Central Queensland Trip

[ForeRunnerQueen]

Hubby and I are currently planning a trip away in early November. We are going to jump in the “Truck” and head out from Brisbane travelling through Mitchell... Charleville... Blackall.... Longreach... Winton... Barcaldine..... Emerald... Gladstone.... and back down the coast to home. We would be really interested to hear about any sights along this route that are a “must not miss” as well as recommendations on the optimum amount of time to spend in the larger towns such as Charleville, Longreach and Winton. Current thinking is to take between 7-10 days. Any and all suggestions gratefully received.

[Phils Lux]

Charleville, cosmos centre look at the stars through 3 telescopes.
Blackall, wool scour.
Longreach at least 2 days, Qantas museum, hall of fame plus a few things i've forgotten.
Winton, waltzing matilda centre, lark quarry 100 k's out of town.
there are a lot more to see in those towns, thats just what i can remember.

[GU42]

Just did a very similar trip but ended up heading up to Bowen then working our way down. Lark Quarry is supposed to be good but we got rained out, Stockmans hall of fame has an outback show that is good.
1770 off the coast at Miriam Vale is very nice as is Woodgate beach off Childers

Strap everything down on the roads just before Roma and the road from Winton to Hughenden. I have driven better dirt tracks than the road from Winton to Hughenden, it will rattle the eye balls out of your head:D

[-BURTY-]

Blackdown Tablelands National Park unless you are towing a caravan. Awesome Views and beautiful camping. Kinkuna section of Burrum Coast National Park (near Woodgate). Nice 4wding and beautiful beach camping.

Just remember that you are approaching or maybe even in the "off season" for a lot of these places. When we were in Longreach at new years it was basically shut down. 1 restaurant open in the whole town and 1 pub serving meals. Smaller towns may quiten down sooner.

Having said that you don't have to share the place with 100's of tourists.

Have fun

Burty

[Luxxxy]

Have a stop at Agnes Waters on your way home. About 45 mins from Miriam Vale which is about 45 mins south of Gladstone. Find yourself a nice quiet spot to camp as it can get pretty busy.

[Ar Dee Oh]

did a trip similar in 1996, bundy-longreach-winton-barcaldine-blackdown tablelands-emerald-canarvon george-bundy. Nice trip, mum, dad and 4 kids in a 6 seater troopy. stopped at barcaldine for a cuppa and these two old lady's came up to us to have a chat and started eating our bikkies and tea and coffee and told us to go see this old bloke who has a farm in Barcaldine, can't remember the name. Mad BIll or something.

i love agnes, but if you go a bit further south to deepwater national park and stay at wreck rock, you will be rewarded.

billabong boat cruise in Longreach and see the sunset over the water

[rumpig]

drive to roma and then turn right towards injune for canarvon gorge. the mt moffatt section aswell as the main section are well worth seeing. oh well there's over half of your days taken care of. LOL

[Walt]

Lake Awonga is worth a look or even a stay. The turn off is south of gladstone, opposite the turn off to boyne island/tanum sands. There is a caravan park and camping sites avaliable.

A second notion for balckdown table land. I do believe it is bitumen the whole way up the range now so its an easy drive. Alot of water holes/falls and bush walks.

If you come to rockhampton and the capricorn coast, the byfield area is definetaly worth a look. 4wd access to 9 mile beach and 3 rivers beach, corio bay, and the general area. Very tropical area with alot of rainforests.

[-BURTY-]

it is bitumen to the top but still too steep for a caravan, we struggled with a 900kg trailer, 2nd gear sometimes 1st on the sharp corners. vans are not allowed up there because of oncoming traffic too. plus i think you'll struggle to find space for it in the camp sites (if you have one that is)

burty