Great Outback Queensland Adventure

Departing on our luxury ‘Gold Class’coach from Brisbane Coach terminal on Roma Street, we travel through the Lockyer Valley and continue through Dalby and Chinchilla to Roma.

We discover the oil and gas industry this morning, taking a guided tour of the Big Rig Oil & Gas Museum. Our guided tour will tell the story of Australia’s first discovery of petroleum, through the boom and bust years of oil and gas exploration and on to today’s multibillion dollar industry. We continue on to Miles to visit the Historical Village Museum that features over 34 original and replica buildings set in a streetscape reminiscent of a town from the late 1800s. Each building houses their own special collection. The facility also contains a War Museum displaying photographs, stories and militaria from the Light Horse in WW1 through to the Vietnam War. This afternoon’s tour is a wow factor. Exclusively designed for Fun Over Fifty, our visit to Maranoa Beef offers us hands on interaction with the cattle, a guided relaxing creek walk stopping at a couple of gorgeous, natural formations along the way, finishing with Sundowners on Little Hill. Mother Nature provides the wow factor here as we relax and enjoy the changing colours of a big sky sunset while enjoying the drinks and canapés.

Today brings a travel day as we depart Roma and head to Morven. Here we break for a cuppa in the shade of the large red river gums at Saddliers Waterhole, once the town’s sole supply of water. We then continue on to Tambo (the Outback Teddy Bear Capital), before arriving in Barcaldine.

This morning we take in the Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail, the largest outdoor sculpture museum in the world where the collection of life-sized scrap metal sculptures, somehow blends in the ruggedness and unpredictability of the Queensland outback. After a lake-side cuppa we make our way to Aramac making a stop at the Aramac Pub for counter lunch and true country hospitality. We spend the afternoon on an authentic cultural journey as ancient and contemporary shared histories come alive through the passion of Cheryl Thompson, descendent of the Yiningai people. The Connecting to Country experience offers and insight into traditional tribal body art and its meanings, dot painting, tribal stories, as well as song and dance presentations. Later, we continue on to Longreach where we unpack for 3 nights.

Today we travel to Winton and visit the Age of Dinosaurs exhibit, the world’s largest collection of unique Australian dinosaur fossils and the most productive fossil preparation lab in the southern hemisphere. The museum, perched on top of a spectacular rocky plateau, captures the fossil fever that has gripped the area since the first bones of gigantic Sauropod ‘Elliot’ were discovered. We then make our way back into Winton for lunch at the Waltzing Matilda Centre and enjoy some time at the museum. We finish our day visiting the peculiar Arnos Wall and playing a tune on what is believed to be the world’s only musical fence.

We start today with a visit to the famous Australian Stockman’s Hallof Fame where bush history slides up close to you with tales of bush-rangers, shearers, stockmen and drovers. Enjoy the live Outback Stockman’s Show with working dogs, horses, sheep, bull and resident larakin stockman. Next, we make our way to the Qantas Founders Museum where we join the Captain’s Tour discovering national treasures and displays that bring alive the inspirational stories of one of the world’s pioneering airlines. Tonight, we take a sunset cruise on the Thomson River, relaxing on the top deck toasting the sunset and stunning colours of the outback sky. We disembark and enjoy an outback dinner and show beside a campfire and under a canopy of outback stars.

This morning we enjoy a hardy country champagne breakfast with Outback Dan and his family at the historical homestead of Camden Park Station. We then enjoy a tour of the famous station and see firsthand the diversification into solar farming, goats, and organic cattle. We visit the shearing shed that has shorn over 2 million sheep and experience the station’s true connection to the bush. Departing Longreach, we break in Alpha before arriving in Emerald to take a walk on the mosaic pathway which depicts 100 years of local history and is home to the world’s largest Van Gogh sunflower painting. Our day draws to a close when we arrive in Springsure.

An early start making our way into Carnarvon Gorge National Park, an oasis hidden in the rugged ranges of Queensland’s Central Highlands, surrounded by towering white sandstone cliffs, spectacular scenery, and an amazing diversity of flora and fauna. On arrival enjoy early morning refreshments before joining a local naturalist guide to embark on the moss garden walk through the lush rainforest environment. Enjoy a picnic style lunch at the Moss Gardens then return to our coach for our journey south through Injune to Roma.

On the final leg of this outback journey we make our way back to Brisbane breaking for a cuppa at Chinchilla before continuing onto Picnic Point, Toowoomba for lunch with a view. We arrive back in Brisbane at approximately 4:30pm.