Queensland

Queensland = the Sunshine State

An amazing variety and diverse contrast from tropical beaches to outback arid regions most with an enormous amount of history and stunning landscape. Most are aware of the coastal tourist hot spots however there are fabulous outback regions irrespective of your adventuring desires.

Everyone is aware of the many great coastal tourist locations from the theme parks and beaches on the Gold Coast to the tropical wonders of Cairns, Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef  in the North. However Central Queensland also has a lot to offer in history, amazing scenery and great hospitality from country people. 

Like all the Australian states the weather has a major effect. It seems however that Queensland due to the size of the state and proximity to the tropics, depending on if its drought inland or cyclones during summer in the north the weather has a greater influence on travelling than some other states.

Depending on if you are on an annual migration to escape the southern winter, full time adventuring or just on annual leave there are many places to find depending on your lifestyle and budget. We love the serenity and untouched beauty of Cooktown in the far north but as more travelers are experiencing this area we are afraid the serenity may slowly fade away. Even Queen Elizabeth has been to Cooktown and visited the fabulous museum.

It is almost impossible to pick a favorite coastal town or city as they all have their own individuality and we find the coastal areas tend to become very populated during the winter months. Many of the coastal towns have exceptional close by hinterland areas to explore such as the Atherton Tablelands and Kuranda which are only a short drive from Cairns.

Queensland has many highways in almost a grid pattern which allows any adventurer to visit the many gems in outback Queensland. The history of inland towns such as Cunnamulla and Charleville have a wealth of history. The local Blackall enthusiasts  have restored the only working huge steam driven wool scourer left in the world and Barcaldine is home to the Tree Of Knowledge and the Australian Workers Heritage Centre.

We visited Longreach for one week but had to stay for two weeks to experience most of the sites such as the Stockmans Hall Of Fame and the Qantas Museum. Then add in a couple of dinner river cruises and a stage coach ride before getting to walk the Longreach town to see what else there is to see and do the time quickly evaporates.

A stop at Winton where Andrew "Banjo" Paterson wrote Waltzing Matilda and the Waltzing Museum is another item in our Australian history. Winton is also the birthplace of Qantas before relocating to Longreach.

Mount Isa and surrounding areas not only has a fantastic wealth of mining history which you can experience with an underground mine tour but is one of the best commercial hubs of outback Queensland.

In our adventuring we have visited Charters Towers a couple of times and are always impressed with the friendliness of the local people. Most Australians are not aware that in the peak of the gold rush time in this part of Australia that Charters Towers had the largest stock exchange in Australia.

Many of the outback towns have magnificent dams, mountain ranges and gorges to explore in the local area. Many adventurers visit a town but unfortunately miss the hidden gems not necessarily on the main road between towns.