South West Queensland & Lightning Ridge Rover

We depart from the Brisbane Coach Terminal on our opulent ‘Diamond Class’ or luxury ‘Gold Class’ coach, travelling 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, then on along the Warrego Highway through Miles to finish our day at Roma.

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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 Observatory Outback Stargazing 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. Further down the road we break in Bollon and take a Nullawokka First Nations Cultural Tour, enjoying a bush tucker-inspired lunch and a tour with Bill, a Gwamu/Kooma elder from the area. A visit to the Nullawokka Art Gallery in the historic post office reveals thoughtfully curated Indigenous artworks and an insight into local places of significance for the First Nations people. We finish our day travelling on to St George.

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This morning we are joined by a knowledgeable 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.

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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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Today, 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 join a local guide for a cotton farm 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, visit the cotton gin to see the processing of cotton bales, and other farming practices used to cultivate the cotton. We finish our day travelling on to Goondiwindi.

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Making our way back to Brisbane, we indulge in a long lunch overlooking the vines at Albert River Wines. The sweeping grounds are home to two historic buildings and sprawling vineyards, we arrive back to the Brisbane Coach Terminal late afternoon.

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