Road trip to Outback Queensland

[RB]

Agree with you re the regional museums. Looks like they have added a few features outside at the Age of Dinosaurs. You have some great photos in your report

 

[samh004]

Finally time to complete this report.

As we started the report while we were on the road and only pieced it together with a few days notice, I wasn't able to prepare a route map. Having now done the journey, I'd like to share with you a day by day recollection along with some missing photos, and then finish the TR from my end.

To start with, we set out on Wednesday last week, the 5th August. The first day was ambitious, as were a lot of them, to make it to Charleville before dark. I started out early from the Gold Coast and met Matt at Goodna Train Station. We took it in turns, stopping occasionally at various towns along the road for photos and breaks.



The first pit stop was Dalby for some breakfast from the golden arches, the last one we'd see for a while. We swapped drivers at Chinchilla, after spotting a big watermelon slice. There's a fair chance we didn't even stop in Miles, I honestly can't remember, but we did try and collect photos of 'welcome to...' signs as we went, so here is one from Miles.



And a few more along the way...









At Roma we stopped for lunch. I can't speak highly enough of how tasty the pies were at Bakearoma. I'd almost drive more often for one of their pies... but 6 hours each direction is a little much. Around Roma I took over driving again, and continued on until Charleville, where we arrived at dusk. I have already posted about our time in Charleville so wont bother repeating myself.



The first day took us about 8.5 hours driving time, at just under 800KM total distance.

 

[samh004]

Charleville up to Longreach was a shorter, and somewhat easier drive. It also helped that by then I knew what to expect from the long hours of driving. This day took 5.5 hours of driving, over slightly more than 500KM. We stopped at Augathella – as you'll know from the post about the 'Giant Meat Ant', Blackall – the post about the 'Wool Scour' and finally into Longreach – Luminescent Longreach & the Airpark Tour the next day.



I want to take this time to mention that activities in the outback are selling out fast, and because of COVID requirements many are also requiring you to book online, usually the day before at least. This is especially true for Longreach. If you want to do any of the tours or do anything more than get museum entry, you will need to book online. Website provided below.

Qantas Founders Museum

Qantas Founders Museum is a world-class organisation here to tell the story of Australia's national airline from early days to present day.

qfom.com.au

I'd like to again take this time to plug the new evening tour, Luminescent Longreach. Here are some photos from their website of what you can expect. I'm reluctant to post any teaser videos I've found as I don't want to ruin the actual experience. If you can travel, now's the perfect time to support these communities and have these experiences.

More signs...









Meanwhile... this was the first of a few 62-wheel beasts I took on (the co-pilot was the photographer).

 

[samh004]

Now, the night we arrived in Longreach actually saw some rain fall after bed. I can't recall if I mentioned it or not, but when it was thundering down on the roof of our cabin I quickly opened up the BOM app on my iPhone to have a look at the extent of the showers.



And here are a few more photos from the Qantas Founders Museum for the day.







Our next stop was just up the road at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs, outside Winton. I've already posted a few photos, but here are a few more.









And finally, that brings us to the end of day 3, where we only travelled 200KM, taking us about 2.25 hours, but we did pack a lot of tours into the day. Not to mention a podcast too.

 

[samh004]

Day 4 was just about equal in length to the first day in terms of distance travelled and driving time. This wasn't helped along by the fact that we actually drove South-West first, before backtracking to head to the final stopover point. The day spanned 9 hours on the road, 800KM driven and about 3 hours in museums.



Lark Quarry was interesting. I'd certainly not experienced that kind of museum before, and until I got there I was starting to feel like it would be an underwhelming experience, but found that the information presented and seeing it before my own eyes actually made it worthwhile. The attraction is the world's only know record of a dinosaur stampede – fossilised footprints. When you read it and say it aloud at first it doesn't sound that riveting, especially because other than some walking trails, that is all that's there. But I do feel it was worth the cost of admission ($30) and the drive out to the middle of no where.

To give you an idea of timings, we left Winton at 07:30 to make it for the 09:30 tour. The tour runs for 45 minutes, at which point we set off back to town, arriving back about 12:00. Now, if you were planning to fit more into the day, like another town, that's a huge chunk of the day gone already. But if you were staying in Winton another night to check out the Musical Fence (Gotye sampled it for his track Eyes Wide Open), Waltzing Matilda Centre or another attraction, then it fills the morning nicely.

So, without further adieu, here are the promised photos of a dinosaur stampede (though I do recommend checking it out for yourself – as the whole premise might be lost without the great backstory provided while there).









A few more photos of the martian landscape outside (including a sneaky one of the photographer).





And finally, never driven on a part-time airstrip before. I'm sure many have in other parts, but it was a first for me.

 

[drross]

Winton..birthplace of Qantas, waltzing Matilda and 3 of my 4 daughters..wonderful place in the 80s and 90s

 

[RooFlyer]

I'd almost drive more often for one of their pies... but 6 hours each direction is a little much.

Uber Eats?

 

[samh004]

You may think the day ended there, but not so for one young aviation fan. On our way back through Longreach we stopped in again for a third visit and look around. Here are some candid shots I managed to take.







A final sunset in Alpha as we drove East!



And the wonderfully lit up streets of Emerald.

 

[samh004]

This finally brings me to day 5, the longest day solely for me. I drove home from Emerald to the Gold Coast, which took me 12 hours – I left at 07:00 and arrived to my driveway at 19:00. Out of those 12 hours, about 1 hour in total accounted for breaks at various rest stops. The almost 950KM drive left me feeling sore, but I had an important meeting to get to on Monday morning.



Along the way, I managed a couple photos, at the 'Big Mandarin' in Mundubbera and the 'Big Orange' in Gayndah. I almost stopped for the 'Big Pineapple' on the way as well, but persevered as I wanted to get home.





So to wrap up, we drove approximately 3250KM in 5 days, staying in 4 outback towns and taking in many more sights along the way. I can certainly recommend the outback as a destination right now. The communities are lovely and friendly, the experiences rich and diverse and generally affordable. There might not be a Hilton or a Hyatt, or even a Best Western sometimes, but they're more than fit for purpose.

 

[samh004]

I want to finish with a post about my car. I imagine many people think that to explore the outback you need a 4WD and a campervan like all the grey nomads you'll meet out there. However, I want to dispel that myth.



The car I drove into the outback is a Suzuki Vitara, it has a 1.4L-turbo engine and most importantly, is a 2WD. The only thing I made sure I had was plenty of extra bottles of water everyday, and a jerrycan with emergency fuel in it. My range is usually 650-750KM per tank and the jerrycan covers about 25% of the tank with 10L.

 

[VPS]

Thanks for an interesting TR - hanging out to get somewhere for a few days

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks for the interesting commentary and photos.

 

[EestiTiger]

What a great trip! I am actually heading on a very similar one this Friday for a week seeing a lot of the same sights

 

[drron]

Absolutely agree with you.western QLD is a great place for visiting.The locals were very friendly and helpful.Social distancing was done very well especially the restaurants.And that is despite no cases of Covid at all.
As well with the car.Only a 2 wheel drive as well.A lot of work has been done on the roads as the unsealed roads we drove on 20+ years ago are now mainly sealed.But you do have to like driving.

 

[Mattg]

I think Sam's done an excellent job with this trip report, and I don't really have much to add other than to say it was a really enjoyable trip, and that it was great to see some more of my own country. Sam also did a good job not to hit any emus, kangaroos, cows or various other wildlife along the way.

I have to say that many of the small towns were busier than I had expected, which is great and will certainly help the economies of those regional towns. Most of the tourists seemed to be grey nomads - we saw a LOT of campervans and caravans around the place.

At this point, I'll just talk about my couple of days in Emerald at the end of the trip. On Sunday, my friend and I drove out to the Gemfields to go fossicking.

The first stop was the local market in Sapphire. This had an interesting mixture of both junk (e.g. old DVDs and videos) and unique art & craft; much of it (obviously) based around gems and jewellery.




The nearby store (a converted BP) also had a fascinating mix of random items for sale at very affordable prices. A bargain hunter’s dream!




Cows hanging around nearby...



We went fossicking at Pat's Gems. You paid $15 for a bucket of dirt and then had the privilege of sorting through it looking for sapphires or other valuable minerals. Of course, you get to keep anything you find.






We found quite a few minerals but only one sapphire that could have been cut, and the cost of getting that done would have been more than the value of the sapphire. Still, it was educational and fossicking for gems was somewhat therapeutic.

 

[Mattg]

Who would have thought you’d find Buckingham Palace here?



We visited the local Austrian Strudel Hut in Rubyvale for lunch. Holy moly, I was not expecting to find delicious strudel in the middle of outback Queensland! The people running it were also really lovely. Günther wakes up at 4am every morning to make fresh apple and cherry strudel, and it's just as good as - if not better than - anything I've tasted in Austria. It's served with whipped cream and ice cream. And just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, the guy came back and said “sorry, I forgot to bring your complimentary Austrian port”. Yum!






It was so good that we came back later in the day for seconds.



Having tried both, I would say my favourite was the sour cherry strudel.

To watch the sunset, we headed up to a viewing point called “policemen’s knob”.

 

[Mattg]

I think some of you may appreciate this sign I spotted on the road to Emerald. Which Oneworld tier are you - Emerald, Sapphire, Ruby or anarchy?



We had a quick drive around the small town of Anakie.



This was the local train station.




I found it slightly amusing that they have a police station. Perhaps there is law & order in Anakie after all?

 

[Mattg]

After dinner at the local log-cabin pub in Rubyvale, we noticed that it was a clear night and that a lot of stars were visible. So we pulled off the highway for a bit and did some star-gazing. I actually think the view was better than in Charleville, although that's probably because there was a new moon.

We tried to take a few photos of the night sky, although I don't think they really do it justice.

 

[Mattg]

Yesterday I had a look around Emerald, which was a nice, friendly town, although there didn't seem to be a lot for tourists in the town itself. Other than the botanical gardens, the main attraction seemed to be the "Big Easel".




It turns out that @craven morehead lives in a nearby town, and he joined me for a very pleasant lunch.

Finally, yesterday evening I flew back to Brisbane with QantasLink.

The Qantas Regional Lounge in Emerald was open. It wasn't that big, but there was enough space for the 5 or so people using it. There was a selection of soft drinks, tea/coffee, beer & wine available, and snacks such as cheese & crackers. If you wanted anything, you just had to ask the attendant and she would get it for you - I assume that's a covid thing to stop people rummaging through the food etc. There was a small outdoor seating area attached to the lounge as well, which overlooks the apron.

The inbound flight was early an we started boarding really early, around 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time. We then ended up leaving 25 minutes early, which I think is a first for me! This was about 5 minutes after the last passenger checked in - it's amazing what's possible at a small but efficient regional airport!

The sun was setting as we took off from Emerald on the Dash 8, and we got some nice views.




This was a standard, pleasant QantasLink flight. Everyone got a bag of crackers & water, and that was it. Pretty much identical to what I got on my last QantasLink flight two months ago.

That's all for my contribution to this trip report. Hope you enjoyed reading, and I would definitely recommend visiting outback Queensland if/when you can!

 

[VPS]

Thanks to you both for something other than the C word