Detours and Side Quests
Queensland Edition
We start most trips with a plan, but we’re not great at sticking to it. These side quests all happened inside Queensland, and none of them were meant to. They blew out our travel time, filled the camera roll, and reminded us why sticking to the plan never works for long.
Somewhere between fuel stops and campsite searches, one of us always spots a sign or a squiggle on the map that sounds too good to skip. And so, what should’ve been a straight drive turns into a 500-kilometre detour.
Here are a few of those side quests — the ones that blew out our fuel budget, bent the map, and made the trip better than we expected.
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Our Faves!
Carnarvon Gorge (QLD)
This one started as a “small detour” that turned into a 500-kilometre loop. Worth every bit of it. Towering cliffs, hidden palms, and a silence that sneaks up on you. We walked till our legs stopped arguing and then kept walking anyway.
Undara Lava Tubes (QLD)
Technically not a detour — it had been on Cameron’s list for years — but the route afterwards certainly was. We ended up chasing the road all the way to Karumba and back to Charters Towers, to see what was out there. (There are heaps!)
One Ton Post (QLD)
We didn’t mean to go that way. The side quest took us past the Nindigully Pub, a set of hot springs we nearly missed, and about 200 kilometres of conversations about whether this was “worth it.” It was! According to Cameron, Neil is not so sure, and Zoe is just happy to be along for the ride! Fun Fact: The One Ton Post is the marker that is at the opposite end of the straight QLD border from Cameron Corner!
Mount Isa (QLD)
We weren’t supposed to head west at all. The plan was to head for the Cape from Cloncurry after heading up through the heart of Queensland. Then came the rat plague of 2024. The NT won as we headed west to escape the rats! Mount Isa was all red dirt, big mines, and a surprising sense of space.
Mary Kathleen (QLD)
A closed uranium mine shouldn’t be this interesting, but here we are. Crumbling streets, empty house slabs, and a story that’s half history, half curiosity.
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Between Mount Isa and Cloncurry sit the empty streets of Mary Kathleen, a uranium mining town built in the 1950s, sold off entirely at auction in 1983, and now a ghostly grid of slabs and silence. Perfect for camping!