Opera in the Outback by Rail

This morning is yours to relax over a lazy breakfast before checking out or get out and about exploring Brisbane’s CBD at your own pace – the hotel will happily store your luggage. The city’s beautiful South Bank cultural precinct is just a 10-minute scenic stroll across the Neville Bonner Bridge, and well worth visiting. We’ll regroup in the hotel lobby in the early afternoon and transfer to Roma Street Station to settle into our First Class cabins on the iconic Spirit of the Outback train for a classic rail journey linking Brisbane with Queensland’s heartland. 

Travelling 1,325 kilometres, this legendary train reveals the shifting landscapes from the coast’s lush greenery to the vast Mitchell Grass Downs and soft outback hues of western Queensland. 

Enjoy a drink in the Shearers Rest Lounge with your fellow travellers, savour a locally inspired dinner in the Tucker Box Restaurant, and retire to your comfortable sleeper cabin as the countryside rolls by.

Setting the scene for your Festival of Outback Opera adventure, you’ll be treated to impromptu preview performances by onboard Opera Queensland artists.

The train leaves at 2.40pm so please arrange your flights to enable you to be at Roma Street Station to meet your Tour Leader and fellow travellers at 2.15pm

Overnight: Spirit of the Outback Sleeper Train (D)

After enjoying breakfast and lunch on the train as you watch the countryside roll by, we’ll arrive in Barcaldine, birthplace of the Australian Labor Party and home to the Tree of Knowledge, where the first shearers’ strike helped shape the nation’s history. 

Here, you’ll meet your experienced Outback Aussie Tours Driver and Host, and board our private coach for the one-hour drive to Blackall, a thriving outback township that quite literally grew up on the sheep’s back. It was here in 1892 that legendary blade shearer Jack Howe made history at Alice Downs, shearing 321 sheep in seven hours and forty minutes — a record that still stands in spirit today. 

After checking in to your accommodation, enjoy a relaxed dinner in the motel restaurant and settle into the warm rhythm of outback life.

Overnight: Oasis Motor Inn or Coolibah Motel, Blackall (B, L, D)

This morning after breakfast, we’ll tour the historic Blackall Woolscour, Australia’s last remaining steam-powered wool-washing plant. It’s an experience that immerses visitors in the stories, sights and scents of a pivotal era in the nation’s wool trade. 

After enjoying lunch at the Bushman’s Artisans Gallery, housed in the former Bushman’s Hotel, now a vibrant showcase of local creativity, art and craftsmanship, you’ll have free time to explore the township 

Barcaldine’s history is deeply tied to Australia’s pastoral and labor heritage. The town became a focal point during the 1891 Great Shearers’ Strike, one of Australia’s largest industrial actions, where thousands of workers protested exploitative conditions in the wool industry. Strikers camped under a ghost gum tree outside the railway station – now immortalized as the Tree of Knowledge – flying the Eureka Flag. This event is credited with sparking the Australian labor movement and leading to the formation of the Australian Labor Party. On September 9, 1892, the Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party was read aloud beneath the tree, a document now inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. 

Early this evening we’ll gather for an Opera Queensland recital, before enjoying dinner at The Lodge on Hawthorn, a heritage-listed building steeped in history that once operated as the Blackall Masonic Temple.

Overnight: Oasis Motor Inn or Coolibah Motel, Blackall (B, L, D)

This morning after breakfast and check out, we’ll board our coach and travel through classic Outer Barcoo country, discovering landscapes that inspired some of Australia’s most celebrated poets, including Banjo Paterson. As you approach Isisford, its streetscape feels like a step back in time to the late 1800s. Here, we’ll visit the Barcoo Interpretive Centre for a chronological journey through the evolution of nature, spanning from 100 million years ago to the present day. The museum’s star exhibit is a life-sized model of the Isisfordia duncani Replica, an ancient crocodilian ancestor, discovered on the outskirts of Isisford in the 1990s. Dating back about 98 million years, Isisfordia is considered the evolutionary forebear of all modern crocodiles and alligators worldwide.

After pausing for some lunch, we’ll continue to Longreach and check in to our accommodation for the next five nights – Saltbush Retreat, a boutique outback lodging experience offering rustic yet elegant accommodation that captures the unique textures and tones of the Australian outback, blending natural beauty with modern comforts. 

After taking some time to settle in and freshen up, guests of Railway Adventures will embark on an exclusive evening experience, transferring to the Thomson River to board the Longreach Explorer for the award-winning Drover’s Sunset Cruise followed by Smithy’s Outback Dinner & Show for camp-oven inspired dining and live entertainment under the stars. 

Overnight: Saltbush Retreat, Longreach (B, L, D)

This morning after breakfast, Railway Adventures guests will enjoy an exclusive day on board the historic 2000-class rail motor for a scenic rail adventure across the Mitchell Grass plains. You’ll travel through coolibah-lined creeks and open floodplains before stopping at the Darr River, a classic example of an arid-zone Australian river – bone-dry for years, then suddenly transforming into a bird-filled inland sea after tropical rain – for a traditional smoko and billy tea beside the waterhole. You’ll have the opportunity to learn about the area’s rich pastoral heritage, native flora, and bush medicine. 

Back on the train, we’ll continue on to Ilfracombe, founded in 1891 as a Cobb & Co coach stop and railhead when the railway reached there from Rockhampton. This one-pub town is often described as a “living museum of the machinery age” because of its quirky roadside attraction – the Ilfracombe Machinery and Heritage Museum, also known as the “Mile of Machinery” – a 1 kilometre stretch along the highway where dozens of vintage tractors, trucks, wagons, steam engines, road graders, and other agricultural machinery from the 1920s to 1960s are lined up on both sides of the road. 

We’ll enjoy a hearty pub lunch at the historic Wellshot Hotel — built in 1891 and the oldest licensed pub in western Queensland, before having some time to explore this quirky town.

This evening, we’ll enjoy a relaxed Outback BBQ Dinner at The Tin Shed, located on the grounds of Mitchell Grass Retreat, beginning with pre-dinner drinks and canapés on the Sunset Viewing Deck, while watching the Texas Longhorn Steers grazing in the nearby paddock. 

Overnight: Saltbush Retreat, Longreach (B, L, D)

This morning after an early breakfast, we’ll travel west along the Matilda Highway to historic Winton – settled in 1873, Winton is famously known as the “birthplace of Waltzing Matilda,” – while staying at Dagworth Station, Banjo Paterson was inspired by a shearer’s death at nearby Combo Waterhole. What is widely recognised as Australia’s unofficial national anthem, it was first performed at the North Gregory Hotel in Winton on April 6, 1895. The town is also a hotspot for dinosaur enthusiasts and part of Queensland’s “Dinosaur Trail.” Key sites include the Australian Age of Dinosaurs and the Dinosaur Stampede at Lark Quarry Conservation Park. 

Upon arrival we’ll visit the Waltzing Matilda Centre, the only museum in the world dedicated to a song, and take time to browse the local boulder opal shops. After lunch, we’ll head out to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs, perched high on a mesa with panoramic views across the surrounding jump-up country.

Home to the largest collection of Australian dinosaur fossils in the world, the centre offers a fascinating insight into prehistoric life. Here, you’ll join a guided tour of the laboratory and collection room with passionate local guides who reveal the story of the giants that once roamed this region.

As the sun sets, we’ll settle into the Opera in the Outback festival’s signature event – Dark Sky Serenade. This spectacular open-air performance unfolds beneath a canopy of stars, blending world-class opera with the timeless beauty of the outback landscape,in a place that was once the domain of dinosaurs. You’ll have a ‘nibbles pack’ for the performance and then enjoy a light supper on the mesa afterwards. 

For those that are interested, you’ll have the option to join a guided night walk through Dinosaur Canyon, featuring life-sized dinosaur sculptures and the Valley of the Cycads, before travelling back to Longreach.

Overnight: Saltbush Retreat, Longreach (B, L, D)

It’s a leisurely start today – enjoy a relaxed breakfast, soak in an outdoor bath, or take a stroll through town – perhaps do all three! 

Later in the morning, we’ll head to the world-class Qantas Founders Museum to participate in the exclusive “Opera Long Lunch”, another signature event of this wonderful festival, for a celebration of regional cuisine and song. You’ll dine among historic aircraft and aviation exhibits as Opera Queensland artists perform a repertoire of uplifting arias and ensembles that fill the soaring hangar space with music.

After lunch, we’ll join in the festivities of the annual Longreach Show, a favourite event in Central western Queensland for more than 130 years. This lively community celebration combines rural heritage and outback hospitality, featuring livestock judging, equestrian events, art and craft displays, and local produce stalls. Festival pop-up performances add an operatic flair to the show atmosphere, offering another opportunity to connect with the people and spirit of outback Queensland. 

Dinner is at leisure at the Showgrounds. 

Overnight: Saltbush Retreat, Longreach (B,L)

This morning after breakfast, we’ll visit the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and explore its inspiring galleries that celebrate the stories, skills and spirit of the outback. Opened by Queen Elizabeth II, this unique museum celebrates the unsung heroes of rural and outback Australia, particularly the contributions of the men and women who opened up and developed Australia’s vast inland—explorers, stockmen, drovers, pastoralists, miners, Indigenous Australians, and pioneering families.

After perusing the wonderful exhibits, you’ll take your seat at the Stockman’s Live Show for an engaging performance of horsemanship and stock handling, and get a sense of the action of a live muster. Following lunch at one of Longreach’s favourite local hotels, we’ll return to our accommodation to relax and prepare for the evening ahead.

Later in the afternoon, we’ll travel just ten minutes beyond town to Camden Park Station, an 18,000-acre working cattle property that has hosted everyone from Australia’s pioneering stockmen to Queen Elizabeth II. Tonight, its wide horizons and glowing skies set the scene for “Singing in the Night”, complete with canapes and supper. As the plains are bathed in soft twilight, Opera Queensland’s finest voices join with University of Queensland musicians and orchestra for a stirring performance.

Overnight: Saltbush Retreat, Longreach (B, L, D)

There’s no rush this morning to have breakfast and checkout before returning to the Stockman’s Hall of Fame to join “Sing, Sing, Sing” at The Drover’s Place Cottage, a sandstone cottage hand-built in the early 1980s by the legendary Australian bushman and saddler R.M. Williams, who personally cut the sandstone blocks from a local quarry at the age of 70. 

Led by Opera Queensland artists, this uplifting event invites singers of all experience levels to come together for a morning of music, laughter and connection – a fitting finale to your Festival of Outback Opera journey.

After lunch together, we’ll transfer back to the Qantas Founders Museum to more fully explore the stories and artefacts that trace the early years of Australia’s national airline. Wander through the main exhibition gallery and the original 1922 hangar, where historic aircraft, photographs and memorabilia bring the pioneering days of flight to life. Join a guided Airpark Tour for the chance to step aboard the iconic Boeing 707 and 747, discovering how a small outback venture evolved into one of the world’s most respected airlines.

From here, we’ll transfer to Longreach Airport for your QantasLink flight back to Brisbane, due to arrive at 6.15pm, taking with you lasting memories of song, story and outback hospitality. 

End of Tour (B,L)