Check out some of the things to do in Queensland below!
When people think of going to Australia for a trip, the first things they think of are Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef and the Outback. Believe me, if you just spend time in Sydney and think you’ve seen Australia, you’re completely misguided. There’s a whole lot of country out there to explore! I’ve lived here all my life and have only seen a smidgen of it (Australian slang for ‘a little bit!)!
Unfortunately, because Australia is so big, it takes forever to travel around and see the place well. But that’s just a good excuse to stay a bit longer.
But out of those three Australian ‘big ticket items’ I mentioned, two of these aspects are in Queensland.
However, I’m not going to cover these things to death like they have been in other places of the internet that are hiding amongst the cat videos!
No! I’m going to go through some of the more quirky, offbeat, and unusual things to do in Queensland that no one else will dare cover, or bother to write about! That’s my job!
Anyway here it is!
10 Weird and Unusual Things to Do in Queensland, Australia!
Here they are!
1. Play at Cane Toad World in Gordonvale, near Cairns
This is probably one of the most bizarre kiddie’s parks I’ve ever set foot into.
Cane Toad world is a playground located in the small town of Gordonvale, just south of the Great Barrier Reef gateway city of Cairns.
Ironically, this park pays homage to an introduced pest that was brought in to control the sugar cane beetle.
Except, it didn’t work, and now the Cane Toad (a sporting mascot of Queensland) when crazy and spread across northern and eastern Australia. You’ll probably run over one of these when it’s raining.
There are slides and sculptures resembling cane toads all throughout here.
2. Check out the Tree Bikini, Mission Beach
Mission Beach, also in Far North Queensland, is a pretty nice place to chill out and do sod all. I’ve stayed there before and want to go back there to escape the daily grind.
However, there is really bizarre piece of clothing there on one of the access roads into the beach – the Tree Bikini!
Looks like someone had a bit too much time on their hands to create this tailored masterpiece.
I reckon this piece will be hitting the catwalks of Milan very soon.
But I love this kind of stuff – I’m sure one of the locals had a load of fun making and erecting this piece of clothing.
3. Visit Australia’s, and one of the world’s wettest towns. In the wet season
Want to know what up to 8 metres of rainfall looks like? Then go and visit Tully from November to April where it just buckets down and just never stops. The rain falls so hard, that you can see the raindrops bouncing back up towards the sky on the concrete.
Tully is a short drive from Mission Beach, but it’s a long one when you can barely see two metres in front of you during a torrential downpour!
However, if you decide to visit Tully during the wet, you might become a bit stir crazy whilst you’re stuck inside watching the heavens dump water of biblical proportions. Plus, you might be cut off via road for a while if the Bruce Highway is flooded. But I think you should experience a monsoonal season at least once somewhere to appreciate it!
Anyway, here is an old great photo that’s been placed inside the local attraction called the Golden Gumboot, which was erected at the same height of Tully’s highest ever rainfall.
Way back in the time before selfies existed!
4. Drink at The Pub That Is Also A Town!
I love the town/pub of Quamby because of it’s quirkiness. Quamby used to be a small town, but pretty much all of the buildings have been removed over time, except for the pub. Which means the pub is a whole town and drinking establishment at the same time.
What’s great about the Quamby Pub is the unique advertising billboards associated with it as you drive between Cloncurry and Normanton – which are hand painted on car bonnets supported by steel star pickets. I love the non-pretentiousness of the ‘Where The Hell Is Quamby’ sign!
5. See Where Part of Crocodile Dundee Was Filmed, and it’s not in the Northern Territory
In north western Queensland, you can visit the pub where part of the Crocodile Dundee movie was filmed.
I think this movie single handedly created the stereotype that all Australians live in the Outback and hunt crocodiles for a living. Ironically, whilst the movie was largely set in the ‘Top End’ of the Northern Territory, a lot of the movie was shot here.
The Walkabout Creek Hotel is located at the small town of McKinlay, near Mount Isa. It pays to call ahead to see if it’s open first so you can feel like Paul Hogan yourself!
6. Crawl inside of the mouth of the statue commemorating Australia’s Largest Crocodile
If you want to see something that most closely resembles a dinosaur, have a look at the massive crocodile tribute to the largest ever crocodile spotted in Australia.
This beast is located in the main street of Normanton, located at the base of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
It is a staggering 8.6.4 metres in length, or around 28 feet!
To give you some perspective, I’m 185 cm tall (6 foot 2 inches) and can easily fit into the mouth of this large lizard comfortably.
If you ever visit Normanton, I’d suggest not swimming in any body of water around here!
7. Let a large German Shepherd attack you!
This might sound weird, but I kind of enjoyed having a German Shepherd try and rip of my arm as part of a demonstration in front of a lot of other punters! Law Dogs Australia is located in Stanthorpe, about two and a half hours drive from Brisbane.
This is quite a fascinating display of how dogs are trained to become law enforcement dogs – for example, for finding out drugs or being used to track down naughty felons. You can see how these dogs are trained for different tasks, and see why they are an essential part of a number of security based scenarios. We need them!
It’s not something I’ve really experienced before, but it’s worth doing because it’s so different.
I have a new found respect for these animals that are an essential part of all sorts of security forces. There is no way in the world I’d ever try to mess with them!
8. Feed The Big Fish – Before You Eat One
Probably one of the best seafood restaurants I’ve been to is ‘On The Inlet‘ at Port Douglas, north of Cairns.
I’m not a big seafood eater, but when I do have it, I want it to be great. My personal favourite is Coral Trout – one of the best fish I’ve ever tasted.
But before you start gorging on your fish and chips, you can feed ‘George The Groper’ – he comes in around 5 pm every day and restaurant patrons can feed this large cod while the sun goes down.
Don’t worry, you won’t actually eat George! But he is an unusual attraction for a seafood restaurant, that’s for sure!
9. Go to a State of Origin Game – dressed up as a New South Welshman
If you’re in the mood for being heckled for about eighty minutes, go to a State of Origin rugby league game in Brisbane between Queensland and New South Wales, but dressed up as the opposition – New South Wales, who wear sky blue jerseys.
Don’t worry, the heckling isn’t that bad. If you tried to do something at a local derby in South America, you’d probably be killed or something even worse.
But State of Origin at Suncorp Stadium is a great way to see one of the world’s most popular sporting rivalries, especially if you like seeing one-eyed and parochial crowds give the opposition a bit of stick! It’s a great atmosphere at the game and a night out you’ll never forget.
10. Drink a funny-named beer
The Burleigh Brewery is a craft beer establishment on the Gold Coast. They’re known for their cheeky beer and marketing campaigns.
One of the funniest is a beer called ‘My Wife’s Bitter’!. I really like the play on words! Here is a shot of the beer label below. And the beer tastes great!
You can also drink the local drop called XXXX, or Fourex. Some people wonder why it has an unusual name (I think it was an old joke that Queenslanders couldn’t spell the word ‘beer’), but you can see visit the brewery for an interesting tour to see how beer is made and how much of it is produced to quench your thirst on a hot day.
More Things To Do In Queensland!
There you go, I’ve given you a way out there alternative guide on some weird things to do in Queensland. Try speak some Australian Slang when you’re here!
Let me know how you go when you do them!
If you come across any yourself, let me know and I’ll feature them!
Hello Mr. Travel Tart,
Yes you are correct about XXXX being called that because people couldn’t spell beer. According to the official tour guide of the XXXX factory in Brisbane back in the old, old days when beer was first made in Australia education wasn’t wide spread and there were allot of illiterate people. So beer companies would mark their beers with Xs to tell people how good the beer was, XXX was the best beer you could get. So one smart beer company decided that their beer was better than the best and started marking their beers with an extra X to produce XXXX. There you go it’s official XXXX is the best beer! And a tour to the XXXX factory in Brisbane is another must do whilst in Queensland. After the tour they let you get pissed in the brewery’s bar, literally a piss up in a brewery! Just make sure you have a designated driver or catch the bus there cause you ain’t gonna be in any state to drive home!
Enjoy,
The Italian Guide
Ha ha, thanks Mr Italian Guide!
Awesome, I am in Queensland right now and intend to check out this unique venues! Thanks for sharing.
Dude, groper feeding in Port Diddly stopped several years ago. That part of town was shut down for development. Which is crappo dappo. Maybe update this post? It’s gone forever. We live here now thanks to Covid.