The tour was inclusive of individual transportation to Tullamarine where we were met by Group Travel Marketing's tour organiser, Trevor Bowey and eight new travelling friends, before boarding our flight to Brisbane. We were picked up by our tour coach driver, Lloyd from Coff's Harbour and after a "tour of the town" we settled in at "The Point" hotel on Kangaroo Point on the Brisbane River where we were joined by Pam Cotton and Val and Peter Roberts.
Next morning we set off and travelled to Toowoomba Historic Railway Station where we enjoyed a morning tea with home made scones, jam and cream made by the local ladies for charity. On leaving Toowoomba we headed off along the Warrego Highway through Dalby, Chinchilla and Roma and after 600km we arrived for our overnight stay in Mitchell. The next day we joined the Matilda Highway and after another 600km travelling got us late in the day to Longreach, with stops at Tambo by an oxbow of the Nive River (tributary to the Warrego river) for lunch and a stop at Barcaldine for a visit to the "Australian Workers Heritage Centre" and "The Tree of Knowledge" where the Australian Labour Party was formed after the Great Shearers Strike in 1891.
We stayed two nights in Longreach and during the intervening day we visited the Stockman`s Hall of Fame where bush life and Outback heroes are celebrated.
We then left the Stockman's Hall of Fame and crossed the Highway to visit the Qantas Founders Museum of air travel and the start of Qantas. After visiting the Museum we had lunch in the cafeteria and then were shown over the Qantas Boeing 747B exhibit at the Longreach airport. Our evening meal was homecooked at the local historic `Longway` farm owned by Warwick and Rosemary Champion.
From Longreach we travelled to Winton - the home of Waltzing Matilda, where we learnt all about the origins of the song at the Waltzing Matilda Museum. Also at Winton was Arno's Wall - a 2m high 70m long concrete wall with almost every household item you can imagine imbedded in the wall. Then it was on to Kynuna and a stop at the Blue Heeler Pub where the locals argue was the true origin for Waltzing Matilda.
Our overnight stop was Cloncurry where we visited the Royal Flying Doctor Service Museum. The service was started in Cloncurry as the Aerial Medical Service by John Flynn in 1928.
From Cloncurry was another long drive to Normanton. We stopped on the way for a break at the Burke and Wills Roadhouse. In Normanton we discovered a replica of `Krys the Savannah King`, the largest salt-water crocodile measuring 8.63m long and weighing 2 tons, shot on the banks of the Norman River in 1957. We then enjoyed a delicious cut lunch and fresh fruit in the beautifully lush and colourful historic Normanton railway station gardens and then settled in to our overnight accomodation.
We then drove 70km that evening to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria for a beautiful seafood dinner at the Sunset Tavern and photo opportunity of the sun setting over the Gulf.
In the morning we headed back to the Normanton Railway Station and boarded the historic "Gulflander Train" for a ricketty 4 hour trip to "Black Bull" siding for morning tea. Severe track washouts caused by the heavy area flooding earlier in the year, which isolated Normanton, were evident from the observed repairs. It was then back on the coach to Lake Belmore at Croydon for lunch before arriving at Mt.Surprise for a 3 night stay at Bedrock Village.
First morning we visited "Rocky Springs", a local cattle station where we learnt about station life and breeding Brahman" which are suited to the local grasses and harsh conditions. The owners, John and Mary Buchanan, commented that the last 3 years of high rainfall have been very good for them. We were impressed with the skill of the cattle dogs in rounding up the cattle. Next we went to the "Undarra" lava tubes the longest in the world formed about 190,000 years ago when a major volcano erupted and the molten lava flowed down the very dry river bed creating extensive underground tunnels as the lava solidified. The tunnels were only recently discovered when parts of the tunnels collapsed. It was difficult getting down in to the tubes having to carefully negotiate steep rocky inclines and rope handrails. Lunch including billy tea was back at the Rocky Springs Station beside a lovely creek and waterhole. Barbara Walker showed her skills at kayaking on the water!
Next morning we were off to the privately owned and run Cobbold Gorge. To explore this beautiful serene place requires electrically driven aluminium dinghies captained by experienced eco tour guides. The dinghies silently ply along the deep and narrow sandstone gorge which has been carved out over time by the river. There are even freshwater crocodiles - WOW! On the drive back to Mt. Surprise we stopped and visited the fascinating Ted Elliott Mineral Collection in Georgetown.
After a great stay at Mt. Surprise with our Bedrock Village owners and hosts, Joe and Jo, we boarded "The Savannahlander" train for the 10 hour trip to Cairns with stops along the way for morning tea, lunch and other interesting sight-seeing spots. We relaxed and enjoyed the commentary and views as we were in no hurry!
We stayed in Cairns for 4 nights and we took the Skyrail over the rainforests to Kuranda and the local markets. We visited Mosman Gorge and Port Douglas where we took a 1.5hr boat cruise on the Lady Douglas paddle wheeler through the mangroves. We saw why you don't swim in the estuaries after spotting two large "salties" - one sunbaking on the mud and the other swimming in front of our boat.
We had a day free in Cairns to explore the reef, Cairns sea front and marina before our direct flight back to Melbourne. It was a very enjoyable trip for all with excellent weather (28 deg every day). Our thanks go to Trevor Bowey of Group Travel Marketing and Lloyd the Coach Captain for a great and safe 4,000 klm. holiday.