Outback Adventure Brisbane to Cairns - 15 Days

We are met by your Tour Directors before leaving Brisbane for Toowoomba, set on the crest of the Great Dividing Range. Known as Queensland's Garden City, Toowoomba is the largest non-capital inland city in Australia, with a population of around 150,000, and is celebrated for its parks and gardens, nurtured by the region's rich volcanic soils.This afternoon, we join a tour of the city, including a visit to the Cobb & Co Museum and Queens Park Gardens.

A morning tour of the city, including the Empire Theatre, sets the scene for the day. Leaving Toowoomba, we cross the fertile plains of the Darling Downs before visiting Dalby, then continue through Chinchilla and Miles on our way to Roma. Here, we take in a tour of the Big Rig Oil Patch, tracing the early days of Australia's oil and gas industries.

We continue north into Carnarvon National Park, where a range of guided walks await depending on fitness level - keep an eye out for the elusive platypus along a gentle nature trail, or, for the more adventurous, head up the gorge to Moss Garden, where limestone seepage supports a lush carpet of moss and ferns.This afternoon, we depart the gorge and continue on to Emerald.

The outback beckons as we continue towards Longreach, passing through Alpha, named after the Alpha Pastoral Station established in 1863. We continue on to Jericho and Barcaldine, both significant sites in the Australian labour movement and the birth of the Australian Labor Party - Barcaldine was a focal point of the 1891 shearers' strike, with the Eureka Flag flown over the strike camp and the landmark Tree of Knowledge standing outside the railway station, where the strikers once met.We arrive into Longreach this afternoon, with ample free time before a leisurely dinner.

Our day begins with a tour of the Qantas Founders Museum, home to a Boeing 747 and the airline's first 707 - we walk through the aircraft and explore this impressive museum in full. Later, we visit the iconic Stockman's Hall of Fame, followed by the School of Distance Education.This afternoon, we cruise along the Thomson River, followed by dinner on the riverbank with live musical entertainment.

We depart Longreach, stopping at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, dedicated to preserving Australia's fossil heritage and home to the most productive fossil preparation laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere. We then continue to Winton for our overnight stay.

Before leaving town, we visit Winton's Waltzing Matilda Centre, rebuilt after a devastating fire in 2015 and now home to a world-class museum telling the story of the iconic song, along with an art gallery and exhibition space.We continue north-west to Cloncurry, passing the Walkabout Creek Hotel at McKinlay, which featured in the film Crocodile Dundee. From here, we continue on to Gulf Country and our destination for the night, Mt Isa, for a 2-night stay.

This morning, we join a town tour before visiting Outback at Isa, home to a range of attractions. We take an underground tour of the Hard Times Mine, then visit the Riversleigh Fossil Centre, interpreting the World Heritage-listed Riversleigh fossil sites, along with an art gallery, the Isa Experience exhibit, and a fish hatchery project.Later, we visit the Underground Hospital and Museum, before enjoying the rest of the afternoon at leisure.

We depart Mt Isa this morning, bound for Karumba. In Cloncurry, we visit the John Flynn Place Museum, commemorating Flynn's establishment of the Aerial Medical Service in 1928, which brought vital care to remote communities. The museum's displays include personal memorabilia and explanations of how the early Flying Doctor system worked, as well as the story of Alfred Traeger, inventor of the pedal-powered radio.

Please note: the Cloncurry River, from which the town takes its name, was named by explorer Robert O'Hara Burke after his cousin, Lady Elizabeth Cloncurry of County Galway, Ireland.

We continue along the Burke Development Road towards Normanton, with morning tea at the Burke and Wills Roadhouse, learning about the 1860-61 Burke and Wills expedition, before continuing on to Normanton and into Karumba, our base for the next two nights.

We start the day aboard the Gulflander, a historic train that carries us from Normanton to Critters Camp.

Please note: the Gulflander journey is subject to change depending on operating hours.

Later, we discover more about the barramundi at the Les Wilson Barramundi Discovery Centre. This evening, we enjoy a Sand Island sunset dinner cruise in the Gulf, dining on local seafood as the sun sets.

Leaving Karumba, our coach heads inland across the vast savannah plains of outback Queensland, passing golden grasslands, hardy eucalypts, and the occasional kangaroo along the way. As we travel through remote cattle country, the landscape shifts to rugged sandstone escarpments and ancient riverbeds, signalling our approach to Cobbold Gorge - a hidden gem carved over millennia, with narrow chasms and tranquil waterways offering a striking contrast to the open plains just crossed. We arrive for a 2-night stay.

We take part in a 3-hour guided gorge tour, including a circular walk to the escarpment with views across a glass bridge, followed by a cruise through the gorge aboard custom-built, near-silent electric boats. The gorge stretches for around 6 kilometres, made up of a series of waterholes framed by dramatic rocky cliffs.After lunch, we join a guided station tour, experiencing life on a working cattle station and enjoying a "smoko" break along the way, before returning to our accommodation for our final night at Cobbold Gorge.

Departing Cobbold Gorge, we make our way to Undara Volcanic National Park, home to the longest lava tube cave system in the world. A local guide leads us through part of the cave system. Tonight, we enjoy dinner in an outdoor-style restaurant as the outback sunset gives way to a clear, starlit sky.

Departing Undara, we begin the final leg of our journey to Cairns, passing through the scenic Atherton Tablelands and visiting the striking Millaa Millaa Falls along the way. We arrive in Cairns mid-afternoon.Tonight, we come together for a final dinner, celebrating our journey through Outback Queensland.

Our outback journey comes to a close this morning, with transfers to the airport.