- Queensland Holidays

On this six day trip through the Central Highlands, you won't just see some Queensland's most visually stunning National Parks, you will also have the chance to relive the early pioneering days on the sapphire gemfields.

Travel West from Rockhampton through Duaringa to Dingo. This small town is famous for the World Championship Dingo Trap Contest held each year in July. The bronze statue of a dingo is a great rest stop.

A further 11 km west of Dingo is the turn-off to the Blackdown Tableland National Park. Rising abruptly above the surrounding dry plains, Blackdown Tableland protects spectacular sandstone scenery with gorges and waterfalls at the north-eastern edge of the central Queensland sandstone belt. The park offers spectacular lookouts, waterfalls and walking tracks. Campsites for tents, small trailers and campervans are available in the park. Take drinking water and a fuel stove.

Motel accommodation is available in nearby Blackwater, the heart of coal production in Central Queensland. Blackwater is also Sister City to Fujisawa in Japan. As a tribute, the local community has built a Japanese Garden - one of the best in Queensland.

With shady tree-lined streets, Emerald is the hub of the Central Highlands and the gateway to the Sapphire Gemfields. It offers great shopping, restaurants and a range of accommodation. Emerald railway station is noted for its beautiful cast iron lace portico. Other local sights include the Botanic Gardens, the Pioneer Village and Museum, the Art Gallery, Town Hall's fossilised tree and the huge reproduction of Van Gogh's Sunflowers.

The Gemfields, at Rubyvale and Sapphire are about 44 km west of Emerald off the Capricorn highway. You can try fossicking, take in an underground mine tour, watch the gem cutters at work and take home some real gems. Camping and motel accommodation is available in Rubyvale. Or, alternatively, head back to Emerald for the night.

The Gregory Highway will take you south to Springsure. The town sits amongst a delightful valley with spectacular mountain range as the backdrop to the famous Virgin Rock, so named for its resemblance to the Virgin Mary. A visit to the Old Rainworth Fort will give you a chilling insight into the courageous and violent Aboriginal resistance to the encroachment of Europeans in 1860s.

About 71 km south of Springsure is the tiny township of Rolleston which is the best access point to the remarkable Carnarvon National Park. The route from Rolleston to the park includes approximately 20 kms of unsealed road.

You need to spend a couple of days exploring the 30km chasm of Carnarvon Gorge with its white sandstone cliffs giving shelter to tropical plants including cycads and palms. Look out for Aboriginal rock art and see the rock pools and waterfalls of this stunning natural treasure.

Camping is possible and must be arranged in advance with the park ranger or cabin style accommodation is available.

The drive to Biloela will take you back to Rolleston, then east along the Dawson Highway. You will pass through Moura, originally a farming service centre that has been transformed into one of Central Queensland's most famous mining towns. Private visits to the Moura mine can be made by prior arrangement with the manager and the local taxi service conducts daily tours of the mine, which depart from the Eat Retreat Cafe.

From Moura its 45 minutes to Biloela, passing through the township of Banana. No not the fruit, the town is named after a particularly famous prize winning bullock.

This is the agricultural heart of Central Queensland. Crops including cotton, sorghum, wheat, herbs and spices. There is also a huge cattle industry with the largest number of cattle of any Shire in Queensland. Accommodation includes several motels; farmstays are also available in the local area.

There are plenty of things to see in the Biloela area, including Greycliffe Station, a beautifully preserved slab hut dating back to the 1870s which has been converted into a museum by the local historical society and The SILO, Australia's Primary Industries Exhibition offers educational tours and a chance to visit a variety of farm animals, ranging from donkeys to ostriches.

About 12 kms to the south of town is Mount Scoria, a strange basalt formation about 150 metres high with symmetrically shaped rocks which look like a giant staircase. Nearby, the Callide Power Station has a museum and a lookout which offers views over the complex, the dam, the town and the surrounding countryside. Just east of Biloela is Kroombit Tops National Park, worth a side-trip if you have a 4WD. Most of the road to the park is unsealed.

Before arriving in Gladstone, stop and take a look through the Port Curtis Historic Village, located on the Bruce Highway. The village includes an old railway station, a church, homes, the original Clyde Hotel and a Colonial Railway Carriage.

Originally a penal colony, Gladstone City is now Queensland's largest port. Take a drive up to The William Golding Memorial Lookout atop Auckland Hill for a bird's eye view over Port Curtis and the Gladstone Marina.

Take a walk through Gladstone's premier attraction Tondoon Botanic Gardens located south of the city centre along Glenlyon Road. Covering 55 hectares, the gardens include lakes, cascades, an herbarium and arboretum and an interpretive nature trail.

Duration:	3 hrs
Distance:	253 kms
Road Conditions:	Sealed

Duration:	2 hrs 30 mins
Distance:	193 kms
Road Conditions:	Sealed

Duration:	7 hrs
Distance:	534 kms
Road Conditions:	Approximately 20kms of unsealed road

Duration:	7 hrs
Distance:	549 kms
Road Conditions:	Approximately 20 kms of unsealed road

Duration:	1 hr 30 mins
Distance:	121 kms
Road Conditions:	Sealed