Western Downs Region

This flat, wide stretch of inland Queensland runs on farming towns that never quite do the expected thing, watermelon festivals and dark-sky reserves scattered between paddocks that stretch to the horizon. Chinchilla calls itself the melon capital of Australia, and Lake Broadwater nearby holds some of the clearest night skies in the state. Miles and Dalby keep their own heritage stories, old buildings and quiet main streets built for a slower pace. However far you drive, the sky stays enormous and the towns stay proudly, stubbornly themselves.