Doesn’t matter if you're visiting during winter, spring, summer, or fall. Here are some of the best things to do and explore in and around Toowoomba all year round.
Toowoomba Visitor Information Centre
If you’re looking for travel guide and tips straight from the locals, your best bet is the visitors centre. Staff will walk you through maps and personal experience advice about the Southern downs and surrounding areas. Heaps
of local travel and scenic information and all sorts of knick knacks for souvenirs are readily available to get real value for your visit.
Picnic Point
The perfect way to kickstart your morning: catch the panoramic sunrise view sweeping over Main Range and Lockyer Valley. With its gorgeous gardens, a waterfall, and a café with a scenic view across the Great Dividing Range,
the Picnic Point is surely a great spot to commune with nature. Kids and the young-at-heart can enjoy the 3 amazing playgrounds located in the area.
Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers
The colours of spring are vibrant and phenomenal at the Carnival of Flowers. This 10-day festival showcases some of the most amazing floral displays of many gardens in Toowoomba, not to mention the region's tantalising tastes
and delicious local produce. Wine and entertainment, along with nonstop fun and laughter, are best celebrated with the locals
The Cobb & Co. Museum
Make your first stop on the history trail at the Cobb & Co. Museum where you can learn a lot about horse-drawn carriages that played an important role in the development of Queensland & Aussie transport. Catch one of their
tours to hear more history-rich facts and discover a fascinating variety of interactive displays and heritage trade workshops perfect for all ages.
Check out here www.Aussiekiwitour.com for tour deals.
History
Toowoomba was once a port of call on a Qantas International Airline Service and a Qantas flight between Brisbane and Toowoomba was the first unsubsidized passenger service in Australia. This regular daily service commenced on 9
May 1928 with a de Havilland DH.50.
Several notable people have landed in Toowoomba. Bert Hinkler, born in Bundaberg, Queensland, was another pioneer aviator. In 1928 he flew the first solo flight from England to Australia,
for this achievement he flew his Avro Avian G-EBOV. It was on 16 June 1928 that Hinkler landed in Toowoomba at the Clifford Park racecourse flying G-EBOV. On 29 May 1930, the first woman to fly from England to Australia, Amy
Johnson, landed at the Werrington Park Aerodrome – now called the Toowoomba Airport (also known as the Wilsonton Airport). In August 1932 Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, a pioneer Australian aviator, landed at Toowoomba
in his Fokker Trimotor named the 'Southern Cross'. It was in this plane that he made the first non-stop flight across the Australian continent and the first flight across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand.
Between 1939
and 1945, the airfield was used at various times by Defence Assets with the cooperation of its owner, Mr Rankin. In January 1944 the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) Directorate of Works and Building (DWB) prepared the
airfield for a flight of No 5 Army Co-op Squadron in its move to Toowoomba. The unit was quartered and its Wirraways were dispersed in trees across the Western Highway some 200–300 m (660–980 ft) north of the Wilsonton
Post Office, and 500–600 m (1,600–2,000 ft) north of the present runway location.
In June 1946 the Darling Downs Aero Club was formed on the grass paddock at Wilsonton by a small yet eager group of pilots. Initially,
it operated only on the weekends (out of a borrowed tent), and flying training was conducted for and on behalf of the Club by the Royal Queensland Aero Club (Archerfield).
In the 1960s the then Mayor of Toowoomba, Jack
McCafferty, expressed interest in upgrading the airport and extending the runway, however these proposals were met with opposition from within the council. In the intervening years several developments near the airport boundary
were allowed, effectively confining the airport and limiting expansion options.
Throughout the airport history there have been many other pilots who have helped put the Toowoomba Airport on the map, including well-known
Australian and international pilot, Guido Zuccoli. Toowoomba is the home of the famed Zuccoli Collection of aircraft and other vehicles.