Outback Explorer Tour 2025
All aboard for our iconic Aussie Outback Adventure! Travel to the fascinating Lightning Ridge, visit unique Aussie pubs, meet local characters and immerse yourself in the true outback experience.
11 Day Tour
Tuesday 8 July - Friday 18 July 2025
Tour Cost (GST inclusive):
$4,975 per person twin share
$725 single supplement
Inclusions
- Luxury Coach Travel in our Business Class Coach
- Workshop visit and talk at Down to Earth Opals
- Entry to Dig Tree site, Innamincka
- Talk and lunch at Noccundra Hotel
- Station tour at Toogunna Plains Farmstay
- Visit to Knot-A-Saurus Park
- Tastes of Outback Experience at the Eromanga Natural History Museum
- Farm tour and lunch at The Lake, Quilpie
- Big Sky Twilight Session at Charleville Cosmos Centre
- Entry to Charleville Bilby Experience
- Tour at Hotel Corones
- World War II Top Secret tour, Charleville
- Entry to Great Artesian Spa, Mitchell
- 10 nights accommodation
- 10 cooked breakfasts, 10 two course dinners, 7 lunches
Tour Itinerary
Day 1: (LD)
Brisbane to St George
Tue 8 Jul 25
Welcome to our Outback Adventure. This tour is not about the destination, but the journey as we travel to some iconic Australian locations. Today we travel to Milmerran where we visit our first pub for the tour, The Mill Inn. We’ll be welcomed with genuine country hospitality as we enjoy our lunch. This afternoon we continue to St George for our first overnight stop.
Day 2: (BLD)
St George to Lightning Ridge
Wed 9 Jul 25
This morning, we visit Thallon to view the incredible silo titled ‘The Watering Hole’. The mural portrays the Thallon district – featuring the Moonie River, an amazing sunset and the area’s agricultural base. We continue through to Dirranbandi, in the heart of cotton country. After lunch we travel along the Castlereagh Highway to the little town of Hebel, once known as Kelly’s Point because it is believed that Ned Kelly’s brother Dan and fellow Kelly gang member Steve Hart lived here under an alias. We finish the day in Lightning Ridge where we visit Down to Earth Opals, who design and sell one-of-a-kind jewellery pieces and top-quality opals.
Day 3: (BLD)
Lightning Ridge to Tibooburra
Thu 10 Jul 25
We have a travel day on the coach, today. We stop to enjoy our packed lunches along the way before arriving at the historic goldmining town of Tibooburra, originally known as The Granite or Granite Rush. The town came into existence with the discovery of gold at Mt Browne and then Tibooburra itself in 1881. That year nearly 1000 miners arrived in the town and the government, eager to provide services, surveyed the town site and built a post office. However, yields were disappointing, lack of water was a chronic problem and typhoid and dysentery took their toll. Nonetheless over the next decade the town got a school (1885), courthouse (1888) and hospital (1890). The Family Hotel (1883), with its famous murals and paintings and the Tibooburra Hotel (1890) both built of local stone are still standing in Briscoe St. Along with the courthouse they are regarded as the town’s most significant historical buildings. We check into our accommodation and settle in for dinner.
Day 4: (BLD)
Tibooburra to Innamincka
Fri 11 Jul 25
The Strzelecki Track, named for the Polish Count Edmund de Strzelecki, used to be one of the driest and loneliest tracks on which to transport cattle to Adelaide. Today the track is mainly used by trucks transporting supplies for the nearby Moomba gasfields. We take the track some of the way before veering off towards Cameron Corner – the intersection of the New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland borders. What a fantastic spot to take a group photo across all three states. The intersection is identifiable with a permanent marker, whilst the borders are physically constructed as the wild dog fence. We make a stop here at the Cameron Corner Store to pick up lunch. The Innamincka region is best known historically because of its association with the tragic Burke and Wills expedition of 1861 but more recently it has become identified as a gas and oil area. Set in a desert region, it relies heavily on water from North Queensland to refill Cooper Creek. We can imagine how hard it was for these explorers to travel through here.
Day 5: (BD)
Innamincka
Sat 12 Jul 25
Today we explore the area of Innamincka. The town had its origin in the failed attempt by Burke and Wills to return to Melbourne after having crossed the continent from south to north. In 1862 the government set an area aside near present day Innamincka for an Aboriginal mission station. However, due to a lack of finance, this was never established. Although still going, the town never had a population exceeding thirty people. To the east of the town is a monument marking the site of the death of John O’Hara Burke, leader of the ill-fated 1861 expedition, whilst the site of Will’s death is a few kilometres to the west of Innamincka. We also travel east to the Queensland border to see the Dig Tree site of the Burke & Wills expedition. It is a heritage-listed, blazed, eucalyptus tree at Nappa Merrie Station. It was blazed on 21 April 1861 and was added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 2003.
Day 6: (BLD)
Innamincka to Toogunna Plains
Sun 13 Jul 25
From Innamincka we travel to the historic Noccundra Hotel, the only surviving building in the historic township of Noccundra. The hotel was built from locally quarried sandstone and transported to Noccundra by camel train. The hotel was an important link in Outback communications and become a service point for travellers and a focus for community events. Our destination today is Toogunna Plains Farmstay. Nestled on a vast open plain, the Farmstay is a 5th generation family-owned 130,000-acre sheep and cattle property.
Day 7: (BLD)
Toogunna Plains and Eromanga
Mon 14 Jul 25
This morning, we have a guided tour of the station including freshly baked morning tea and a light lunch in the Shearing Shed. We’ll learn about the pastoral history and the day to day running of the station and see landmarks including the abandoned homestead, oil fields, shearing sheds and geological formations. This afternoon we travel to Eromanga, the ‘furthest town from the sea’ in Australia and significant in the discovery of dinosaurs. On arrival we visit the Knot-A-Saurus Park to view the amazing aluminium dinosaur sculptures. In Opalopolis Park, we see the monument to the Opal miners, inlaid with local Boulder Opals. Tonight, we indulge in the Tastes of Outback Experience at the Eromanga Natural History Museum, home to Australia’s largest dinosaur, a 95–98-million-year-old titanosaur called ‘Cooper’. On arrival, we embark on the Australian Dinosaur Giants Tour, where we visit the workshop, laboratory and collection centre. As the sun sets, we savour cocktails and canapes under the vast outback sky, followed by a delicious 5 course dinner in the museum. After an incredible night, we return to our accommodation.
Day 8: (BLD)
Eromanga to Charleville
Tue 15 Jul 25
We continue to The Lake, located just outside Quilpie. This is a 2,500 acre property running Merino sheep, beef cattle and Kalahari red goats. Taking pride of place on the property is Lake Houdraman, a beautiful expanse of water set amongst shady gum trees. We enjoy lunch here before continuing to Charleville. Tonight, we are in for a treat at one of Charleville’s best-known attractions, the Cosmos Centre. The centre is an audio-visual extravaganza featuring hi-tech interactive displays that will take us on an astronomical journey through the ages, unravelling many mysteries of our night sky.
Day 9: (BD)
Charleville
Wed 16 Jul 25
Our first stop this morning is to the Charleville Bilby Experience, where our guide will reveal Australia’s native animal extinction crisis and inform us about the breeding program here. If you love a great story, you’ll enjoy our visit to the iconic Hotel Corones. Arriving in Australia penniless, pioneer Harry (Poppa) Corones, went on to build an empire and make Australian history several times throughout his life. We hear this amazing story while enjoying a cold beverage. After time to purchase lunch we visit WWII Secret Base – an interactive exhibition centre outlining Charleville’s role in the war during 1942 to 1946.
Day 10: (BD)
Charleville to Chinchilla
Thu 17 Jul 25
Across the world and throughout the ages, people have travelled great distances to seek natural spring waters. Today in Mitchell we soak in the mineralized waters and relax as the therapeutic waters of The Great Artesian Spa work wonders on our bodies. We stop in Roma to purchase lunch before continuing to Chinchilla for our final night on tour together.
Day 11: (B)
Chinchilla to Brisbane
Thu 18 Jul 25
With our bags packed full of wonderful memories we begin our journey back to Brisbane, stopping for convenience breaks and time to purchase lunch. We arrive home after a fantastic outback explorer tour.