Friends have recently bought a caravan and asked for any hints that we may have about great places to visit. At the rate that these ‘snippets’ of advice are going, this will be a book before I finish telling them where to bloody well go. For more details, all are listed in the ‘caravanner’s bible’ the WikiCamps app.

Queensland is a rather large state, being 1,727,000 sq.kms.* It’s our second largest state, after Western Australia and if it were a country, it would fall into the category of 17th largest in the world (psst, don’t tell the Queenslanders, they may want to secede).** Population wise, it’s our third largest state at roughly 5.6million in 2024, which equates to 20.5% of Australia’s total population.***Thus, Brisbane (or Brissie to most of us) is the country’s 3rd largest city and urban sprawl makes it seem like it’s not far from gobbling up the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, and the satellite cities of Logan and Ipswich. Hmmm, I wonder if the climate has anything to do with this massive growth? Now, statistics out of the way, let’s get back to caravanning and once again I’ll start in the west of the state. Western Qld or Outback Qld, whichever you prefer it is seemingly flat, dry and dusty. But don’t let that fool you, it will steal your heart, and you’ll come away with a deep respect for its people and a love for this area.

*www.qld.gov.au, **www.Britannica.com, ***www.qgso.qld.gov.au

Matilda Way

If you’re travelling to Qld up the Kidman Way, (the Mitchell Highway) becomes the Matilda Way once you cross into Qld. In this post we’ll cover just a small portion of it.

Cunnamulla

The Warrego Riverside Tourist Park is a few minutes’ drive out of town and a quiet oasis beside the Warrego River. Sites are large with grassy lawn areas and surrounding gardens for privacy. This is a relaxing spot to have a break from driving and to explore the history of Cunnamulla. We were so entranced by this park that when offered fruit from their abundant trees, we made cumquat brandy. As you do when you’re caravanning. The last time we called in we were in the height of covid lockdowns, and Cunnamulla appeared to be suffering from the lack of passing southern tourists, but I can recommend both the Warrego Butchery and the Gidgee Bean Café.

Eulo

If you take the ‘long way’ from Cunnamulla to Quilpie you’ll see a lot of red dirt and a heck of a lot of mulga scrub. One curious town along the way is Eulo. Eulo has a good pub, the Eulo Queen Hotel with camping, I might add, but it does have a couple of rather interesting tourist attractions. There’s an air raid shelter, I’ll leave you to ponder that one, and there’s my all-time favourite, the monument to ‘Destructo’ the racing cockroach who was accidentally killed after winning his race at the Lizard Lounge in 1980. Vale Destructo. This depiction of Eulo from an earlier post probably best describes the town:

” Eulo is your typical small Queensland town. Raised wooden buildings (to give airflow), a hall, a pub, a general store, an opal cutter and a mud bath. That’s right some people come out here to bathe in mud. And there are a few other things here that other towns don’t have. A lizard racecourse (affectionately known as the Lizard Lounge), a bore and a Diptrodon statue. They race lizards here and have been known to have up to 5000 spectators at a meeting, the bore supplies the town with artesian water at a constant 38 degrees and the Diptrodon? Well, he’s an ancestor of wombats and koalas and he and a lot of other extinct creatures have been found around these parts.

But the most moving of all is the granite monument to the accidental demise of a racing cockroach called Destructo.

Too much excitement in one day can make one thirsty so we head for the Eulo Queen Hotel. And there we sit on the veranda with the publican’s missus and curse the passing traffic for not stopping for a drink, all three cars. Things move slowly in Eulo, especially the cockroaches.”

Toompine

There’s not a lot of scenery out this way if you don’t get as excited as I do about mulga, but there is a pub, without a town, and that’s the Toompine Hotel (1893). You can camp out front and in our case after we spruced ourselves up for dinner a cow met us at our door and led us to the pub door. Which only goes to show that the cattle are fast learners out this way. There’s one other structure in Toompine, the cemetery or should I say ‘cemery’. This typical bush cemetery has the name ‘Cemery’ carved above the entrance as that is what it was called by a young girl mourning the loss of her brother. But, back to the pub, it’s a ripper!

Quilpie

Quilpie is famous for its pies and a church with an opal altar. This region is opal country. Channel Country Tourist Park and Spas is a good park with 3 hot tubs that are perfect for couples. When we visited, we grabbed one and settled in to relax in the warm bubbles. However, when Woody decided to run back to the van to get a beer and the iPad to take a photo of us enjoying the spa under an iconic rusty windmill, a somewhat pushy couple invited themselves to join us. I politely suggested that there was an empty spa nearby and that they are all the same temperature, but no, they insisted on talking loudly at us and we… were lucky enough to hear their life story. Heavens, we heard the attributes of their caravan which seemingly can go anywhere and their daughter whom they were hoping would marry their local butcher. As most butchers cheekily display awards for the ‘Best Sausage’ on their windows, naturally I was tempted to ask if future son in law had also received a Best Sausage award. But no, I kept my mouth shut and nodded politely. We were thankful to escape with our ears intact, and NO we didn’t get that photograph.

Charleville

I’m not sure if you can call Evening Star a bush camp, a farm stay or a caravan park but boy the family that run the place really make you feel at home in the mulga. From the moment that you arrive you feel relaxed, and each site is bordered by bird friendly native plants. Damper is cooked on the enormous campfire for happy hour patrons to munch on and the family are happy to talk about all things relating to life in Western Qld. Host Craig also gives star viewings of the clear western sky and talks on life in Western Qld. This is one of our all-time favourite parks.

It’s only about 9kms into Charleville and all it has to offer. It seems to have a tour for everything, the Cosmos Centre (the night sky out this way is brilliant), Hotel Corones history, cold beer, and scones, the Bilby Centre, the once secret World War Two base, and a whole lot more.

Wyandra

And while we’re in the area I must mention Wyandra out on the Matilda Way between Charleville and Cunnamulla. Tiny Wyandra is exactly 100kms from each of these major towns. Back in the Cobb & Co stage-coach days there was a staging post every 100kms for the changing of horses and refreshment of the passengers. Can you imagine how dusty it must have been bouncing about in one of those wooden coaches? There’s not a lot at Wyandra these days but when we stopped there a few years ago the campground at the old recreation reserve was an adequate donation camp and a short walk from the pub. There are flushing toilets, and a rustic camp kitchen. Sadly, I think the pub has closed. What I found fascinating here, apart from the pub was sketching the houses.

*Footnote: The late great Slim Dusty wrote songs about this area, ‘The Cunnamulla Fella’ and ‘In Charleville’. It’s impossible to drive through Western Qld without bursting into song.