Travel: The Great Inland Way

By Heather Donovan

The Great Inland Way is an alternative, outback route for southerners heading to far north Queensland. Travellers will experience national parks, historic towns, gemfields and great scenic diversity along this 2200km journey.

In a very ‘Australiana’ fashion, the tourism mascot for the trek is Ernie Emu – no relation to Ernie Dingo. Ernie, his cousins, uncles and a couple of brolga pals, have many adventures, and the many informative tips provided by Ernie Emu and his mates are supplemented by visitor centres along the way.

Having explored the excellent website (www.greatinlandway.org.au) we decided to check out The Great Inland Way for ourselves in a Maui motorhome.

It needs several weeks to do it justice, starting in Dubbo, central NSW, and ending in Cairns, Qld, with some great detours such as the Warrumbungles, Lightning Ridge and the gemfields west of Emerald.

Step back in time

The Cobb & Co. Changing Station at Surat is excellent and worth at least an hour. Among the many exhibits are a Cobb & Co. coach and a giant aquarium with large fish swimming among the tree roots of the Balonne River.

The Big Rig at Roma displays the region’s oil and gas industries while a visit to the Romavilla winery supplemented our larder! Our detour to the spectacular Carnarvon Gorge National Park was rewarded by stunning walks amid the gorges and abundant wildlife – well worth braving the dusty, corrugated access road.

We saw a great many kangaroos, emus and a huge variety of birds along the roller coaster run through the Carnarvon Ranges to Rolleston then up and over the lovely, heavily-treed Staircase Range to Springsure, which is surrounded by rugged, volcanic peaks.

Another very rewarding detour is to Old Rainworth Fort, one of the first properties settled out in this area. The Fort, now on the National Heritage List, was built after 19 settlers were massacred by local tribes.

Also on site is the equally historic Cairdbeign Homestead and School dating from the mid 1800s. The whole complex, now a great museum, is owned by Lorna Smith whose grandfather bought the property in 1919.

Gemstones to water birds

We continued north through low hills and masses of wattles to the large town of Emerald, and on to the Central Highlands gemfields – Anakie, Rubyvale, Sapphire and The Willows. If you’re not into hard yakka, just drop into one of the many local gem stores.

Capella has a great little Pioneer Village outdoor museum. In Clermont, Ernie’s Uncle Eric has lots of advice on the region’s gold mining history and places such as Hoods Lagoon, where we saw a great many water birds.

From gold to coal mining, Blair Athol boasts the world’s largest solid seam of black coal. From there we were back into cattle country with poor scrub but lots of red-tailed black cockatoos, sulphur crested cockatoos and wedge-tailed eagles.

After a fairly long and dreary stretch, Belyando Crossing proved a welcome break with grassy, shaded picnic areas, campsites, fuel and a small store. Winding amid low, rocky ranges and millions of termite mounds we faced some 90km of one-lane bitumen and many road trains.

The once-great gold-mining town of Charters Towers is an excellent place to break your journey for a couple of days. Here you can wander and admire a wealth of romantic, historic buildings, from little cottages and churches to grandiose public constructions such as the Stock Exchange. A tour of the old Venus Battery is highly recommended.

Lava life

From Charters Towers the Great Inland Way heads into outback territory; the road varies from good, double lanes to buck-jumping single lanes and even more road trains.

Before you head north, take a short detour to Ravenswood, now the oldest inland township in northern Queensland. Enjoying its heyday in the goldrush of the 1900s, it is classified as a heritage town through the National Trust of Queensland. There you’ll see turn-of-the-century miners’ cottages, mining sites and the impressive Imperial Hotel.

During our trip it was evident that drought had a strong grip on the country and all the rivers were bone dry. Fletcher Creek, however, was a delightful surprise. Just 44km north of Charters Towers, lovely rivergums line the strongly-flowing creek. Here many motorhomers were enjoying an extended break – even catching a few small fish!

We dodged cattle, emus, kangaroos even a deer on the long haul (253km) to The Lynd through rocky, hilly country of the Blue Range. An oasis in the middle of nowhere, The Lynd boasts Australia’s smallest bar: ‘Tooheys Waterhole’ is just one metre wide.

At Mt Garnet it was back to ‘civilisation’ then on to Innot Hot Springs for a wonderful stopover in the caravan park. Lava-heated water bubbles to the surface and the park owners have piped it into nine pools and spas. It’s deliciously relaxing and free to guests.

We travelled up onto the Atherton Tablelands via lovely Ravenshoe, Herberton and Atherton. With its many beautiful waterfalls, lakes and craft shops one could happily while away a few days or more on the Tablelands.

From here you can wind down the scenic Gillies Highway to the coast and on to Cairns. Alternatively, if time permits, continue on through lovely Mareeba and the ‘Rainforest Village’ of Kuranda before the very scenic descent to Cairns.

Some facts:

This is a self-drive trip: 2200km from Dubbo to Cairns or 3000km from Melbourne.

The distances are considerable so it’s wise to plan fuel stops. Do not drive around dawn or dusk due to the abundant wildlife. Apart from some detours the road is sealed all the way.

Tourist information: www.greatinlandway.org.au

Best time to go:

Autumn to spring; summer is too hot.

Must-see highlights:

Warrumbungle National Park.

Gemfields west of Emerald.

Carnarvon Gorge National Park.

Cobb & Co. Changing Station, Surat.

Innot hot springs.