Things to do at Cape Palmerston, Queensland: Visitor guide

The Cape Palmerston National Park in Queensland is a 4WD-only affair. Self-sufficient campers find Cape Palmerston worth visiting for fishing, boating, driving along the beaches and birdwatching.

The Cape Palmerston National Park inhabits a largely forgotten corner of Queensland. It’s well off the Bruce Highway, about 115km south-west of Mackay in the Whitsundays region.

Covering 7,160 hectares, the Cape Palmerston National Park is an increasingly rare stretch of undeveloped Queensland coast.

To get to Cape Palmerston, you need a 4WD vehicle.

The rugged tracks are often impassable after heavy rain.

A beach in the Cape Palmerston National Park, Queensland. Photo courtesy of Tourism and Events Queensland/Brooke Miles.

Cape Palmerston Holiday Park

Cape Palmerston is off the Bruce Highway on the notoriously dull Rockhampton to Mackay section.

To get to Cape Palmerston, turn off the Bruce Highway at Ilbilbie, then head east towards Greenhill.

The park boundary is about 6km along the Cape Palmerston Road from Greenhill.

The road is sealed up to the Cape Palmerston Holiday Park which, confusingly, is not quite on the cape itself. This caravan park is next to the beach, and there are often kangaroos and wallabies grazing in the grounds.

Things to do at Cape Palmerston: Windmill Bay

Actual Cape Palmerston – as in the cape, rather than the holiday park named after it – is much trickier to access, however.

The Windmill Bay camping area is the main hub inside the park, and that’s about another hour’s drive from the park boundary.

Getting to Windmill Bay is the key part of the adventure, however. The main road in this part is the beach, and driving along the beach requires low tides.

Cape Palmerston tides

Check the tides very carefully before attempting it, and be aware that in wet conditions the few inland tracks can be impassable.

The park is left in its natural wherever possible. And that natural state is a complex network mangroves, pioneer dunes, melaleuca woodlands, wetlands, rainforests, grasslands and eucalypt woodlands.

Things to do at Cape Palmerston: Boating, fishing and birdwatching

The main things to do at Cape Palmerston are boating, fishing and birdwatching.

It’s also possible to drive along the beach – but make sure you check the tide times. The beach is impassable at high tide.

The national park is not especially well set up for visitors, so don’t go expecting well-marked bush-walking trails. You can scramble up to the top of Cape Palmerston for coastal views, however.

Otherwise, the main highlight of the Cape Palmerston National Park is birdwatching. Sea eagles and ospreys swoop along the coastline, while thousands of shorebirds such as curlews roam the beaches.

Anyone entering the park is going to have to be fairly self-sufficient. Basic camping is available at Cape Palmerston, Windmill Bay and Cape Creek. Be extremely careful around the waterways, however – big saltwater crocodiles live here. For more information, visit the Queensland Parks and Forests site.