Central Highlands

Take It Outback..

Get a feel for a real Australian outback life with a visit to Capricorn's Central Highlands, west of Rockhampton. The Central Highlands are home to vast cattle stations as well as some of Queensland's most dramatic natural landscapes.

A slice of heaven within mining and cattle country, the Capricorn Region's best kept secrets are its sprawling national parks with towering escarpments and gorges, rainforest and waterfalls.

Visit Blackdown Tabeland National Park just half an hour's drive off the Capricorn Highway and discover immense sandstone gorges and enjoy sweeping views of the endless plains around the park. Peak Ranges and nearby Carnarvon Gorge, Isla Gorge are well worth spending some time to explore.

The Central Highlands are ideal for a touring holiday. Travel west from Rockhampton along the Capricorn Highway and you will come across some original outback frontier towns like Alpha, where each street is named after a famous poet, or like Dingo, where you can learn the unusual skill of dingo trap throwing.

The town of Emerald is the hub of the Central Highlands and is the gateway to the Sapphire Gemfields, where the whole family can fossick in the largest commercial sapphire fields in the Southern Hemisphere. Who knows what treasure you might dig up!

While in the Central Highlands you can also hunt of another kind of local treasure. Barramundi, Murray Cod, and Golden Perch are abundant in Lake Maraboon and Fairbairn Dam near Emerald, and the dam is most famous for its highly-sought after redlcaw crayfish, which is perfect on a real Aussie barbecue.

If you really want an authentic Australian outback experience, join in the daily life of a working cattle station. Learn how to muster cattle on horseback, milk the cows and enjoy real country hospitality around a blazing campfire.