Toowoomba
On the Great Dividing Ridge and in the Darling Downs region, Toowoomba is 80 miles west of Brisbane; it is nicknamed the Garden City for its rich soil and almost 250 parks. Toowoomba's MICE venues are many and varied, thanks to its being the largest inland Australian city that is not a provincial capital. Every September, tourists come especially to see something fairly rare on this vast continent—Toowoomba's deciduous trees that turn pretty colours and then lose their leaves. Also being situated at more than 2,000 feet above sea level, Toowoomba gets another Australian rarity—four seasons. Toowoomba Airport (TWB) is two miles northwest of the city centre and has service to the large cities of Brisbane and Sydney and 10 smaller ones, including remote Mount Isa. Chief among MICE venues in Toowoomba is the unusually named Rumours International Convention Centre, which has space for banquets of up to 1,000 persons and receptions of double that number. MICE hotels in Toowoomba include the 95-room Toowoomba Central Plaza Apartment Hotel, which has a meeting room for 50 persons; the 85-room Burke & Wills Hotel (name…