Outback Queensland
As Queensland is such a big state, with such varying landscapes, we couldn’t possibly do it justice in one post. So we thought we would do the state over 3 posts, outback Queensland, far north tropical Queensland and south east Queensland.
This post will cover our trip through Outback Queensland. From crossing the border along the granite belt near Stanthorpe through to Charters Towers.
Crossing the bOrder
We had loved our journey up the New England Highway, but our next chapter was ahead. A new state with so much to see, we were finally reaching the warmer weather. We were looking forward to exploring Outback Queensland.
We had decided on a couple of days in Stanthorpe to break up the journey. Set 811 meters above sea level, we were still feeling those chilly mornings at the start of winter. We thought as we got closer to Queensland the temps would increase but they didn’t.
Stanthorpe has a varied past. Back in the late 1800s, people came to Stanthorpe to mine tin. The towns name actually derives from a mix of Latin and Middle English. Stannum is Latin for Tin and Thorpe means village Middle English. So Stanthorpe means Tintown.
After a decline in tin mining, locals had to find in another way to survive and turned to farming fruit and vegetables. The climate was perfect growing conditions and the first grapevines were planted.
The region boasts many wineries to this day. We visited Pyramid Road winery whilst we were here for a port. Due to the local climate, they don’t stock a dark port, so decided to try the Mistella fortified wine. The winery itself is situated down a gravel road and the building is more like a rustic shed but the host and his dogs are very friendly.
There are a number of foodie places in the area. We visited Brass Monkey micro brewery for lunch. Everything is brewed on site and the food is delicious. We had the Bratwurst, served on crusty bread with onions sauce and melted cheese…. Yum
Our last stop was heavenly chocolates. This is a small cottage making all their own chocolate. The girl who spoke to in the shop at the front of the cottage is a chocolatier, her knowledge on everything sweet was amazing. There is so much to choose from in the shop, you won’t know where to start.
Toowoomba
Like other towns and settlements in the area, Toowoomba has a rich aboriginal history. The Giabal and Jarowair people were the traditional owners of the land, before European pioneers arrived in the early 1800s. The Europeans started to settle in the area in the 1840s onwards.
The town has a blend of old and new buildings alike and if we’d had extra time in the town, we would’ve spent more time exploring all that Toowoomba has to offer.
As our stop in Toowoomba was for maintenance, we only had 1 night in town and stayed at Toowoomba Motor Village. This was a great little site, located straight off the A3, but had a beautiful park behind with a river. Tilly loved her walks here.
We had been having on going issues with our fridge since leaving Melbourne and had eventually got Thetford to come to the party and organise a new fridge. We had arranged for it to be sent to Toowoomba, so we had the fridge installed whilst we saw some of the highlights of the town.
Whilst our new fridge was being installed we went for breakfast at Ortem cafe in town. The breakys here was pretty good.
We then went for a drive up to picnic point, there is a great lookout, with views for miles. With a cafe close by and parkland, it would be a lovely place to spend a morning or afternoon.
After Toowoomba, we had a couple of overnight stops before Caranavon Gorge. We had an overnight stop in Chinchilla and Roma.
Chinchilla has one of the best caravan parks. The individual sites are well kept as well as the surrounding areas. The amenities and laundry are also new and very clean. A definite must stay if you’re passing through town.
CarnArvon Gorge
Now deep into outback Queensland we were really looking forward to Carnarvon Gorge. Located off the Carnarvon Highway, this beautiful natural wonder is well worth the detour. From the highway, it’s about a 40km drive, along a narrow road and cattle grids. Fortunately there is still enough space to pass on coming traffic, but you both need to make allowances by sitting to the left. However it is bitumen all the way, so the journey is smooth.
We stayed at Sandstone Park, which is only a couple of Kilometres outside of the National Park. This is the only dog friendly camp in the area, outside of either Rolleston or Injune.
Sandstone Park is a completely self-sufficient camp. They do have porta-loos and a dump point, but that is it. However they do have the best views towards the ranges and gorge. The site is very elevated, with a 360 degree views for as far as the eye can see.
The sites are all drive through and with over 50 acres of land to choose from, so you’re never on top of your neighbours. We opted to stay on the far end of the camp away from the main road, so we didn’t get too much passing traffic from other travellers.
for more information on sandstone park click on the link http://www.sandstonepark.com.au
The gorge
We spent 2 days visiting the Gorge. Thankfully we visited in mid June so the temperatures were perfect for walking and leaving Tilly in the van. Our max day time temps were 17, so we left Tilly with the 12v fan on in the van and got out nice and early so we were back for lunch time.
There is a visitor information centre at the entrance to the National Park so we popped in to get a map. The rangers are really helpful at the centre and advised what was worth seeing with our available time frame.
There are walks to suit everyone, from a 300m stroll to a 20km hike. With what time we had we opted for some of the shorter walks so we could fit a few things in. In total we walked about 7km over these 4 walks.
Short walks
- Rock Pool – only a short walk from the car park, there is a water crossing over stones to get to the other side of the creek, however it’s not too tricky.
- Baloon Cave – This is probably a couple of kms return from the where we parked the car. The walk itself it very easy to navigate as it’s along a tarmac path, it stretches through bushland until you find the cave. The cave was a meeting place for local aboriginal people and has some fantastic aboriginal art work to view.
- Nature walk – From the visitor information centre you can take this short walk, its about a 1.5km circuit. The walk meanders along Carnarvon creek, where again there is a couple of water crossings. It’s a beautiful shady walk through the native bush and fauna.
- Mickey Creek – This is the longest of the short walks, its a 3km return journey. The path starts at the car park and is very easy to start with, but the deeper in you go, the more narrow the track goes and involves a few rock hopping sections. It you’re able on foot it’s most definitely worth the short hike in. At the end of the track, you really are in the gorge, with the gorge walls towering above your head.
For the adventurous types, there are also some great alternative tours available. If the weather had have been better whilst we were there, we would’ve done the evening astronomy tour. As we had an overcast night, it would’ve been a waste of money.
There is also a night time safari tour on offer, this would be great if you’ve got little ones. With close encounters with the nocturnal animals of the gorge, kids would love the hunt of looking for some of Australia’s finest animals.
for more information on Carnarvon Gorge visit this website https://www.npsr.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-gorge/
Rolleston
After Carnarvon Gorge we had one night in Rolleston. This is a lovely little town, with a small but busy caravan park. This would be a good stop for those who aren’t self contained to visit the gorge from. There is a large oval in town for exercising your dog on as well. Tilly was ready for a big run after the gorge, as we were limited to where we could walk her, because of the proximity to the National Park.
Emerald
Emerald is the main town in the Gemfields of Queensland. First explored by Europeans between 1843 – 1845, before finally being colonised in 1859 by the British. However there has been a long history of the Gayiri aboriginal people in the area for thousands of years.
The town was originally established to be a point on the central line from Rockhampton some 270km east of Emerald.
Even though the town is in the gemfields this isn’t it main industry. The region has a large coal, cotton and agricultural industry.
We stayed at Emerald Tourist Park, a lovely quiet area of town and really close to the botanical gardens, which was great for walking Tilly.
One of the main reasons to stop in Emerald is to try your hand at fossicking. We had no idea what to expect, but we had heard that people had found some decent gems.
Fossicking
We did our research and decided to head out to Miners Cottage in Rubyvale. It’s only about a 30 minute drive from Emerald and it is dog friendly. Upon arriving, there was already a fair few people at the cottage. There is a couple of employees there who will explain the process of fossicking. You buy your bucket of dirt as it’s called. Then use a pan with a fine mesh appearance base, wash the contents in the water to remove dirt and debris from the rocks. This takes about 3-4 minutes of dunking as washing. Once the vast amount of earth has disappeared, take your tray over to your sorting table and the hunt begins.
The hosts explain what you’re looking for, checking each rock, looking for the elusive gems hidden amongst the rocks and debris. Anything which has a shiny appearance and once held up to the sunlight has visible light coming through goes in the good container.
We spent a good couple of hours with our bucket. It costs $15 per bucket and one bucket between 2 people is more than enough to keep you going. We didn’t find any large gems however we found some really pretty medium sized pieces which can be cut down into shape and polished. Once we get this done, it will always be a beautiful memory of our day gem hunting. I think we ended up with 50 plus gems of varying sizes.
After spending time fossicking, we really felt what life must have been like in outback Queensland back in the day, when prospectors were trying to make their fortune. Life must have hard in those summer months, but that find could set them up for life.
Belyando Crossing
We had heard the drive between Emerald and Charters Towers was a bit of a ropey ride. It was a sealed road, but wasn’t the nicest of roads. With this information we thought we’d have an overnight stop at service station stop known as Belyando Crossing, about half way between the 2 towns.
As we drove Gregory highway from Emerald the road was fairly up and down hill and bumpy. However not as bad as we’d been informed off other travellers. We still decided to try out this servo as it would be fun being that far from anywhere and hopefully we’d get a clear night for star gazing.
When we arrived, it had the same feel as the service stations on the Nullarbor, like a scene from the Wild West with tumble weeds rolling across the floor, we really were in outback Queensland. The staff at the station are really friendly, more than happy to help. They offer powered and unpowered sites, but no water, but there are amenities on-site, with toilets and showers. We decided on a powered site as these sites were level whereas the non powered weren’t.
Luckily we had a really clear but cold night, damn these winter temperatures, it should be warmer now lol
The stars were amazing, we could see the Milky Way, planets, the moon and millions of stars. We were even given a beautiful sunset out to the west. Definitely worth the stop to break your the journey.
Charters towers
The following day we left Belyando Crossing for Charters Towers. The road was still as bumpy as it had been previously, but now went by the name Gregory development road.
Charters Towers is a town founded on a gold rush in the later part of the late 1800s. Gold was found by a young aboriginal boy called Jupiter Mosman on Christmas Eve in 1871, I bet he thought all his Christmas’ had come at once… lol
The story goes that Jupiter and a small group of prospectors were out searching when a flash of lightning scared the horses and caused them to bolt. Whilst searching for the horses at the base of Towers Hill, Jupiter located the horses and a nugget of gold in the creek.
The town boomed during this time, to the point that Charters even had its own stock exchange. With 10 major reefs mined Charters Towers had the 2nd largest population outside of Brisbane at this time, being home to 30,000 inhabitants.
Charters towers today
The town still offers tours for those interested in its mining history. The stock exchange building is also still there. We actually had a tea and piece of cake at a cafe here. The inside passage way is beautiful, with decor from the late 1800s and a glass ceiling which kept Tilly entertained, as there were helium balloons hovering up there
There is also a lookout at Towers Hill which has views across the town and beyond. The town itself still retains the historical buildings and feel of an old mining town. It also has everything you could need for a few days exploring the area. If you’ve got a couple of days to spare, make sure you stop. We stayed at Charters Towers tourist park. Located just on the outskirts of town. Great for Tilly as they had a large oval at the back for her walks. The park is well maintained with new amenities.
We have really enjoyed the drive up through Outback Queensland, seeing different landscapes and country towns. Definitely roads less travelled. We are so glad that we chose this route now, rather than in the summer. Yes it’s been cold still but it’s been great to get out and see places away from the coast.
Put Outback Queensland on your list of places to visit.