![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f392de89a33a303626a23b0/168b4ee8-5de8-49db-8f73-13240934df4c/IMG_7918-1980x1485.jpeg)
The Budget Queensland Convoy
We’re always keen to hear your requests, and we had a lot of them for a budget version of our awesome Queensland Homeschool Convoy. So let’s go!
This trip takes in most of the same places as our original Queensland Convoy, but instead of paying a premium for powered sites, we’ll be staying at unpowered sites. We’ll also spend some nights at really beautiful free camp grounds. All of the camp sites have toilets and water top up points, but some of the free sites don’t have showers.
We want to keep costs down for this trip, so we’re not including any tours. That way you won’t end up paying for something your kids aren’t interested in.
If you have a self-sufficient setup, or you’re keen to have a more off-grid experience, this version of the trip might be for you. If you would rather stay at caravan parks every night that have swimming pools, powered sites, showers and washing facilities, the original trip is probably best for you. Both are great options and we’re going to have an amazing time!
For this version of the trip, we’ll head off from Brisbane on an epic 14-night round journey that takes in some of the most iconic and special parts of the country. This is a self-driving trip, so you’ll need to bring somewhere to sleep or hire one of our camping kits. The camping kits come with a full concierge service, so we will set up the tent for you at every stop, pull it down when it’s time to leave and transport it between locations.
Don’t worry if you only have a small sedan or you’ve never been camping before - this is the perfect opportunity to try something new. You don’t need a four wheel drive and there will be plenty of people around to help you. So grab a tent, or hire one of ours, and head off on an awesome, completely safe adventure that your kids will never forget!
-
We’re heading to some real bucket list locations!
We’ll see some of the coolest indigenous rock art in Australia at the unbelievably beautiful Carnarvon Gorge, see the only known fossil record of a dinosaur stampede at Lark Quarry and check out the dinosaurs at Winton.
You’ll also have daily options including digging for dinosaur bones, fossicking for petrified wood from the Jurassic period, visiting a sapphire mine to dig for gems, looking at the sun through one of the world’s biggest hydrogen alpha sun telescopes and so much more! You can find all the details below. -
This trip will run from 17-31 May 2024.
Ticket numbers are extremely limited because of the number of camp sites available, so if you’re keen to join in please make sure you grab tickets as soon as you can. -
This trip is for families with kids. Most of our trips are designed for homeschoolers, but families with kids who go to school are very welcome too.
If you have kids in your life and you’re keen to take them on an amazing adventure that they’ll never forget - this is for you.
You’ll have all the support you need, your kids will make heaps of new friends, you’ll meet some amazing families and your whole family will have a much better and less stressful time than if you just did a trip alone. -
As with all of our trips, you’re welcome to join in as much or as little as you like.
You can drive from place to place with the convoy, or sleep in and do it in your own time. You can keep to yourself or hang out with the group around the campsite. It’s totally up to you.
We just want everyone to have an amazing holiday, feel comfortable and have an outback experience safe in the knowledge that they’re not alone if they need support. Plus it’s a lot easier and less stressful to holiday with kids if they’re having a great time with friends!
What does it cost?
The cost of the trip is $595 per vehicle, regardless of how many people are travelling in the vehicle.
A deposit of $350 per vehicle is required when the booking is made. The balance is due on 1 February and we have a weekly payment plan available.
Camping kits are available for hire. The kits include a full set up/pull down service, as well as transport of all camping gear between sites. Click below to read more.
Our trips are built around creating social connections and opportunities for growth, so kids with NDIS goals around social engagement and skill development may be able to claim some of the cost.
Please contact us at info@boldgorilla.com.au to discuss NDIS funding in more detail.
-
The ticket price includes camp sites for all 14 nights, at a mix of paid and free sites. All of the camp sites have toilets, but many do not have showers or other facilities.
Our support vehicle will accompany you throughout the trip and will carry essential items like a first aid kit, spare water and fuel, a satellite phone, repair kits and tools.
The support vehicle will be driven by a trip co-ordinator, who will suggest activities along the way, make sure everything runs smoothly, help the kids get to know each other and travel at the back of the convoy to check that everyone arrives safely at each camp.
We will also set up a private chat for people who are going on the trip, so that everyone can get to know each other before it starts and share photos along the way.
You will drive yourself between the camp sites, so you will need to hire a car or bring your own. You will also need to bring your own tent/caravan/camper van/camper trainer or hire a camping kit. -
The camping kit includes a large tent, air mattresses, camping stove, cooking kit, folding table, folding chairs, extension cord, power board and esky.
It also includes a concierge service, so we will set the tent up for you at every camp site and pull it down when it’s time to leave.
We will transport your whole camping kit from one camp site to the next, so you don’t have to fit it into your car.
We have a very limited number of camping kits available. Please contact us if you would like to hire a camping kit. -
The camping kit costs $569 per family, in additional to the normal ticket price.
The camping kit includes full set up/pull down service at each stop and we will transport it between locations for you.
Here’s what we have planned:
Day 1: Brisbane - Chinchilla
We will leave from Brisbane and head off on a 2-hour drive to Toowoomba, where we will stop for lunch and a bit of a break. There will be plenty of time to stock up on supplies, stretch your legs and take in the sights.
After lunch we’ll drive another couple of hours to Chinchilla, where we will set up camp for our first night. But not before we get some selfies in front of the Big Watermelon!
When we arrive in Chinchilla, we’ll have some time to check out the local free fossicking sites and see if we can dig up some petrified wood from the Jurassic period. Chinchilla has the best petrified wood in Australia and it’s abundant, so we have a really great chance of taking home some very cool souvenirs that are 140 million years old.
Day 2: Chinchilla - Injune
On day two we will drive to Injune, which is where we will camp for the night. It’s about a 3-hour drive, but we’ll stop along the way for lunch and some sightseeing.
There are some really cool things to see along the way. Roma has the Big Rig oil tower, which you can climb, and Miles has a historic village, military museum and a very cool aircraft restoration project.
Days 3 and 4: Injune - Carnarvon Gorge
Our Carnarvon Gorge adventure kicks off on day three. We’ll drive a couple of hours from Injune to our campsite, then set up for the next two nights at a really beautiful location.
Carnarvon Gorge is a real bucket-list destination and one of the most spectacular and interesting places in Australia. It’s dominated by towering sandstone cliffs and features 173 species of birds, 60 kinds of mammals, 22 types of frogs and prehistoric cyclads.
The gorge is home to incredible examples of indigenous rock art, including a 62-meter long sandstone wall that features more than 2000 freehand paintings, engravings and ochre stencils. It includes some of the best examples of indigenous stencil art in the whole country.
The gorge features several vastly different areas, including the Moss Garden, with it’s waterfall, ferns and carpet of moss, the Amphitheater, with its towering open-topped cavern and the Rock Pool, where you can swim in the still water with turtles!
There is so much to do and see in the area, including tours with local indigenous leaders, helicopter rides over the gorge, night safari tours to see nocturnal animals and astronomy tours.
We haven’t booked any tours for the gorge, just because everyone’s interests and budget is different. If you’re keen to spend the two days exploring independently that’s totally fine, or if you would like to do any of the tours just let us know. We’ll book it as a group and make sure you get the best price.
Day 5: Carnarvon Gorge to Virgin Rock
We’ll say goodbye to Carnarvon Gorge on day five and drive about two hours to Virgin Rock.
People say the rock has a naturally formed likeness to the Virgin Mary, but you can make up your own mind about that. Either way, it’s incredibly beautiful, especially at night when it’s lit up.
Day 6: Virgin Rock to Barcaldine
We’ll drive about four hours to Barcaldine on day six, but don’t worry - we’ll stop for plenty of breaks along the way. You can even visit a real underground mine and fossick for saphires at Rubyvale if you’re feeling lucky!
We’ll spend the night at a commercial wool sheep property, tucked away in the vast outback. We might see emus, eagles, brolgas and red kangaroos, and we’ll definitely see an mind-blowing number of stars!
Days 7, 8 and 9: Barcaldine to Winton
It’s dinosaur time!! On day 7 we’ll drive three hours to Winton, where we will camp for three nights.
There are so many things to do in Winton!
You can take a tour of the Age of Dinosaurs Centre and go behind the scenes to help find 95 million year old dinosaur bones. You can learn how to tell the difference between rocks and fossils, get your hands dirty at the museum’s dig site and take a guided tour of Dinosaur Canyon. You can also check out the collection room and make a plaster cast of a real dinosaur claw to take home.
Winton is also home to Lark Quarry, one of the most unique and special places on Earth. It’s the only known place where you can see footprints from a dinosaur stampede. The stampede happened 95 million years ago, when a herd of at least 150 dinosaurs fled a large theropod, leaving behind more than 3300 footprints.
You don’t need a 4WD to get to the stampede site, but a large section of the road is unsealed. We’ll be running a day trip to the site for an additional cost. The day trip includes transfers to and from the stampede site in a comfortable 4WD bus, as well as a visit to Carisbrooke Station to check out it’s incredible views, see Meteor Lookout and fossick for opal. If you’re looking to save some money, want some time alone, or you’re not keen on spending a whole day away from camp, it’s super easy and safe to drive out to the stampede site yourself.
There are heaps of other things to do in Winton, depending on your interests. You can visit the observatory, check out the Waltzing Matilda Centre, tour the spectacular Rangelands Rifts at sunset or play music at the Musical Fence!
Day 10: Winton to Longreach
It’s time to start the journey home, so on day 10 we’ll say goodbye to the dinosaurs and head back to Longreach. It’s about a two-hour drive, but we’ll stop for lunch along the way.
We’re staying just outside of Longreach, but close enough for you to do some of the super fun activities on offer in the town.
Longreach has so many things to do - the Stockman’s Hall of Fame museum and live show, the Qantas museum, where you can walk on the wing of a 747, bushranger Captain Starlight’s lookout, and a completely wild stage coach ride where the team of five horses gallop at full speed!
Day 11: Longreach to Blackall
On day 11 we’ll drive about two hours back to Blackall, where we’ll camp for the night.
The local aquatic centre has an artesian spa, so you can relax in the 58 degree therapeutic bore water while the kids hang out with their new friends in the heated pool.
Day 12: Blackall to Charleville
On day 12 we’ll drive three hours to Charleville, with plenty of rest stops along the way.
Our campsite in Charleville is near the super cool Cosmos Centre, which you definitely won’t want to miss. You can take a daytime tour of the observatory, or head over at night. You might not expect an observatory to be super interesting during the day, but it really is! They have one of the largest hydrogen alpha sun telescopes in the world, so you can get amazing views of solar flares and sunspots.
If you’re keen to go back to the observatory later, you can take a night tour and check out planets, clusters and nebulae through their 2-meter tall telescope.
You can also check out the Charleville Bilby Experience, where you can learn about these super cute animals and see them up close.
Day 14: Judds Lagoon to Toowoomba
This is the last drive of the trip, before we set up camp for the final time. There’s so much to do in Toowoomba, but we’re guessing that most of the kids will just want to spend the final day and night just hanging out with all their new friends.
In the morning we’ll say goodbye, promise to share photos of our super cool adventure and look forward to telling family and friends all about the amazing things we did!
FAQs
-
No your normal, everyday car will be fine. We’re not going off road and most of the trip is on the highway.
-
We will be taking two Starlink satellite dishes to make sure that everyone can stay online when we are parked, as long as we are able to keep the power running.
-
There is mobile phone coverage for most of the trip. We will be taking a satellite phone, just in case a car breaks down or anyone needs assistance. Satellite phones cost about $80 a week to rent, so we recommend grabbing one if you’re planning to spend time alone at some of the more remote places. Don’t worry if you can’t get one - we will be checking everyone in at each campsite to make sure nobody is left behind if they run into any car problems.
-
We will be staying at unpowered sites for most of the trip, so you’ll need to be self-sufficient with power or ok with being off-grid.
-
Dogs are welcome on this trip.
Upcoming trips