University of Southern Queensland
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland

Highlights

The Toowoomba Japanese garden

A thousand visitors a week stroll the 3 km of paths at Ju Raku En, a Japanese garden at the University of Southern Queensland. Opened in 1989, it showcases the harmony and beauty of ancient Japanese garden design with its lake, willowy beeches, islands, bridges, stream and pavilion.

Granite Belt wineries

Queensland’s only significant wine region is on an 800 m plateau in the Great Dividing Range, around Ballandean and Stanthorpe. Over 40 boutique wineries, many with tastings and sales, grow major grape varieties on the well-drained granite soils, favouring soft reds made from shiraz and merlot grapes.

Queen Mary Falls

Stretching for 55 kilometres along the Great Dividing Range, World Heritage-listed Main Range National Park boasts impressive peaks and escarpments, and the delightful Queen Mary Falls. At the falls, which are part of the Murray-Darling, one of Australia’s longest river systems, there’s a 400-metre cliff walk that takes you to the top, as well as a two-kilometre circuit trail revealing distinct changes in the vegetation.

Jondaryan Woolshed

This 1859 woolshed on historic Jondaryan Station is the centrepiece of a complex of old farm buildings. Sheepdog and shearing demonstrations are held daily, and for a taste of yesteryear, sit down for a yarn over the billy tea and damper.

Allora

This evocative town lies just off the highway between Toowoomba and Warwick. Victorian verandahed shopfronts and three old timber hotels line the main street. St David’s Anglican Church (1888) is one of Queensland’s finest timber churches. Glengallan Homestead, south of town, was built in 1867, during the golden age of pastoralism.

Focus On: Gardens of the Downs

The climate and soils of the Darling Downs have created one of Australia’s great gardening districts. Toowoomba has 150 public parks and gardens, including Ju Raku En (a Japanese garden), the Scented Garden – for visually impaired people – and the 6 hectares mountainside Boyce Gardens, with 700 species of trees, shrubs and perennials. Warwick is known for its roses, particularly the red ‘City of Warwick’, best seen in the Jubilee Gardens. There are superb private gardens throughout the region – some open daily, some seasonally and some as part of the Open Garden Scheme; check with an information centre for details.