Go West and discover Queensland’s big skies and wide, open spaces that are packed with history and adventure.
Some areas are household names, others are little out-of-the-way places with big appeal but often the only discouragement in getting to see them is the vast distances needed to be travelled.
Paul Brockhurst of CT Travel has solved that with an Outback to Coast tour for 12 days from 3 June – cover the miles in a luxury coach and fly home from Proserpine.
“Sit back and relax as we journey to central west and coastal Queensland,” he says. “Outback Queensland has always been a place for adventurous, independent, and inventive people to create a life far from the city.”
History is on show from the Roma cattle saleyards, and the wartime secrets of Charleville airport, to Winton, where Banjo Paterson’s Waltzing Matilda was heard for the first time, and the rich story of gold in Charters Towers.
Winton’s Australian Age of Dinosaurs centre has the largest collection of Australian dinosaur fossils while Longreach has the famous School of Distance Education, Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Qantas Founders Museum.
Cruise the Thompson River and feast at a traditional stockman’s dinner at the camp of Captain Starlight, Australia’s famous cattle duffer Harry Redford.
Head east through Barcaldine and Hughenden to the Whitsunday coast at Airlie Beach. Sail to Hamilton Island, admire the glaringly white sand of Whitehaven Beach and see crocodiles sunning themselves on a riverbank.
“This journey highlights the contrasts of our great state, from outback to coast,” Mr Brockhurst says.
For a shorter adventure, try a seven-day escape staying at the Wallaroo Outback Retreat and visiting the Carnarvon Gorge. Three departure dates – 6 May, 22 August or 2 September.
The stay at Wallaroo Station, 29,000ha of some of Australia’s best beef cattle country, captures the magnificent scenery of the Carnarvon Ranges from the western escarpment of the Arcadia Valley and is the perfect base for day trips with experienced nature guides to the spectacular Carnarvon Gorge National Park.
See ancient forests with cycads thousands of years old, Aboriginal cultural sites, canyons, majestic cliffs where water has eroded a dramatic gorge system through layers of sandstone, and rugged wilderness.
Put a place to names that pique the curiosity – the Aboriginal site the Axe Factory, Date Rock, Cycad Gorge, Rainbow Cave, and Mt Abundance Homestead, rare surviving evidence of the pastoral development of western Queensland from the 1850s.
Full itineraries plus a list of other upcoming tours where you can choose your destination and duration, can be found on the CT Travel website.
Visit cttravel.com.au or call 5391 1648.
