Being an easy drive from Brisbane, Ipswich is the perfect place for a day trip from Brisbane with a difference! It’s a city with a lot of heritage charm, definitely a little more relaxed but with no sacrifice of service or facilities. There are so many ways that you could fill up your day with fun in Ipswich – here’s how we spent ours!
Relax in natural surrounds
Looking for a quiet start to your day? Our first stop was at the picturesque and wonderfully relaxing Kholo Gardens.
A little out of the way, these gardens do seem a little out of place in the surrounding bushland, and they are home some wonderful walking trails and views of the Brisbane River. With its tranquil setting and small chapel and function centre, no wonder it is a popular venue for weddings!
A small waterfall and lake pay homage to this location’s historical importance to Ipswich – this used to be the site of the original water supply for the growing city.
Take a trip down memory rail
From the tranquil setting of the Kholo Gardens, we headed across to what might have been one of Ipswich’s busiest and noisiest places in its heyday – The Workshops Rail Museum!
This fantastic museum pays tribute to Ipswich’s industrial and rail-focused history and is located on the actual site where much of Queensland’s early rail equipment was manufactured and maintained – at its peak employing over 3,000 workers.
The museum today gives a glimpse into what that might have been like, as well as housing thousands of rail artefacts and heaps of fun things for the kids to do! And their seasonal events (like A Day out with Thomas) are filled with even more fun and special exhibits!
Grab a bite
Our day was disappearing quickly and lunchtime was upon us already. Although there is a lovely little café at the Workshops, we decided to go for another Ipswich experience and headed along to the Queens Park Café.
Situated in one of our favourite parks in the region (Queens Park), the café dishes up a huge variety of fare from light snacks to hearty meals, fantastic cool drinks and wonderful coffees!
It’s open every day (except for some public holidays) so it’s a perfect option if you forget your picnic while visiting the playground. And of course this location means that the little guys are expected and are well catered for. There’s also an awesome little environmental centre right next door where you can learn about the local environment.
Finish with some art
For our final stop on our fun filled day out in Ipswich was the wonderful Ipswich Art Gallery.
This wonderfully presented facility always has interesting exhibitions and events on and the staff are helpful and friendly, both of which have contributed to this gallery gaining its fantastic reputation in the region.
A quiet stroll through the galleries might not keep the kids satisfied, but one of the great things about Ipswich Art Gallery is that often there are some really fun (and interactive) kids’ programs.
Some of the awesome exhibits for kids that we have been to have included Wind Tubes for Toddlers – a really fun event where the kids got to suck and push things around with wind tubes, a Lego car construction, amazing Lego towers, tunnels made from sticky tape, giant marble runs, foam block constructions and giant spirograph! There’s something for everyone here and we think that it’s one of the highlights of this region.
It was surprising to see how easily we filled our day and although we didn’t really want to see an end to our fun, it was reassuring to think that there are still so many other uniquely Ipswich experiences that are so accessible to us!
