Discover QLD Outback – Brisbane To Longreach

Explore the Queensland Outback. The trip from Brisbane to Longreach, Australia, has always been a popular route to travelers. As people are hitting the road to discover more of our own backyard, it is increasingly becoming a tourist destination.

Getting From Brisbane To Longreach

Where Is Longreach?

Longreach is located in central Queensland, Australia; in the Queensland outback.

Train From Brisbane to Longreach – The Spirit Of The Outback

The Spirit of the Outback train from Brisbane to Longreach has become one of the most convenient ways to access this remarkable part of Queensland’s outback for many people. An easy and comfortable overnight trip from the Queensland capital Brisbane, takes travelers the 1300km trip, serving meals and offers two options for travel – First Class or Economy. Check the Spirit of the Outback timetable to find the trip that will best suit your travel plans.

Below we have a fabulous account from Victorian travelers who took the Spirit of the Outback train from Brisbane to Longreach and enjoyed an experience of a life time.

Brisbane To Longreach Flights

Flights to Longreach are via Qantas airlines who fly directly from Brisbane to Longreach airport (return). If you are flying from interstate, passengers will need to disembark in Brisbane to then board their connecting flight.

Brisbane To Longreach By Car

The most direct route from Brisbane to Longreach by car will take approximately 13 hours, taking you through towns such as Morven, Roma and Blackall. Alternatively, you can keep closer to the eastern coast of Queensland and drive from Brisbane to Longreach via Rockhampton, which will take longer, however, is equally as interesting as it allows coastal opportunities.

Longreach Weather

Longreach has a sub-tropical climate, where typically winter days are warm and evenings are cold; in summer, Longreach temperatures see hot days and warm evenings. Locals experience heavier Longreach rainfall rates between November and March, making April through to October the more preferable period to visit.

Things To Do In Longreach QLD

Longreach boasts many unique opportunities leaving travelers undecided about what to do in Longreach first. If you travel by train or fly in, be sure to look at car hire, Longreach and surrounds is a difficult region to explore well if you don’t have a car or are not on a tour.

Stop in at the Longreach Visitors Centre, grab yourself a Longreach map and start planning your stay. As well as the many Longreach attractions, be sure to visit local Longreach restaurants and a popular stop – the Longreach Pub.

Be sure to take a river cruise on the Thomson River Longreach, which is just out of Longreach on the Landsborough Hwy heading towards Winton. The Thomson River offers great opportunities for outdoor lovers, camping on the banks, trails to walk, animals to spot and ‘the beach’ on a hot day.

Take the time and opportunity to have a real Outback experience by visiting one of the many Stations. Spot animals, be welcomed into local homes and learn how lives are lead in Outback Australia.

Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre

The Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame Longreach provides visitors with an incredible outback experience, where eyes will be opened to the hardships, tough, unrelenting and unforgiving ways that the Outback is.

Qantas Founders Museum

The Qantas Museum Longreach has been in operation since 1996 and was established to preserve and share the story behind the early operations of Qantas Airways. Visitors are able to enjoy life size exhibits, interactive displays and historical artefacts.

Longreach Distance Education Centre

Longreach School of Distance Education invite visitors into the largest classroom in the country, observe a live lesson and see how learning by technology happens in the bush!

Longreach To Winton

The trip from Longreach to Winton will take just under two hours when travelling directly. Here you can visit the Waltzing Matilda Centre where you can learn the story behind Waltzing Matilda; and, Australia’s Dinosaur Trail. In Winton you can also try your luck with opal fossicking and bird watching.

From Longreach:

The 7 hour trip from Longreach to Mt Isa will take you to the mining town, where you can enjoy further outback experiences, great sunsets at Lake Moondarra and dive deep and explore the mines while on tour.

Just under 6 hours will get you from Longreach to Cloncurry. Visit the Cloncurry Unearthed Visitors Centre and Museum is located on the grounds of Mary Kathleen Memorial Park – here you’ll find tourist information, fossicker licences, maps and refreshments.

The 7.5 hour trip from Longreach to Roma is a great stopping point if you are taking the direct route between Brisbane and Longreach. Roma is a bigger town in Outback Queensland where you can visit the biggest cattle sale yards in the Southern Hemisphere, see Queensland’s biggest bottle tree and visit the Big Rig and learn about Australia’s discovery of oil and gas.

Accommodation In Longreach QLD

Longreach accommodation choices range from free camping through to Longreach hotels and motels and luxury accommodation.

Longreach Motels

Longreach Motel offers free wifi, airport transfer, air conditioning and centrally located.

Jumbuck Motel Longreach is centrally located, has family rooms, good onsite facilities, air conditioning and free wifi.

Albert Park Motor Inn Longreach features a swimming pool, family rooms, air conditioning, free wifi, airport transfer and daily housekeeping.

Saltbush Retreat is also centrally located, provides an airport transfer, a terrace for your room, free wifi and boasts excellent comfort.

Longreach Outback Adventures offers a pool, restaurant, bar, families are welcome, kids under 13 stay free, garden and verandah, free wifi and shared bathrooms.

Longreach Caravan Park

Longreach Tourist Park is a popular place for camping in Longreach and parking a caravan. It is great for families, centrally located, has wifi in public areas, a spa, laundry and cabins available.

For free camping, Longreach would recommend the banks of the Thomson River.

From our Victorian friends…

Exploring Queensland’s Outback by train from Brisbane to Longreach

We flew into Brisbane, from Melbourne, on Friday morning and spent the day sightseeing after checking into our Hotel, which was in close proximity to the Roma Street Railway Station on the Brisbane train lines. The next morning we boarded the Brisbane to Longreach train, The Spirit of the Outback at 12.00 noon and settled into our adjoining single sleeper cabins for the 18 hour journey.

We had wash basins in our rooms and toilet and shower were at the end of the corridor, which was very close as we had the last rooms. The Brisbane to Longreach train was equipped with a most comfortable Lounge Carriage, where passengers could chat to other passengers while partaking of free coffee and biscuits or purchase an alcoholic drink, which could be taken to the Dining Car. The Tucker Box Restaurant Car provided all meals in two settings. Lunch and dinner were two gourmet courses accompanied by a glass of wine.

We were able to disembark at Barcaldine for about thirty minutes to look at the ‘Tree of Knowledge’. All very interesting as this is where the Labour Movement is said to have commenced. From there, it was Barcaldine to Longreach before we could begin exploring our final destination. The train from Brisbane to Longreach had been most comfortable.

Arriving at 4.00pm and we walked across the very wide road to our Hotel and settled in before being driven to Ilfracombe to see the Old Police Station and walk the ‘One Kilometre’ of Farm Machinery Displays. Our dinner at the Wellshot Hotel did not disappoint and after hearing lots of jokes and stories by a Bush Poet, we were bused back to Longreach.

In the morning we had an informative tour of the Longreach Distance Education Centre which was extremely impressive. Children attend from a radius of twice the size of Victoria. They have School Camps, excursions and Sports Days as well as learning to cook. Mothers have to assist at home during the week. Next we visited the Qantas Founders Museum, which was so interesting we found it hard to stop for lunch! Later in the day there was a Sunset Cruise on the Thompson River, which was really an enormous waterhole 106 Kilometres long, but looked like a river. Dinner was under the stars with entertainment and finished with billy tea and freshly baked damper.

The next morning a tour of Strathmore Station gave us an idea of life on the land and included morning tea with scones, jam and cream. A visit to the most impressive “Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame Longreach’ introduced us to fascinating stories of pioneers living in outback Queensland. Later in the afternoon we learnt about Cattle Stations from the Owner of Camden Park Station. It was a fascinating tour at sunset followed by dinner.

On the last day we had a 140km trip by bus to Winton travelling through changing landscapes with vast treeless plains. Perched high on a magnificent mesa overlooking the plains where dinosaurs used to roam was the museum named ‘The Australian Age of Dinosaurs’. Here we had a highly informative and enjoyable tour of the laboratory, collection room and Dinosaur Canyon.

Driving around Winton we saw some quirky features. One was Amos’s Wall, which was made out of bricks and concrete with all sorts of metal junk embedded in it. Next was a musical fence, which had chimes and percussion instruments, which could be played by the observer. Both of these were extraordinary!

The Tour finished at the Waltzing Matilda Centre, where we learnt the history of the famous song and inspected a large display of tractors and farm equipment out the back. After the return trip from Winton to Longreach we had dinner at the award winning Harry’s Restaurant.

The following day we boarded the ‘Spirit of the Outback’ train, travelling back from Longreach to Brisbane, where we flew to Melbourne with many pleasant memories and much knowledge gained from our trip to Outback Queensland.