5 Out-of-the-Box Weekend Activities

NB This is a sponsored post

Are your weekends starting to feel a bit “same old, same old”? Looking to try out some new and even exhilarating activities?

Here are five out-of-the-box suggestions to put on your to-do list!

1. Make your own wine

Imagine spending two glorious days in Queensland’s premier wine region, Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt, learning all about the wine-making process – by making your own wine! Sound like you?

Check out the Queensland College of Wine Tourism’s “Winemaker for a Weekend” program. You’ll get the chance to hand pick the grapes and learn about the crushing and pressing process, preparation, fermentation and inoculation of the juice.

And, you’ll be invited to return later in the season for an additional weekend of wine and food matching and most importantly, to take home half a crate of your own custom labelled wine!

2. Sand tobogganing

Moreton Island boasts some truly impressive sand dunes, with the biggest being Mt Tempest (285m). While this formidable dune is too big for sliding, Moreton still offers three massive dunes to fly down and get your thrills. The Desert and Small Sand Hills are good for beginners and families, but if you feel the need for speed, head to the Big Sand Hills area which has dunes up to 90m high.

(All the photos in this post were taken during our caravanning adventure around Australia in 2001. In the pic at top we are exploring the sand dunes near the Old Telegraph Station at Eucla, WA. Not steep enough for tobogganning but still fun to explore!)

3. Fossicking

Want to relive Queensland’s gold rush days and see if you can strike it rich?!

Grab yourself a Fossickers License from the Department of Mines and Energy and head to Thanes Creek, Warwick or Deep Creek south of Gympie. Thanes Creek is a geological delight with flecks of gold colouring the rock sediment and ancient slate, jasper, sandstone and limestone.

At Deep Creek, alluvium chips of gold are most likely to be found on the banks of the creek and in the inside of the bends.

(Above: Panning for gold at Sovereign Hill, Ballarat)

4. Ghost tours

Want to scare yourself senseless but in a different kind of way? Did you know that Brisbane is the 2nd most haunted city in the world according to National Geographic? Take a night tour through the city centre or scare yourself witless on a guided tour of Boggo Road Gaol, Newstead House or one of the city’s many cemeteries.

5. Caving

Caving is a great sport which not many people think about. There’s a lot more to caving than you might think, it’s not just crawling through a hole in the ground in the dark!

Some caves are full of water which you can scuba dive through, while others have huge deep holes which you abseil down into. Imagine the buzz you get when you’re dangling 50m above a cave floor in your harness in the pitch dark?

If this sounds like your kind of sport, have a chat to the guys at Safe@Heights about a height safety abseil kit. These kits have all the gear you will need to drop down safely into the deepest of caverns.

(Pic: No harnesses required, but still a very dark cave! We’re in Cocklebiddy Cave on the Nullarbor)

If your weekends need to be spiced up a bit, there are so many different things for you to try!

Have you tried any of these – or will you be trying them soon?!