South West Queensland & Lightning Ridge Rover

Depart on our opulent ‘Diamond Class’ coach from Brisbane Coach Terminal on Roma Street, and travel responsibly knowing all coach emissions are 100% offset. We travel through the Lockyer Valley and onto Toowoomba where we have morning tea at Picnic Point. A perfect opportunity for a photo of the Lockyer Valley below. We continue through Dalby and onto Chinchilla for lunch. Continuing west along the Warrego Highway through Miles finishing our day at Roma.

We start our day at Roma’s Cattle Sale yards which is the largest cattle selling facility in Australia. We browse the new state-of-the-art interpretive centre telling the story of the cattle industry. As you enter the Interpretive Centre, you could be forgiven for thinking you’d joined a cattle drive on the long paddock. Leaving Roma we take a stop at Morven, then continue on Charleville for a tour and lunch at the historic Hotel Corones. Built in stages, the hotel was completed in 1929 during Charleville’s wool industry boom. Following lunch we take a guided gossip tour of Charleville and visit the Bilby Centre to see the super cute bilbies in their spectacular nocturnal house. Learn about the plight of the bilby and the successful breeding and release program. Tonight enjoy drinks and canapés followed by the Big Sky Twilight Tour at The Cosmos Centre. See an amazing night sky brought into focus with the help of powerful Meade telescopes and listen to captivating stories from an experienced sky guide.

Arriving in Cunnamulla we break at the famous Cunnamulla Fella statue, a larger than-life statue tribute to the Aussie larrikin stockman. Enjoy a visit to The Artesian Time Tunnel, stepping inside a mock opal mine lift and taking a journey through time. We go back 100 million years, deep into the middle of ancient sandstone rocks that form part of the Artesian Basin. Discover the home of ancient animals and Australia’s largest dinosaurs that roamed the Eromanga Inland Sea many millions of years ago. You will experience an old opal mine and hear about the ‘Yowah Nut’ and the early days in the opal fields. Back on the road passing through outback country towns, we break at Bollon Pub for a counter lunch before making our way to the South West Queensland town of St George.

A leisurely breakfast this morning before we board the coach with a local guide for a Heritage tour of St George. This includes a visit to Anchorage Homestead to discover the history of one of the oldest homesteads in the shire, heritage listed and built in 1903. We leave the homestead and make our way to the well-respected makers of Riversands Wines for a tour of the vineyard followed by wine tasting and a three-course winery lunch. After returning to our accommodation, enjoy the afternoon at leisure before meeting up again for dinner.

Our first stop today is Thallon’s beautiful town park, for a selfie with ‘William the Wombat’, a giant sculpture of the critically endangered Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat. We join a local guide to learn more of the town’s special connection to the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat, see the town’s numerous sculptures, and seek out the vibrant Thallon Silo Mural. After lunch, we continue on to Lightning Ridge, once a forested plain near this ancient sea, famed for dazzling opal and as one of Australia’s most important dinosaur fossil sites. Our afternoon is spent at the Australian Opal Centre which houses the world’s greatest public collection of Australian opal, rare opalised fossils, opal-related geological samples and opal from around the world. From here we make our way to our hotel to check-in.

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Our local guide shows us many hidden gems in this fascinating town. We visit Fred Bodel’s hut, the oldest miner’s camp in the area and the Historic Three Mile Flat, the site of the early miners’ settlement. We travel back to town for morning tea and an opal cutting demonstration. Later we learn about the historic opal mining techniques at Lunatic Hill Open Cut. Next we see the Astronomers’ Monument, the hand built Amigo’s Castle and Bevan’s cactus gardens. After lunch we visit ‘Chambers of the Black Hand’ a national treasure in the making in a 100 year old mine shaft. After a day of sightseeing we take a therapeutic soak in the naturally heated thermal baths.

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We farewell Lightning Ridge and head for Moree in the beautiful Gwydir Valley. We continue on through this rich rural region, home to wheat, cotton, wool, beef and sheep producers. We reach Goondiwindi in time for lunch, then join a local guide for a town and cotton tour. Discover the heart of the town’s cotton industry, showcasing the process of cotton farming from planting to harvesting, see the crop (if in season) up close and learn about the irrigation systems and other farming practices used to cultivate the cotton.

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We head for home today and celebrate the conclusion of our tour, we indulge in a long lunch over looking the vines at Albert River Wines, before our return to Brisbane Coach Terminal.