This is the final instalment of three posts I’m bringing you about my time exploring Southern Queensland Country as a guest of Tourism Queensland and Southern Queensland Country Tourism.
If you’re headed to the Southern Downs, check out my picks of where to eat and stay.
Love abounds every where you look at Queen Mary Falls. We’d barely made it to the carpark, when we discovered this declaration of Satin Bowerbird love. 
Bowerbirds construct and decorate dance platforms, then use their moves to impress the laydeez. The colour of love is blue if you’re a female bowerbird, so the fellows collect cerulean tokens of their affection and scatter them around their pad. The theory is the better the collection, the better the mate. The bloke who built this platform is an overachiever.
Further along our walk I spied another declaration of love. Somehow I suspect this bloke isn’t getting as lucky as the fellow in the carpark.
The Queen Mary Falls are located 10 minutes drive from Killarney on the Southern Downs. The lookout walk is an easy walk, suitable for all the family. The return leg of the circuit walk to the base of the falls is steep in some places, but gazing up at the drop is well worth the effort. Fireflies make an annual appearance from late October to November. The best time to spot them is 6-8pm.
Michelle and Tim’s enthusiasm for wine is infectious. During spring, Michelle hosts sunset walks through the three acre vineyard. Gus the vineyard dog leads the tour, which winds through the vineyard and offers views over Girraween National Park.
Parched from your walk? Tim has you covered! Finish off your tour tasting Twisted Gum’s wines accompanied by artisan cheeses on the veranda as the sun sets – and they’re not joking about the sunset – stunning!
Twisted Gum are a dry land vineyard, so a highlight for me was tasting the difference in that dry and wet years made to the produce of the same vines. Also, give the pink moscato a try: sweet wines aren’t my thing, but theirs is a horse of a different colour.
Twisted Gum Wines is four kilometres east of Ballendean. Can’t make the Sunset Walk? They’re open for tastings on weekends from 10am – 4pm. Give Gus a pat from me.
Louise Brosnan’s Cambanoora Co Tour crosses the Condamine River fourteen times. I’ll have to take her word for that though – I lost count!
The Condamine is the largest and most distant tributary of the Murray Darling, which ultimately meets the Great Australian Bite in South Australia.
Louise is the fifth generation of her Killarney-based family. Her accounts of the original settlers of the area give a personal (and often humourous) point of view of the difficulties pioneering families faced.
Cambanoora Co Tours offer something for everyone. History buffs will enjoy Louise’s stories of the pioneering days in the Condamine Gorge. Kids will enjoy more time exploring the crossings in the hope of spotting the resident platypus.
Our drive through the Condamine (Cambanoora) Gorge was the highlight of my trip to Southern Country Queensland. If you’re in the Southern Downs, don’t miss this.
Cambanoora Co Tours operate by appointment. Louise also offers guided twilight walks of Queen Mary Falls during the firefly season. Visit her website for dates.
You sure did get to see some gorgeous places – and I just laughed out loud about your comment about the guy in the car park and that sign on the tree. I love your humour! I almost wish I was there swilling wine with you now! xx