Senior Outback Australia Tour

Day 1 Saturday 17 July, 2021 Alice Springs
Tour members will travel to Alice Springs this morning. The coach will be ready for departure from the airport at 1.30pm. This afternoon we enjoy an orientation tour of Alice Springs, we will see numerous sites of historical significance such as Anzac Hill, which featurespanoramic views of the MacDonnell Ranges, and also the Old Telegraph Station Reserve, which marks the town’s important role as the mid-point of the 19th-century telegraph line running from Adelaide to Darwin. We also visit the school of the air and the Royal Flying Doctors service. This evening we enjoy an included welcome dinner.

Day 2 Sunday 18 July, 2021 Alice Springs
Today we explore the spectacular region to the west of Alice Springs, including West MacDonnell National Park. Visit Simpsons Gap, one of the most prominent waterholes in the region, Standley Chasm and the Hermannsburg Historic Precinct, where famous aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira was born & raised.

Day 3 Monday 19 July, 2021 Coober Pedy
Today we travel south to the fascinating outback opal mining town of Coober Pedy.

Day 4 Tuesday 20 July, 2021 Marree
This morning we will enjoy a sightseeing tour of Coober Pedy, with a local guide. The tour will include a visit to the Old Timers Mine, which includes a museum, machinery demonstration, and an opal showroom. In the afternoon we travel to the remote town of Marree, “where trains and camels used to be. The second part of our journey is on the famous Oodnadatta Track where we will be able to see Ghan Railway sidings at Callalanna, Alberrie, Margaret Siding, and Curdimurka. Alberrie is also home to an interesting sculpture park.

Day 5 Wednesday 21 July, 2021 Port Augusta
Today we travel south to Port Augusta. Lying at the top of the Spencer Gulf, Port Augusta was vital to all the properties in the Flinders Ranges and beyond. Nowadays it‘s known as the Crossroads as it has become the starting point for tourism for the Nullarbor Plain, the Flinders Ranges and all journeys north to Central Australia and the Northern Territory. On arrival, we enjoy an orientation tour of the city, including the Wadlata Outback Centre to see the Tunnel of Time.

Day 6 Thursday 22 July, 2021 Broken Hill
Today we travel to the town of Broken Hill. On arrival into Broken Hill, we will have sightseeing tour of this fascinating outback mining town including a visit The Big Picture art gallery before checking into our hotel.

Day 7 Friday 23 July, 2021 Broken Hill
This morning we will have sightseeing tour of this fascinating outback mining town including a visit The Big Picture art gallery and a visit White’s Mineral and Mining Museum, where you meet colourful proprietor Kevin ‘Bushy’ White. After lunch, we will travel to the fascinating old mining town of Silverton, now virtually a ghost town. A colourful local guide/raconteur will accompany us on this trip where we will visit the famous Silverton Hotel, which has featured in various movies and TV commercials.

Day 8 Saturday 24 July, 2021 Tibooburra
Today we travel north to Tibooburra, a true outback town in the ‘corner country’ of far western New South Wales. On the way, we stop at Milparinka, virtually a ghost town these days with a population of just 77. We will visit Depot Glen, a shaded waterhole on Preservation Creek – one of the most famous exploration sites in Australia. It was here that explorer Charles Sturt and his party were marooned for 6 months, in 1845, on their epic search for an inland sea. Second in command James Poole perished here; we visit his grave. On arrival into Tibooburra, you will have time to explore the town, including the two pubs. The interior walls of the Family Hotel boast a mural of artwork by famous Australian artists, including Clifton Pugh and Russell Drysdale.

Day 9 Sunday 25 July, 2021 Innamincka
Today we continue our journey north to Innamincka. The town of Innamincka is situated on Cooper Creek close to where the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition of 1860-61 came to its tragic end. Along the way, we visit Cameron Corner, where the borders of NSW, Queensland and SA meet and see Australia’s famous Dingo Fence. We then visit Fort Grey, where Sturt established his last base camp in 1845 before pushing on to the Cooper.

Day 10 Monday 26 July, 2021 Innamincka
This morning we visit Burke’s Grave and the beautiful Cullyamurra Waterhole, both a few kilometres east of our hotel. The scenery along Cooper Creek, in the vicinity of Innamincka, is stunning. Beautiful water holes, fabulous gum trees, and lots of colourful Australian birds. Then visit the famous Dig Tree, where on April 22nd 1861 Burke, Wills and King probably realized they were doomed. In the afternoon, we will visit the former Australian Inland Mission Hospital building, now a National Parks office and museum, located right next to our hotel.

Day 11 Tuesday 27 July, 2021 Birdsville
Today we travel to Birdsville. Deep in the heart of wild and isolated country, Birdsville is situated between the eastern edge of the Simpson Desert, the vast gibber plains of Sturt’s Stony Desert to the south and rich Channel Country to the north.

Day 12 Wednesday 28 July, 2021 Birdsville
This morning we will enjoy a sightseeing tour of Birdsville with local guide. Travel a short distance west of Birdsville to see (and climb) Big Red, a huge sand dune at the edge of the Simpson Desert. We will also travel a short distance north of Birdsville, to see a small stand of Australia’s rarest tree – the Waddy Tree. A member of the local aboriginal community will accompany us on this morning’s tour (if available), and talk to us about Birdsville and his working life as a drover. The afternoon will be free.

Day 13 Thursday 29 July, 2021 Mt Isa
Today we travel north to Mt Isa. Mt Isa is outback Queensland’s largest town, built around a vast silver, copper, zinc and lead mine.

Day 14 Friday 30 July, 2021 Winton
This morning we travel through the beautiful ochre-red Selwyn Ranges (hilly and dramatic scenery, similar to the MacDonnell Ranges in central Australia) to the town of McKinlay where we’ll stop at the Walkabout Creek Hotel, location for the pub scenes in the movie Crocodile Dundee. We will then drop into the Blue Heeler Hotel, in the town of Kynuna. This pub is full of character and has links to the Waltzing Matilda story. Continue to Winton, via Combo Waterhole, a famous billabong that has important links with the Waltzing Matilda story. ‘Banjo’ Paterson visited Combo Waterhole for a picnic before writing the song. On arrival into Winton we visit the outstanding Waltzing Matilda Centre, which tells the intriguing story behind the writing of Waltzing Matilda, written by ‘Banjo’ Paterson in the Winton area in 1895. After dinner, enjoy an Old-time Movie Night, a special one hour movie show at Winton’s Royal Theatre, one of the few remaining open air picture theatres still operating in Australia, complete with original projection equipment and canvas seats! Show includes old cinema newsreels, old movie ads. ‘The 3 Stooges’, ‘Popeye’, etc. Tea and bikkies at end of show!

Day 15 Saturday 31 July, 2021 Longreach
This morning we visit the Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways for a guided tour. We’ll see amazing fossilized footprints from a dinosaur stampede 95 million years ago. We continue with a visit to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Display in Winton’s Corfield and Fitzmaurice building. One of Australia’s largest dinosaur fossils (‘Elliot’) was discovered near Winton in 2002. In the afternoon we travel to Longreach, one of Queensland’s most prosperous regions.

Day 16 Sunday 1 August, 2021 Longreach
This morning we will visit the Qantas Founders Museum. The museums tells the story of Australia’s national airline, from its early days in Outback Queensland to present day. Characters of the early Qantas days, their pioneering spirit and the impact the airline had for all Australians, is brought to life through life size exhibits, historical artefacts and interactive displays including the National Heritage Listed Qantas Hangar. We will also enjoy informative guided tours of the Boeing 707, Boeing 747, Super Constellation and DC-3 in the Museum’s new Airpark Enclosure. After lunch, we visit The Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame. It tells the story of the rural areas from the arrival of the Aborigines more than 40,000 years ago, settled by the British, exploration, the establishment of grazing, agriculture, mining, forestry and other industries in country Australia. It also follows the story through to the present day where technologies of many kinds are playing the role in farming, business and communications.

Day 17 Monday 2 August, 2021 Departure
This morning after breakfast, we are transferred to Longreach Airport for flights back home. There will be an option to take the train from Longreach to Brisbane. Contact us for details.