Touring Routes and Drives
Discover the countryside of the Southern Downs & Granite Belt by exploring one of our many Tourist Routes and Drives.
Click here to view a Map of the Region
Warwick Tourist Drives
- The Settlers Route: Tourist Route 1 — 72 kilometres
The Settler’s Route will take you through stunning scenery with deep gullies, steep mountains and a myriad of river crossings.
Head north from Warwick and turn right onto Yangan Road. Yangan is a pretty town with historic buildings, lovely parks and great counter meals. Follow the road until you reach Killarney, the scenic gem of the Southern Downs.
Extend the drive by heading out of Killarney towards Dagg’s Falls, Brown’s Falls and Queen Mary Falls National Park and the breathtaking views of Carr’s Lookout.
The mountain road takes you through sub-tropical rainforest and 4WD’s can detour along the popular and spectacular Condamine Gorge, also know as the ‘14 River Crossing’ 4WD track.
Complete the drive along the Warwick-Killarney Road back to Warwick.
Click on the link below for a brochure on the Settler's Route.
Settlers Route Brochure
(
Adobe Acrobat -
195.609KB
)
- Sunflower Route: Tourist Route 11 — 50 kilometres
Summer is the best time to take in the wonder and splendour of the Sunflower Route. Anytime from late January through to March you will see dazzling vistas of giant sunflowers. The 50 kilometre round trip will also take you through the patchwork countryside of ploughed black soil, green lucerne and grazing crops, and brick-red sorghum.
To drive through some of the region’s most picturesque country, leave Warwick via Victoria Street then turn right into Rosehill Road and follow the signs to Allora.
Spend some time in Allora visiting its quiet relaxing parks and gardens and charming heritage listed streetscape. Other attractions in the vicinity include heritage listed Glengallan Homestead.
The drive will bring you back into the heart of Warwick via the Cunningham Highway.
Please note that this year there are no sunflowers planted due to the dry season.
- Sprint Route — Tourist Route 12 — 118 kilometres
To begin the drive, head west on the Cunningham Highway towards Goondiwindi, then take the Pratten turnoff. This 118 kilometre round trip includes the home of vintage motor sprints — Leyburn. Leyburn’s Historic Motor Sprint Around the Houses attracts thousands of people each year on the third weekend of August. In fact, it’s not unusual to see vintage car rallies and bikies’ groups motor their way down the Sprint Route at any time of the year.
Leyburn is a picturesque village brimming with talent and friendliness. Spend some time walking around Leyburn’s historic buildings. These include Queensland’s oldest continually licensed hotel and a shingle-roofed church dating back to 1860.
Continue the route through the gold rush country of Thane and then onto the popular fishing and boating spot of Leslie Dam. Camp in the great outdoors, fish, swim or canoe.
- Cedar Route — Tourist Route 14 — 62 kilometres
The Cedar Route winds through the World Heritage area of the Goomburra Valley and shows nature in all its glory. Head north towards Toowoomba, past Glengallan Homestead and turn right at the Goomburra sign just before Allora.
Follow the route and put on your hiking boots to enjoy the many walking tracks in the Goomburra section of Main Range National Park. The Dalrymple Creek Bush Walk is disabled assisted and has a kids’ activity page on the EPA website (www.epa.qld.gov.au). Take time to visit the newly renovated Sylvester Lookout. Learn all about the endangered frogs and other native species that call this park home and see how many you can find when you take one of the many gentle bushwalks.
Continue your journey by following the signs and travelling through Freestone before you arrive back in Warwick. Ask a local about the ‘Ghost Gate’ and hear about the mysterious white owl.
From fun four-wheel-driving, perfect picnic spots and spectacular scenery, the Cedar Route appeals to all.
This is the newest of the tourist routes in the Warwick area and four waterfalls are featured on the spectacular drive on the southern Queensland border between Boonah and Killarney.
The route leaves the Boonah-Rathdowney Road south of Boonah and through Teviot Gap near Killarney takes in the four waterfalls on part of Spring Creek Road - Browns, Daggs, Queen Mary and Teviot Falls - and Carrs Lookout.
Spring Creek flows over Queen Mary Falls, which is in Main Range National Park.
The creek flows into the Condamine River nearby where it begins at The Head and flows on to the Murray-Darling, Australia's longest river system, which stretches to the ocean in South Australia.
This tourist route can form part of a wonderful circle drive taking in Cunninghams Gap, Warwick, Killarney and Boonah - a special part of southern Queensland.
Back to top
Stanthorpe Tourist Drives
- Granite Belt Drive: Tourist Route 3 — 12 kilometres
Via Dalveen, Cottonvale, Thulimbah & The Summit. The route runs parallel with the New England Highway and access is gained from the Highway.
The little farming villages between Dalveen, to the north of Warwick and Applethorpe to the south of Stanthorpe, form what is known as the Granite Belt Drive (formerly known as The Fruit Run). Along this route you will find farmhouse scattered among the orchards, a couple of wineries, quite a few fruit stalls and a lot of fruit storage sheds.
In addition to the towns at either end of Granite Belt Drive, in between there’s Cottonvale, along with Thulimbah and The Summit.
Fruit stalls are set up with plenty of produce, and in most, but not all cases, locally grown product is also available where farm gate signs identify producers who sell direct to the travelling public.
- Armistice Way: Tourist Route 5 — 34 kilometres
Via Thulimbah, Pozieres and Amiens. The Granite Belt was part of the soldier settlement schemes for the returning heroes of World War I and it was considered as the perfect place for small farms, capable of supporting one man and his family. The veterans named their farms, and the roads linking them, after battles in which they had fought. Armistice Way, one of Stanthorpe’s principal tourist routes, takes drivers along Amiens Road through Amiens, Messines, Bapaume, Passchendaele, Bullecourt, Pozieres and Fleurbaix, which are named after World War I battlefields. The route is a memorial drive established to link these World War I returned soldier settlements.
- Highland Drive: Tourist Route 6 — 31 kilometres via Storm King Dam, Eukey and Ballandean.
- Oracles Way: Tourist Route 7 — 64 kilometres via Amosfield Road and the Mt Lindsay Road to Tenterfield.
- Shearer’s Way: Tourist Route 8 — 90 kilometres via Texas Road, Glenlyon Dam Road and Mingoola Road to the Bruxner Highway.
Back to top
Inglewood Tourist Drives
- Tobacco Trail: 52 kilometres round trip from Inglewood via Lake Coolmunda.
Tobacco is no longer grown in the region but keep an eye out for historic tobacco drying barns unique to the area. These barns are a reminder of a boom period in the area’s history when tobacco was one of the mainstays of the area for many years, even during the depression of the 1930s.
- Silverspur Trail: 164 kilometres via Texas, follows Dumaresq Valley.
Deposits of silver/lead and silver/copper were mined in Silverspur from 1893-1913 and the population of the town reached 700 in 1910. A railway survey to connect Texas and Silverspur was completed in 1912 but the line was never laid.
- Dumaresq River Road: 68 kilometres — Yelarborn, Texas via Dumaresq River Road.
Back to top
Clifton Tourist Drives
- Opportunity Drive: Tourist Route 4 — 20 kilometres via Clifton and Nobby.
Clifton and Nobby are located just of the New England Highway between Warwick and Toowoomba. Nobby oozes history. This is the place where Steele Rudd worked his selection and wrote several of the well-loved Dad & Dave stories.
Rudd’s Pub doubles as a museum for both Steele Rudd and Nobby’s famous daughter, Sister Kenny, who pioneered simple yet ground breaking polio treatments in the face of opposition from the medical establishment. Sister Kenny’s remains are at rest up the road, in a quiet old cemetery with an outstanding view of the sweeping Downs landscape.
Take your time at Rudd’s Pub, there’s a lot to look at (and they might tell you about the ghost). Then mosey on down to Clifton town’s museum and the historical tractor collections.
Graham Berry keeps the tractors and crawlers at his place a few kilometres out of town. The museum displays memorabilia from the area, generously donated by residents, at the old butter factory.
Back to top
For more information contact Southern Downs & Granite Belt Regional Tourism
(07) 4661 3122
admin@sdta.com.au
