Great Inland Way Sydney – Hebel to Cairns and Cooktown 2,691 km
Gillies Range, Atherton
This route takes you from Sydney through Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo, Gilgandra, Coonamble, Walgett and Lightning Ridge to Hebel, just over the Queensland border. From there you’ll travel north to St George, famous for its fishing and cotton crops and on to Surat where the last Cobb and Co stagecoach service began. Travelling north you’ll visit Roma, home of the gas and oil industry and the Big Rig, continue on to Injune, gateway to the Carnarvon Gorge National Park, where you can see the
fascinating ancient rock art galleries deep inside the gorge. You then travel on to Emerald, where you can find the world’s largest copy of Van Gogh’s Sunflower painting. On to Capella with its Pioneer Village, you’ll be passing through coal mining country. Next along the way is Clermont where you can walk along the Hoods Lagoon boardwalk or take a look at the Theresa Creek Dam. Then on to Charters Towers, which was Australia’s second largest city during the gold rush of the 1870s.
22 Wot’s on in Queensland Highways, Byways & Roads Less Travelled
Heading further north you’ll reach the Undara Volcanic National Park, world famous for its unique lava tubes. Moving on, next is Ravenshoe, the highest town in Queensland and entrance to the Atherton Tablelands, a tropical paradise with lakes, waterfalls and rainforest. Next comes Mareeba, at the heart of a coffee growing region. Then you are soon in Cairns and from there you travel on to the end of the highway at Cooktown.
