The main strip is Goondoon Street, where there's a "mall" - just the usual high-street shops, post office and banks - and a couple of hotels and motels. You'll find a helpful information centre (Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm, Sat-Sun 9am-5pm) inside the ferry terminal at the marina , about 2km north of the centre on Bryan Jordan Drive. A casual, basic hostel is hidden away at 12 Rollo St (tel 07/4972 5744, fax 4972 4266; under $20); to get there, go to the marina end of Goondoon Street, turn left and it's three streets down past a small real estate agent, or give them a call and they'll pick you up when you arrive. Gladstone Reef Hotel , 38 Goondoon St (tel 07/4972 1000; $90-115), has ordinary motel rooms and good views from a rooftop pool. Cafes in the mall range from Munchies at 46 Goondoon St, a cheap and cheerful Mexican place with budget lunches during the week, to Swaggy's at no. 52, where you can spoil yourself with native cuisine - emu, crocodile, kangaroo - at gourmet prices.

Diving can be arranged through Gladstone Diving at Last Wave Watersports, 16 Goondoon St (tel 07/4972 9185). They take qualified divers out on day-trips to Lamont reef ($155 plus $30 gear hire for two dives), and for the weekend to Llewellyn and Fitzroy reefs south of Heron (Fri-Sun; $350 plus gear for 6-8 dives) - both good value. Their seven-day dive courses cost $495 and are actually conducted at Great Keppel Island up near Rockhampton.