2 Weeks In Outback Queensland With What's Up Downunder

Earlier this year we partnered with the Team from What’s Up Down Under to give some lucky Club 4X4 Insurance customers the chance to win a 2-week trip through Outback Queensland.

Here’s Club 4X4 Insurance’s Dave Carter on meeting the winners – John and Mandy - before they headed off on their adventure.

Arriving at Brisbane airport, I met John and Mandy before being picked up by Craig ‘Macca’ McGown from What’s Up Down Under. We head straight for South Bank where we joined Luke from Off Grid Outfitters and Geoff from Brisbane Holiday Village, a large and well-equipped holiday park where we’d be spending the night.

After capturing some footage on the Esplanade, we set sail with River City Cruises towards the Breakfast Creek Hotel which is famous for its’ steaks. Geoff was a great local guide on the cruise, pointing out some of Brisbane’s waterfront landmarks on the 40 minutes it took us to get downstream from the State Library of Queensland to the Newstead House Public Pontoon.

Arriving at sunset, we enjoyed the Breakfast Creek Hotel’s distinctive architecture as we strolled through Newstead Park, crossing over to the Albion side of Breakfast Creek to take a closer look. There’s plenty to love about this iconic Australian pub, from the blend of classic and modern design to the fantastic food, but its most famous drawcard is XXXX Bitter served ‘on the wood’.

With at least one (and often many more) wooden kegs of XXXX tapped by hand every day for well over a century, this pub is steeped in tradition. Macca had the honour of tapping a keg for us, but being a hard-working bunch, we all chipped in to taste the unique flavours imbued by the wood. It was ironically, a sobering experience sharing a beverage in the same way generations of Aussies had before us, including those who wet their whistles for a final time on Australian shores before heading off to war.

Before leaving the ‘big smoke’, there was one more stop to make at Fair Dinkum Caravans in North Lakes to pick up a Vacationer that would be John and Mandy’s home for the next week or so. Anna, Mick and the rest of the Fair Dinkum team made us feel right at home with a fantastic tour of the kitted-out caravan. John and Mandy were excited to experience something a bit more spacious than their Patriot X1H camper trailer that won them the spot on this trip, and they recently took on its maiden voyage to K’Gari (Fraser) Island behind their Ford Ranger, both insured with Club 4X4.

With the convoy now complete, I wished John and Mandy safe travels and left them in the capable hands of the What’s Up Down Under crew. Macca had many activities planned and a few surprises in store, so be sure to tune in this Saturday 18th November to see what they got up too!

Their itinerary plan was:

• Brisbane to Texas
• Texas to Nindigully Pub
• Nindigully Pub to Lightning Ridge
• Lightning Ridge to Dirranbandi
• Dirranbandi to St George
• St George to Dalby
• Dalby to Tarraman
• Yarraman to Sunshine Coast