
FAQ about Cape Hillsborough National Park
What time do the kangaroos come out at Cape Hillsborough?
The kangaroos and wallabies reach the beach as soon as there is a little light, which in June meant about 6 a.m. and in summer is usually closer to 5.30 a.m. They start moving off shortly after the sun is up, so arriving at sunrise is arriving late.
Do you have to pay to see the kangaroos at Cape Hillsborough?
You do not pay to stand on Cape Hillsborough beach at sunrise, because the beach and the national park are free to enter. You pay only if you book a guided sunrise tour or stay overnight.
How far is Cape Hillsborough from Mackay?
Cape Hillsborough is about 50 km (31 mi) from Mackay, which is roughly a 45-minute drive. Brisbane is about 1,025 km (637 mi) south.
Are the kangaroos at Cape Hillsborough wild?
The animals are wild and live in the national park, and a ranger manages the morning session to keep visitors at a distance from them. The ranger is the only person who feeds them, using food already in their natural diet.
Do you need a 4WD at Cape Hillsborough?
You reach the national park, the day-use area, the campsite and three of the four tracks in an ordinary car. Queensland Parks lists the Yuwi plant trail as 4WD access, so that is the one trailhead you may have to walk in to.
Is there phone reception at Cape Hillsborough?
Mobile coverage at Cape Hillsborough is poor to non-existent, which is why camping permits and tide times need sorting before you arrive. Queensland Parks recommends carrying a satellite phone or personal locator beacon for walks in the area.
WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips
Five things about Cape Hillsborough would have saved us time and guesswork, and they come from our own night there and from the 2026 park information behind this guide.
- Book the camping permit before you leave Mackay. There is effectively no phone signal at Cape Hillsborough, so a Smalleys Beach permit bought on arrival is not a plan. Queensland Parks suggests six weeks ahead for busy periods.
- Ask reception for the tide times at check-in. We walked Andrews Point without checking and only got the beach return by luck. The campsite desk is the practical place to get them, since your phone will not load a tide chart.
- Set the alarm for an hour before sunrise, not for sunrise. The wallabies are on the sand while it is still grey, and the light people photograph comes before the sun actually appears. In June that meant being on the beach by about 6 a.m.
- Do not count on driving to the Yuwi plant trail. Queensland Parks now lists that trailhead as 4WD access. We walked the road in behind the campsite thinking it was the trail, which is why the official 40 minutes became closer to two hours.
- Keep an eye on the sand, not just the sea. The holes across the beach belong to sand bubbler crabs, and their pellet patterns at low tide are worth more attention than we gave them.
About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first-hand notes in this post come from her road trip along the central Queensland coast and a night at Cape Hillsborough. The team covers Queensland and the rest of Australia for independent travellers, including the national parks, the campgrounds and holiday parks, the walks and the travel insurance worth having, and updates this page when fees, track conditions and park rules change.
