Are you saying it's longer or shorter to Cairns?
We did Cairns in two days from Brissie, but that's because we wanted to stop along the way... we did brisbane to mackay in easy 10 hours and then Mackay to Cairns in easy 8 hours... we stopped in Townsville for a good 2/3 hours... And bundaberg is like ~3 hours from brisbane?
The drive to Cairns on the Bruce highway is actually alright! People were telling us how crap it was, but it was way better than I expected. Just make sure your alert between rockhampton and mackay and bowen to Home hill.. those are probably the two worst stretches.. After home hill, theres very little outback and it's more tropical and sugar cane.