Kimberley Itinerary (Travelwise can organise your flight from any state to join this tour) Day 1 – Saturday 04th June 06.30am – Depart Boomerang Beach 06.50am – Depart Forster Keys 07.00am – Depart Golden Ponds 07.05am – Depart Southern Parkway & Akala 07.15am – Depart Pacific Smiles 07.25am – Depart Club Forster 07.35am – Depart Tuncurry Beach St Bus Shelter 07.40am – Depart Chapmans Rd Tuncurry 08.10am – Depart Taree South Service Centre 08.30am – Depart Club Taree 08.45am – Depart Caravilla Motel Taree 09.00am – Depart Taree Airport 09.50am – Arrive Port Doughnut (comfort stop) 10.00am – Depart Port Doughnut 01.10pm – Arrive Walcha (lunch at own leisure) 02.00pm – Depart Walcha 05.30pm – Arrive Burk & Wills Motor Inn, Moree NSW 07.00pm – Dinner Day 2 – Sunday 05th June 07.00am – Breakfast 08.30am – Depart Moree 11.15am – Arrive Saint George QLD (lunch at own leisure) 12.10pm – Depart Saint George 05.45pm – Arrive Tambo Mill Motel, Tambo QLD Enjoy the slower pace and all the history that the oldest town in Outback Queensland has to offer (including town chicken races). 07.00pm – Dinner Provided (Carrangarra Hotel) Day 3 – Monday 06th June 07.00am – Breakfast Provided (Fanny Mae’s) 08.00pm – Depart Tambo 10.00am – Arrive Lara Station wetlands (morning tea provided) 10.30am – Depart Lara Station 12.00pm – Arrive Qantas Founders Museum Longreach (tour & lunch provided) Qantas Founders Museum is an award winning, world-class museum and cultural display, eloquently telling the story of Qantas through interpretive displays, interactive exhibits, original and replica aircraft and an impressive collection of genuine artifacts. Our aircraft collection incorporates five of the world’s most significant aircraft – the Consolidated PBY Catalina Flying Boat, Douglas DC-3, Lockheed L1049 Super Constellation, Boeing 707-138 and the legendary Boeing 747- 238. In addition, we have full scale replicas of some of the most important aircraft in the early Qantas fleet – de Havilland DH-61 Giant Moth, de Havilland DH-50, and Avro 504K Dyak; Qantas’ first aircraft. (optional) 12.05pm – Arrive Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame & Outback Heritage Centre The Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre is Australia’s premier outback heritage institution. Since its opening in 1988, the Hall of Fame has played host to over one million interstate and international visitors – providing each one with a spectacular outback experience. Situated in Queensland’s central western town of Longreach, the museum, stunningly constructed from timber, stone and corrugated iron, is truly reminiscent of the outback. With its unique design, the Hall of Fame stands comfortably amongst the rugged yet vibrant rural landscape. 01.30pm – Depart Longreach 03.30pm – Arrive Age of Dinosaurs, Winton The Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History is excited to provide a unique experience in the Australian Outback. The Museum houses the largest collection of unique Australian dinosaur fossils and they're here for everyone to see. Our inspiring and educational tours take your group of visitors to the heart of the Museum, our Fossil Preparation Laboratory, Collection Room and Dinosaur Canyon. We discover and uncover dinosaur bones every day in our working Laboratory giving visitors a real dinosaur experience. Apart from dinosaurs, the Museum offers amazing views overlooking the black soil plains, the Cretaceous Café and a Museum Shop. 05.00pm – Depart Age of Dinosaurs 05.30pm – Arrive Boulder Opal Motor Inn, Winton QLD Winton is the Dinosaur Capital of Australia, home of Waltzing Matilda and Queensland’s Boulder Opal; abundant in nature, culture and heritage. “Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong…” You’ll be forgiven for relentlessly whistling this famous tune while you’re in Winton, as it’s the very home of Banjo Patterson’s ‘Waltzing Matilda’. Reputedly inspired by an 1894 shearer’s suicide at the nearby Combo Waterhole and first performed in Winton’s North Gregory Hotel on 6th April 1895, you can learn all about Banjo and the adopted national anthem at the Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton. 07.00pm – Dinner Provided Day 4 – Tuesday 07th June 07.00am – Breakfast Provided 08.45am – Depart Boulder Opal Motor Inn 09.00am – Arrive Waltzing Matilda Centre Winton Winton's Waltzing Matilda Centre tells the story of Waltzing Matilda, Winton, and the Outback region. An experience you will remember forever. From the ashes of the fire on 18th June 2015, the Waltzing Matilda Centre has been reborn. 10.30am – Depart Waltzing Matilda Centre 01.15pm – Arrive Crocodile Dundee’s Walkabout Creek Hotel, McKinlay (lunch provided) McKinlay and the Walkabout Creek Hotel. If it sounds familiar, then it should. This quirky hotel was made famous in the blockbuster movie Crocodile Dundee. Inside the pub you'll find plenty of memorabilia from the days when Paul Hogan swaggered up to the bar as Mick Dundee. These days you are assured of a hearty pub meal and great outback hospitality, so it's definitely worth the trip. 02.15pm – Depart McKinlay 05.00pm – Arrive Abacus Motel Mt Isa 06.30pm – Dinner Provided Day 5 – Wednesday 08th June 07.00am – Breakfast Provided 09.00am – Depart Abacus Motel, Mt Isa 11.00am – Arrive Camooweal (comfort stop) Driving from Mount Isa across the deserted lands of western Queensland we reach the tiny town of Camooweal to be greeted by a sign which proudly declares: 'Gateway to the Northern Territory' and adds 'Population 310'. The population has increased, at least by the signage, by 10 people in the last 30 years. It also happens to be the most westerly town in Queensland as the Northern Territory border is only 14 km to the west. (Camooweal, possibly one of the best ballads Slim Dusty ever recorded - it was written by "Mack" Cormack - Slim sang this in just about every concert he did) 11.30am – Depart Camooweal Crossing the NT boarder, we gain 30 minutes - put your clocks back 30 minutes 01.45pm – Arrive Barkly Homestead, Tablelands NT (lunch provided) Barkly Homestead is a remote roadhouse situated on the Barkly Highway, halfway between Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and Camooweal in Queensland. It is the first and only stop for travellers crossing the border into the Territory. 02.45pm – Depart Barkly Homestead 05.00pm – Arrive Bluestone Motor Inn, Tennant Creek 07.00pm – Dinner Provided Day 6 – Thursday 09th June 07.00am – Breakfast Provided 09.00am – Depart Bluestone Motor Inn Located at the junction of the Stuart and Barkly Highways, 25 kilometres north of Tennant Creek, a local point of interest is the Flynn Memorial. Reverend John Flynn pioneered the Royal Australian Flying Doctors Service. The memorial originally sat at the exact meeting spot of the Barkly and Stuart Highways, but the point has now been moved 250 metres south. 10.45am – Arrive Renner Springs Desert Inn, Pamayu (Devonshire Tea provided) 11.30am – Depart Pamayu 01.00pm – Arrive Newcastle Waters Ghost Town (lunch provided) Newcastle Waters is a ghost town that attracts large flocks of water birds after rain. Explore the remains of the 1960s buildings. Newcastle Waters has a rich, vibrant history as a gathering place for drovers on their gruelling overland cattle drives. It is located at the junction of three major overland stock routes and was an important source of provisions and a place to rest before drovers continued on their way. The township has become a ghost town, but you can safely explore preserved historic buildings such as Jones's Store and the Junction Hotel - both reminders of the pioneering era. The Drover's Memorial Park, featuring a bronze statue of a drover, is also a must see. 02.20pm – Depart Newcastle Waters 04.00pm – Arrive Daly Waters Historic Pub, Daly Waters NT A true-blue outback pub - the Daly Waters Pub is a colourful pub, clad in corrugated iron, draped with bougainvilleas and crammed with decades of memorabilia. It began its current incarnation serving passengers arriving on the new Qantas airline in 1934 and was the first international runway and airport in Australia. As a popular watering hole along the track, the Daly Waters Pub holds a liquor licence that has been in continuous use since 1938. The pub is on the old droving track and was a watering hole for the drovers as well as travellers heading north and south. It was used as a staging post during the Second World War for the Australian and American Air force. There is a static historical display housed in the WWII hangar at the airport. 07.00pm – Dinner (Barra n Beef on the BBQ provided) Day 7 – Friday 10th June 07.00am – Breakfast Provided 09.00am – Depart Daly Waters 12.30pm – Arrive Katherine Gorge Nitnit Dreaming Cruise (lunch provided) A trip to the Northern Territory is not complete without visiting the spectacular “Nitmiluk Gorge”. Open all year round, it features some of the most stunning gorge scenery in the Northern Territory, with raging waterfalls, a myriad of wildlife and breathtaking views of the Jawoyn country. Nitmiluk Gorge winds along 12km of sheer rock extending more than 70m high. Consisting of 13 seperate gorges, Nitmiluk Gorge is a maze of waterways sculpted from the sandstone over countless millennia by the Katherine River. The essential cultural cruise, Nitnit Dreaming incorporates travel along two gorges, where you’ll discover the customs of the traditional landowners, the Jawoyn people. 04.00pm – Depart Nitnit Dreaming Cruise 05.00pm – Arrive Pine Tree Motel, Katherine NT The Northern territory’s third-largest town, Katherine is on the banks of the Katherine River, which flows from the nearby world-renowned Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk National Park). The Katherine region extends from the Gulf of Carpentaria near the Queensland border towards the Kimberley in the west.