Page 7 - One Green Leaf Design

explore see and do | 9 Where you can
explore see and do | 10
At the Waltzing Matilda Centre, you can learn about events behind the song and witness the drama of the swagman’s downfall in the Billabong Theatrette. The centre also houses the Outback Regional Gallery, lled with quality country art, and the Qantilda Museum, with more than 5000 exhibits depicting Winton Shire from the contemporary back to the dinosaurs.
Speaking of which, atop a mesa just outside town stands a big tin shed that contains a mindboggling glimpse of Queensland’s Outback 95 million years ago. The Australian Age of Dinosaurs’ collection contains more dinosaur remains than the rest of the world’s combined. This is the only place in the world where the public can help with the preparation of dinosaur remains, separating bone from dirt using a dentist-style drill.
gourmet rail travel | 6
In a bid to attract holiday makers back to rail after the advent of cheap ights, Queensland Rail Travel is o ering a few special packages.
They call them MasterClasses and
the four day getaways include travel, accommodation and meals cooked by your own chef and cooking coach.
Destinations include Longreach, Hervey Bay, Townsville, Cairns and Hamilton Island, and boasting celebrity chefs Andrew Mirosch, Dominique Rizzo and Alana Lowes. Recently it was MasterChef nalist Lowes’ turn to head to Hamilton Island and I was lucky enough to hop on board.
This is a trip that really is about the journey and not just the destination.
Onboard The Sunlander, staying in luxury Queenslander Class accommodation, it’s hard not to be smitten by the cosy berths, cute, foldaway sinks and other quaint and curious charms. I’m in retro heaven.
As we head north from Brisbane, there’s nothing like seeing the Queensland countryside whisk by as the train takes secret tracks through the forest that the highway simply doesn’t touch.
In the lounge car, you can chat to fellow passengers, play a board game or steal some quiet moments alone and watch the world go by.
There’s no shortage of food and wine, and canapés keep our mouths occupied when we’re not making conversation.
Passengers Richard and Helen Jackson tell me they haven’t done this trip since they were students and slept in the seating cars stretched across the brass baggage racks. To collectors, these hard to come by baggage rails can collect a tidy sum.
At Gympie, some special visitors are waiting on the platform. It’s the proprietors of Cherax Park Aquaculture Farm, and a few of their residents, the redclaw cray sh.
Peter and Ethel Moore, who have run the farm for 12 years, have prepared some yummy spring rolls and cray sh skewers for us, teamed with Ethel’s home made sauce.
After we’ve wiped our lips, it’s back on board and on to the next adventure.
The day is crowned by a sumptuous, ve course meal in the cosy dining carriage and it’s Lowes’ time to shine.
The Mildura native and now Brisbane resident made third place on the third Australian series of MasterChef. She admits she has never cooked on a train before and the secret is to be well prepared.
Lowes comes out before each course to tell us what we’re about to enjoy.
“For me, the best experience I get out
of cooking is being able to sit down with everybody,” she says. “... Being able to talk to people, I get a real buzz out of that.” The feast we enjoy is a culinary journey with many delicious stops along the way.
Describing it all would take too long, but how’s this for a mouth watering o ering: seafood tasting plate with sand crab and mud crab in a cucumber and mint essence; con t duck salad with orange, avocado and pomegranate; spice scented Dorper free range lamb with harissa, white bean puree and caramelised roast pumpkin; chocolate and pistachio slice with chocolate mousse and honeycomb shards, and a cheese platter combination that’s on my must-do list. All meals were teamed with Sirromet wines.
Lowes’ signature is on the plate decorating her dishes with edible owers and serving up chocolate, of course, for dessert.
Arriving at Proserpine the next morning, Hamilton Island awaits as the tour bus takes us to the Whitsunday Gold Co ee Plantation.
Ali and Graham Simpson Gold Co ee Plantation owners take us through the ins and outs of co ee and there are plenty, from the harvesting to roasting to packaging.
section title | 7 hit therails
turn back time
for a
Venture into history without the need for a time machine by exploring Queensland’s magical outback, writes David May
of feasting
West of the Great Divide, Queensland o ers a unique collection of treasures that assures the state its place in history.
Out in the land of drought and ooding rains, you can lay a hand on history at the birthplace of Qantas and the Royal Flying Doctor Service, in the pub where Waltzing Matilda had its world premiere, while digging up dinosaur bones and
much more.
With a network of sealed roads and highways, Queensland’s Outback has never been more accessible, so buckle up and enjoy a ride into history—about 95 million years of it.
In the 19th century, Cobb & Co’s stagecoaches were Australia’s top-notch means of transport and the rst franchise of its kind in the world. At its peak, the company’s 6000 horses galloped across the country, collectively covering some 30,000km a day.
In 1924, the 14 August run between Surat and Yuleba was Cobb & Co’s last horse drawn service. Well, almost. In Longreach, join Richard Kinnon and the crew from Kinnon and Co on a bone jangling ride along one of the original mail tracks in Queensland’s Outback, travelling behind ve majestic horses on Australia’s only operational Cobb & Co stagecoach.
Longreach is the birthplace of Qantas and near the airport is the Qantas Founders Museum, the only place in the world where you can reach up and touch the underbelly of a Boeing 747—one that has own the equivalent of 100 return trips to the moon.
Nearby is Australia’s original passenger jet, our very rst Boeing 707 and one with a celebrity-studded history. It’s the aircraft that brought a clutch of VIPs to Australia, including young Queen Elizabeth II in 1959 and The Beatles in 1964.
East of Longreach, Barcaldine proudly features a couple of the state’s Left-wing icons. By the railway station on Oak St was an old gum tree where militant shearers met during the Great Shearers Strike of 1891. This was the founding site of the Australian Labor Party. It became known as the Tree of Knowledge but
was mysteriously poisoned to death in 2006, the same year it was placed on the National Heritage register. In its honour, the council erected a huge monument on the site.
On Ash St is the award-winning Australian Workers’ Heritage Centre, dedicated to the workers of the west.
A boat takes us to Hamilton Island and then the playground is opened up for whatever we want to do.
For dinner, it’s chef’s night o as we all front up for supper at Romano’s Italian restaurant. As well as Lowes and guests, Queensland Rail sta make for charming hosts, taking care of our every need.
Stockman’s Hall of Fame
There are guided tours inside both aircraft, where you can sit in the pilots’ seats and do the startling jumbo-wing walk. The museum traces the outback history of the airline, including Australia’s rst mail and passenger ight between Charleville and Cloncurry in 1922 and the launch of the Royal Flying Doctor Service six years later.
Across the road, the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre houses ve themed galleries celebrating the history, traditions, folklore and life of Queensland’s Outback. It covers the early explorers, outback women, Aboriginal workers and the evolution of rural communications. Just down the road in Winton, Andrew Barton ‘Banjo’ Paterson’s Waltzing Matilda was rst performed in 1895 at the North Gregory Hotel.
writes Sally Browne
Hamilton Island by train? It doesn’t sound the most likely option to get to the island holiday destination. But when the trip is combined with a sleepover, culinary stops along the way and meals cooked by a former MasterChef nalist, it starts to make sense.
The trip combines the perfect balance of free time and catered events. On our nal night it’s the MasterClass pièce de résistance.
In the stunning surrounds of the Hamilton Island Yacht Club, designed by celebrated architect Walter Barda, a temporary TV-style kitchen is set up.
perched above the water, the club a ords gorgeous views of the Whitsundays’ jewelled islands.
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Journey
Perched above the water, the club a ords gorgeous views of the Whitsundays’ jewelled islands.
Now it’s our turn to get grubby in the kitchen; from crushing chilli and herbs in a mortar and pestle to smoking sh or having our own go
at katai -wrapped prawns. This is the closest I will ever feel to being a MasterChef contestant, other than trying to keep up with the telly at home on a weeknight.
With well-fed bellies, we get a good sleep on our nal night before ying back the following afternoon. And as well as a couple of souvenirs in my suitcase, I’m taking with me plenty of recipes to try and stories to tell.
MasterChef nalist
Alana Lowes
Brisbane to Hamilton Island Celebrity Chef
Dominique Rizzo
18–21 October 2012 from $2229*
22–25 November 2012 from $2229*
Brisbane to Hamilton Island
To obtain the unique and extensive itineraries
for each MasterClass, call 1300 139 812 or visit queenslandrailtravel.com.au
Terms: *Minimum passengers required for tour to operate. Chef allocated for departures subject to change, names correct at time of print. Ask your travel agent for more details.