7 Day Outback Self-Drive

•  Drive time Charleville to Toogunna Plains – Approx 288km 3 hours

Depart Brisbane aboard REX Airlines for the 1 hour 45 min flight to Charleville. On arrival, collect your hire car and drive west for approximately 2 hours to the outback opal town of Quilpie. Call into the Visitor Information Centre to browse the local gallery and museum for a great insight into Quilpie’s pioneering history and community stories. Continue another 50 minutes to Toogunna Plains Farmstay, a 130,000-acre working sheep and cattle station. After a warm greeting by your hosts, check in to your deluxe ensuite hut and relax. This afternoon, you might like to book the optional Kyra Sandhills at Sunset Tour**, for spectacular Channel Country views. In the evening, enjoy a wine and cheese platter, followed by your included paddock-to-plate BBQ dinner, then gather by the firepit under a blanket of stars.

• ACCOMMODATION: Toogunna Plains Farmstay, Quilpie
• MEALS: Breakfast; Wine & Cheese Platter; Dinner

Begin your day with a hearty cooked breakfast in the Bush Kitchen, followed by an included three-hour station tour hosted by your grazier guide. Explore key landmarks across this expansive 5th-generation sheep and cattle property, including abandoned homesteads, oil fields, shearing sheds, and natural geological formations. Learn about the station’s pastoral heritage and day-to-day operations and enjoy a delicious home-baked morning tea.
In the afternoon, you may like to take a short 20-minute drive to the Eromanga Natural History Museum, for the optional Australian Dinosaur Giants Tour**. See the immersive Deep Time Dinosaur Today multimedia presentation, then tour the working fossil laboratory and collection room, where you’ll come face to face with Australia’s largest dinosaur. An onsite café is available at the Museum to purchase refreshments and lunches. Return to Toogunna Plains Farmstay early afternoon.

NOTE: Guests have the option of purchasing a hot pot dinner tonight for NETT$20.00 per person. They can organise this when they check in if preferred.

• ACCOMMODATION: Toogunna Plains Farmstay, Quilpie
• MEALS: Breakfast

Depart Toogunna Plains Farmstay and head back through Quilpie town on your way to Cunnamulla. Consider calling in to the famous Toompine Pub, known as the ‘pub without a town,’ for a quick break and a taste of true outback hospitality. Continue to the quirky town of Eulo, often called the ‘Montville of the Outback.’ Learn the colourful story behind the legendary Eulo Queen—an opal trader and eccentric local icon—at the historic Eulo Queen Hotel. Then browse the town shops for local opals, handcrafted leather goods, and delicious locally made honey. Don’t forget to snap a selfie with Kenny, the life-size Diprotodon—a giant megafauna fossil discovered nearby. Later, arrive in Cunnamulla and check into the historic Club Boutique hotel, steeped in early pastoral heritage. This evening, relax and enjoy dinner in the hotel restaurant.

• ACCOMMODATION: Club Boutique, Cunnamulla
• MEALS: Breakfast; Dinner

Enjoy a free day to explore the unique outback town of Cunnamulla. Start with your included visit to All Aboard Cunnamulla (seasonal), where a cheeky holographic Station Master shares tall tales, local legends, and rail history in a captivating 3D sound and light show. You may also like to visit the Artesian Time Tunnel at the Cunnamulla Fella Centre, featuring a simulated mine lift and interactive exhibits. Meet Doug the Rigger and uncover the fascinating opal mining heritage and natural wonders of the Great Artesian Basin. In the afternoon, unwind at the Cunnamulla Hot Springs with a soak in the geothermal mineral pools, fed by rejuvenating artesian waters (own arrangements).

• ACCOMMODATION: Club Boutique, Cunnamulla
• MEALS: Breakfast               

Travel northeast along the Mitchell Highway for around 2 hours to Charleville, the heart of Mulga Country. On arrival, you may like to enjoy a drink at the historic Hotel Corones, once a grand outback hotel built by Greek immigrant Harry Corones, whose vision helped shape Charleville during the wool boom era of the early 20th century. Then, head to the Bilby Experience to learn about this endangered nocturnal marsupial. Join a guided tour to see these rare creatures up close and hear about vital conservation efforts. This evening, visit the Cosmos Centre for the Outback Stargazing Tour. Using powerful telescopes, you’ll observe planets, star clusters and nebulae, while expert guides share insights into the southern night sky - renowned as some of the clearest in Australia.

• ACCOMMODATION: Mulga Country Motor Inn, Charleville
• MEALS: Breakfast

This morning, join the WWII Secrets Tag-Along Tour to explore original military sites, relive the enlistment process, and uncover the covert U.S. mission that once put this remote town on high alert. Afterwards, visit the WWII Secret Base to discover interactive displays covering ocean voyages, classified missions, and wartime life in Charleville. In the afternoon, you may like to tour the Outback Date Farm (own arrangements). Stroll beneath soaring palms, enjoy freshly baked date loaf, and learn how this eco-friendly farm thrives using reclaimed water.

• ACCOMMODATION: Mulga Country Motor Inn
• MEALS: Breakfast

Enjoy a relaxed final morning in Charleville. Consider joining a morning tour at the Charleville School of Distance Education (own arrangements), for an insight into how remote students learn across vast distances and observe a live lesson in action. After lunch, make your way to Charleville Airport, return your hire car, and check in for your return flight to Brisbane.