Queensland Rail's "Spirit of the Outback" offers a 26-hour train journey from Brisbane to Longreach. This service includes comfortable sleeper carriages, an onboard restaurant, and air conditioning. Photo / Supplied
Queensland Rail's "Spirit of the Outback" offers a 26-hour train journey from Brisbane to Longreach. This service includes comfortable sleeper carriages, an onboard restaurant, and air conditioning. Photo / Supplied
Longreach may appear to be in the middle of nowhere, but there’s a surprisingly long list of things to see and do in this Outback Queensland town, as Cath Johnsen writes.
It takes 13 hours to reach by car from Brisbane, but funnily enough, that’s not what gives Longreach its name. Instead, it refers to the length of the meandering Thomson River, which flows through the district. Just getting to the red soils and inland waterways of Longreach is undoubtedly half the fun, but if you’re not up for a dusty road trip through the Aussie bush, Queensland Rail has you covered.
Embrace the Spirit of the Outback
The Spirit of the Outback train departs Brisbane for Longreach twice a week, transporting passengers from the bright lights of the city to the blazing sunsets of the Outback.
The Outback Aussie Tours sunset rail tour is an activity the whole family can enjoy. Photo / Supplied
This 26-hour rail journey passes through some of Australia’s most remote towns, allowing city-dwellers a glimpse of a vastly different way of life. And there’s no roughing it involved: comfortable sleeper carriages, an onboard restaurant and expansive windows throughout the air-conditioned train are perfect for spotting bounding wallabies or sprinting emus.
Once you’ve disembarked in Longreach, companies in town offer car hire or there is a local taxi service on hand to shuttle you around. The Spirit of the Outback train makes a return journey to Brisbane twice a week, and QantasLink flights operate most days. Alternatively, Rex Airlines flies in and out from the north Queensland city of Townsville.
Experience Australia’s pioneering heritage
Longreach is a destination that transports visitors back to yesteryear and brings to life the pioneering history of Australia. This spirit is perhaps best captured by one of the Outback Pioneers Tours – perhaps a bumpy ride aboard a Cobb & Co stagecoach, a visit to a remote sheep station or a sedate paddle-wheeler cruise up the Thomson River. The Australian Stockman Hall of Fame and the Qantas Founders Museum are also worthy attractions for any traveller wanting to learn more about Australia’s entrepreneurial grit.
Canapes served on board Outback Aussie Tours rail tour. Photo / Supplied
If you’re travelling between March and October, the Longreach School of Distance Education (formerly School of the Air) offers tours of one of the largest classrooms in the world, and you can watch on as kids from the remotest parts of Queensland meet for virtual learning, previously done via radio.
But the newest attraction in town is Outback Aussie Tours’ Outback Rail Adventure. This new tourism adventure brings the romance of rail to Longreach using beautifully refurbished retro rail motors, which owner “Smithy” (Alan Smith) has dubbed “silver bullets”.
The vintage rail motors can take passengers across the flood plains of the Thomson River for sunset drinks on the Silver-Tails Rail Sunset tour; to the Darr River for morning smoko on the Great Darr River Rail Run, or east to the town of Ilfracombe and its famous Wellshot Hotel on the Historic Ilfracombe Excursion. Canapes are served while the onboard commentary entertains with tales of the times the Royals visited Longreach, with the locals playing host to Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, and the Duchess of Cornwall.
At the conclusion of the journey, guests are shuttled to a venue along the Coolabah-lined Thomson River. Under the stars, a two-course camp oven dinner is served, followed by freshly baked damper and billy tea. On stage, resident performers serenade the crowd with sing-along country classics and bush poetry. It’s about as Aussie as it gets.
Indulge in country hospitality
There is plenty of accommodation in Longreach, but you can’t go past the well-appointed glamping tents at Mitchell Grass Retreat.
Opened in 2020, Mitchell Grass Retreat offers fully accessible, ensuite tents, beds with luxurious linens, reverse cycle air conditioning, a kitchenette, a private deck with barbecue and a deep bath made for lazing in bubbles while drinking bubbles. Outside are walking trails, a swimming pool and endless views. You may even be lucky enough to spot a brolga.
Mitchell Grass Retreat, opened in 2020, provides fully accessible ensuite tents, complete with luxurious linens, air conditioning, kitchenette, private deck, barbecue and a deep bath. Photo / Supplied
If you feel like being social, the retreat team light the communal firepit each evening, or for a more private experience, the “gidyea” tents have their own smaller firepit option, with everything provided and replenished each day (including marshmallows). Solar lights guide your passage between tents, the pool and other amenities, so the enveloping canvas of twinkling and shooting stars is unfettered by artificial light. In the morning, you’ll awake to a homemade breakfast basket delivered to your door.
Revel in an outback sunset
Aside from its unique accommodation and cultural experiences, Longreach offers breathtaking sunrises and sunsets, with Starlight’s Lookout serving as a popular vantage point. Photo / Supplied
Though there are plenty of attractions to keep even the most active traveller busy, a must-do in Longreach is to simply stop and spend time soaking up an uninterrupted sunrise or sunset. One of the best vantage points is Starlight’s Lookout, named after the infamous Captain Starlight, who pulled off one of the biggest cattle heists in history.
Located approximately 40 kilometres out of town on the unsealed Muttaburra-Westside Road, Starlight’s Lookout is a hill that rewards walkers with a plateau for lounging on to take in the wide-ranging views and larger-than-life Outback sunset. As the fiery amber ball is slowly conquered by the inky night sky, you’ll be glad you made it all the way to Longreach.
Air New Zealand flies direct to Brisbane from Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch; Qantas flies direct from Auckland and Christchurch, and China Airlines flies direct from Auckland.
The Spirit of the Outback departs Brisbane for Longreach on Tuesdays and Saturdays, returning on Mondays and Thursdays.
