North of Townsville the Bruce Highway crosses the Cardwell Range. At the top of the range crossing, the Hinchinbrook Lookout gives good views of Hinchinbrook Island only a few metres from a parking area built especially for it.
From the lookout, the southern end of Hinchinbrook Island can be seen offshore, part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Hinchinbrook Lookout is within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, one of a few spots along the northern Queensland coast where the two world heritage areas meet 
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The lookout area has a shelter with interpretive signs around three fenced sides. One of the signs indicates the feature points of the view, showing Deluge Inlet, Leefe Peak, Hinchinbrook Channel, Mt Bowen, Haycock Island, Seymore River, Mt Diamantina (with a peak of 955 metres), Mount Straloch (almost as tall at 922 metres), and George Point at the southern tip of Hinchinbrook Island.
Mount Straloch is the site of a WWII aircraft crash during a storm in 1942. The B-24 Liberator was named Lady Ann, but is now commonly known as Texas Terror with that name found on what was possibly the tail gunner’s position. It is the same type of aircraft that crashed in 1945 at Kroombit Tops, a B-24D Liberator called Beautiful Betsy .
We were planning a hike on Hinchinbrook Island but weather wasn’t great, in particular the swell preventing getting boat access to the island. We couldn’t wait for the weather to pass so the lookout was our substitute (and a massage in Airlie Beach a few days later).
From the lookout, a short walk leads to Panjoo Lookout with basically the same view except it is less obstructed and from a higher point. The path is easy to walk and a short distance (around 100 metres or so). It is paved all the way but there are stairs along the way.
Once you reach the top of Panjoo Lookout, the view of Hinchinbrook Island and the other features open up. A noticeable difference is that the Hinchinbrook Lookout has powerlines running in front of the view. The walk to Panjoo Lookout takes you passed the powerlines so the vista is provided uninterrupted.
A risk of travelling the beautiful north Queensland is the weather isn’t always ideal for views from lookouts such as this. May is normally out of the wet season, but we had rain almost every day for nearly 2 weeks. We were lucky to get dry weather but there were a lot of clouds and the air still hazy, but it was still worth stopping when passing through.
Hinchinbrook Lookout is on the eastern side of the Bruce Highway (heading south), however, there is an access road from both sides to reach the lookout.
