Queensland

From the Survivor II Site:

The hit show that critics call the "wildest show on television" will return to CBS in 2001, and you could be a part of it! Imagine that in October of 2000, you and fifteen other strangers are stranded, hundreds of miles from anywhere, in the Australian Outback. Dry arid open land criss-crossed with deep rock canyons, thundering waterfalls, and enormous eucalyptus forests. This is your new home for seven weeks. The only other inhabitants are kangaroos, emus, wild pigs and horses, crocodiles, large goannas (lizards), and exotic bird life. It seems almost mystical, but you are now part of a bold challenge where only one of you will win the ultimate prize of one million dollars.

During 'Survivor: The Reunion', Jeffy told us a little bit about where the next Survivor will be held - the most interesting being, IMHO, that the Tribal Councils will be held atop a huge waterfall. The scenery looks to be stunning.

gatormeatisyummy found a good deal of information on the location in mid-August:

A fusion of Florida, Las Vegas, and the Caribbean Islands, Queensland is a mecca for crowd lovers and escapists alike, whether you wish to be awash in the Coral Sea, to stroll from cabana to casino with your favorite cocktail, or to cruise rivers and rain forests with crocs and other fascinating creatures of the tropics. Queensland is a state of enormous geographic variety—the sheer size of it defies homogeneity. Queensland occupies 1,727,999 square km (667,180 square mi)—more than four times the size of California—and its eastern seaboard stretches 5,200 km (3,224 mi)—about the distance from Rome to Cairo—from the subtropical Gold Coast to the wild and steamy rain forests of the far north. Only in recent years has the northern tip, the Cape York Peninsula, been fully explored, and crocodiles still claim a human victim once in a while. Away from the coastal sugar and banana plantations, west of the Great Dividing Range, Queensland looks as arid and dust-blown as any other part of Australia's interior. Few paved roads cross this semidesert, and, as in the Red Centre, communication with remote farms is mostly by radio and air. Not surprisingly, most of the state's 3.2 million inhabitants reside on the coast.

The major attraction for Australians and foreign tourists alike is the Great Barrier Reef. This 1,900-km (1,200-mi) ecological masterpiece supports thousands of animal species. With such an abundance of marine life, it's not surprising that Queensland is a fishing mecca. Cairns and Lizard Island in the far north are renowned for big-game fishing—often enough, black marlin weigh in at more than a half ton.

Brisbane is beautifully landscaped, brimming with jacarandas, tulip trees, flame trees, oleanders, frangipani, and the ever-stunning bougainvillea. In summer the city broils, and although the climate is pleasant at other times of the year, there is never any doubt that this is a subtropical region. Brisbane's inner-city landmarks — a combination of Victorian, Edwardian, and slick high-tech architecture — are best explored on foot. Most of them lie within the triangle formed by Ann Street and the bends of the Brisbane River.

For many years this was the fastest-growing playground in Australia. As a result, skyscraper condominiums jostle for waterfront positions, while the streets below are lined with souvenir shops, fast-food stalls, and restaurants. The area can be garish, glitzy, and even crass — but it is never, never dull. Don't come here if you want to get away from it all, because life on the Gold Coast is a nonstop party.

An hour south of Brisbane, the Gold Coast officially comprises the 32 km (20 mi) from Southport to Coolangatta, but it has sprawled almost as far inland as Nerang. It is without doubt the most developed tourist destination in Australia, its popularity ensured by 300 days of sunshine a year and an average temperature of 75°F. Christmas and June through August are peak seasons.

Sunshine Coast

One hour from Brisbane by car to its southernmost point, the Sunshine Coast is a 60-km (37-mi) stretch of white-sand beaches, inlets, lakes, and mountains. It begins at the Glass House Mountains in the south and extends to Rainbow Beach in the north. Kenilworth is its inland extent, 40 km (25 mi) west of the ocean. Except for a few touristy eyesores, it has avoided the high-rise glitz of its southern cousin, the Gold Coast. You'll find a quieter, more relaxing pace here, with abundant national parks, secluded coves, and magnificent rain forests spilling down to the ocean.

The Sunshine Coast is generally for the physically active — swimming and surfing are superb, and sports facilities are every bit as good as those on the Gold Coast. It's also the place to find some monumental Aussie kitsch, like the Ettamogah Pub, Big Pineapple, the House of Bottles, and the Big Shell.

Fraser Island

Some 200 km (124 mi) north of Brisbane, Fraser Island is both the largest of Queensland's islands and the most unusual. Instead of coral reefs and coconut palms, it has wildflower-dotted meadows, freshwater lakes, a teeming and exotic bird population, dense stands of rain forest, towering sand dunes, and sculpted, multicolor sand cliffs along its east coast — a lineup that has won the island a place on UNESCO's World Heritage list. The surf fishing is legendary, and humpback whales and their calves can be seen wintering in Hervey Bay between May and September. The island also has interesting Aboriginal sites dating back a millennia.

Townsville and Magnetic Island

Townsville is Australia's largest tropical city, with a population of 130,000. Unlike tourist-filled Cairns to the north, it relies on its deep-water port from which sugar, beef, wool, and the mineral wealth of Mount Isa are exported. In fact, the city is the commercial capital of the north and a major center for education, scientific research, and defense. Townsville is built around the pink granite outcrop of Castle Hill, the first feature one notices about the place, which rises from otherwise featureless coastal plains to just under 1,000 ft. On the banks of the boat-filled Ross Creek, Townsville is a pleasant city, an urban sprawl of palm-fringed malls, white lattice verandas on historic colonial buildings, and lots of parkland and gardens. If you want to get into the real Australian tropical life, this is the place to visit. It isn't fancy, but there is a fair amount to see, including the Great Barrier Reef Wonderland aquarium. Townsville is also the stepping off point for Magnetic Island, one of the largest Queensland islands.

Magnetic Island is essentially an island suburb, where the sounds of birds and other wildlife replace the sounds of the city. Captain James Cook bestowed the title Magnetic on the island in the erroneous belief that the ironstone deposits caused his compass to err. He was wrong, but the name stuck, and today 2,500 people call the island home. The terrain of Magnetic Island is well suited for bushwalking — it's hilly rather than mountainous — and 75% of it is national park. There are some great jungle walks and a serrated coastline of rocky headlands sheltering palm-shaded beaches. Wallabies, koalas, possums, and a great variety of birds make up the wild population of the island. Reefs protect the shoreline, but, unlike islands farther offshore, marine stingers can infest the beaches between October and April.

Cairns

Cairns is the capital of the region known as Far North Queensland. The city is closer to Papua New Guinea than it is to most of Australia, and its sense of isolation has only just begun to lessen with its role as an international gateway. Nevertheless, it still feels like a tropical town. Many older homes are built on stilts to catch ocean breezes, and overhead fans are ubiquitous. The city itself is totally flat, surrounded by rain forest, and macadamia, sugarcane, and pineapple plantations. The Coral Sea forms the town's eastern boundary, and to the west are the slopes of the dividing range leading up to the Atherton Tableland.