Blackall Range Drive: A Scenic Hinterland Road Trip in Queensland

Distance: 55 kilometers drive 

Sunshine Coast’s mountainous backdrop the Blackall Ranges is dotted with picturesque towns, bursting with local artisans and producers ripe for the picking. 

Start at pretty Maleny, a roughly 45-kilometre drive from Maroochydore, before heading on to two other must-see hinterland towns – Montville and Mapleton. If you drive via Landsborough, you’ll also be able to call in at Mary Cairncross Reserve, 55 hectares of subtropical rainforest overlooking the Glasshouse Mountains.

Twitchers should stop at Maleny Botanic Gardens and Birdworld, one of the largest private botanic gardens in Australia, where you’ll find colourful macaws, a tree house fit for a king and vast aviaries with birds from all over the world.

Then head to Maleny Cheese, which has been turning the dairy milk of the Sunshine Coast’s cows and buffaloes into award-winning cheeses for more than two decades, before climbing back in the RV for Montville, with a stop at Balmoral Lookout or Gerrards Lookout for panoramic views of the Mooloolah River Catchment (and, on a clear day, Mt Tinbeerwah and Noosa Heads).

Montville’s award-winning Flame Hill Vineyard is not to be missed, along with Wild Rocket at Misty’s Microbrewery, where beers are matched with crocodile cakes, kangaroo prosciutto and wild boar sausage.  

Finish your road trip at Mapleton Falls, where you can stretch your legs on the 1.3-kilometre Wompoo Circuit and be rewarded with stunning views of the waterfall and rainforest below. 

Flinders Ranges - Frame

Explorer’s Way: An Iconic South Australian Hinterland Road Trip

Distance: 1,142 kilometers

The eight- to 10-day Explorer’s Way takes you from Adelaide to the Outback via the wine region of Clare Valley. Cheers to that!

Start in Adelaide and head to the Clare Valley (around a two-hour drive). Stop at Lake Bumbunga along the way and stay overnight so you can enjoy a world-class riesling in any of the 50 historic cellar doors in Clare Valley; and explore the Resiling Trail (35 kilometres between Clare and Auburn) – one of Australia’s best cycling routes.

The next day drive through Melrose, one of the oldest towns in the Flinders Ranges, and visit Flinders Ranges National Park; or explore Alligator Gorge to see kangaroos, echidna and wallabies. Then venture into 800-million-year-old Wilpena Pound – a major natural amphitheatre of ancient mountains of a scale that has to be seen to be believed. 

From here, head to Port Augusta and join a Nilpena Ediacara Fossil Tour to learn of the 550-million-year-old history. Mining town Coober Pedy is your final stop where you can experience Umoona Opal Mine and Museum, The Big Miner and Kangaroo Orphanage (Indigenous Art Gallery).

Derwent Valley Day Drive: Tasmania’s Hinterland Beauty

Distance: around 100 kilometres

From quaint towns with antique shops to a national park, the Derwent Valley Drive gives you the perfect taster of Tasmania in just one day.

Start in the riverside town of New Norfolk with brunch or lunch at Gourmet Traveller Restaurant of the Year 2024, The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery, famed for its paddock-to-plate dining experience.

About midway between New Norfolk and Bushy Park, you’ll find historic trout hatchery, Salmon Ponds Heritage Hatchery and Gardens, where you can learn about Tasmania’s trout fishing heritage.  

From here, follow the Gordon River Road and wind along the banks of the Tyenna River; through the gorge, drive over Tyenna River and on to Mt Field National Park. Along with Freycinet National Park, Mt Field is the oldest declared National Park in Australia. Here you can visit the cascading Russell Falls, or to stretch your legs a bit further, go on to Lady Barron and Horseshoe Falls.

Continue on to Hamilton – a small Georgian and early Victorian village that has remained largely unspoilt – before you head back to the pretty seaside city of Hobart.

Rob Burnett/Tourism Tasmania

Gibb River Road: A Rugged Kimberley Adventure

Distance: 660 kilometres

If you want to drive through the heartland of the Kimberley, this is the way to do it. Travelling along the Gibb River Road rewards with visits to remote cattle stations, waterfalls and ancient rock art.

Best suited to off-road RVs, start at Derby and head towards Windjana Gorge National Park (the best place in Australia to see freshwater crocodiles in the wild), then follow the Gorge Walk trail which winds through the gorge, where you’re sure to see a croc basking on a rock.

The next day, follow the road into the Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges, home to Bell Gorge and its cascading waterfall – this part of the world has some of the best.

Stay at Silent Grove Campground, APT Bell Gorge Wilderness Lodge or Imintji Campground, then it’s on to Galvans Gorge (the most accessible gorge along the Gibb) and the campground at Manning Gorge. 

From here, it’s 39 kilometres to Mt Elizabeth Station, where you can see the Wunnumurra and Warlu Gorges because, in this part of the world, you can never see enough.

Then head for Drysdale River Station – the gateway to the Mitchell River National Park, Mitchell and Merton Falls, Surveyors Pool, Mitchell and King Edward rivers as well as historical Indigenous sites. 

Working cattle station, Home Valley Station is your next stop, nestled at the foot of the Cockburn Ranges, where you’ll find tours and various places to stay. 

It’s a little over 100 kilometres from here to El Questro Wilderness Park, where you can visit the thermal ponds at Zebedee Springs, take a boat down the Chamberlain Gorge or try your hand at barramundi fishing. From El Questro, it’s on to Kununurra. Stay here and use it as a base to explore Wyndham, Lake Argyle and the Bungle Bungle Range. 

Gibb River Road

Category: Destinations
Written: Sat 01 Mar 2025
Printed: March, 2025
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