While the brown sign hunters had a busy year in 2024, there was a lot more going on with revamping the website. Following the brown signs continued with some feature changes on the website delayed. Even the social media pages had gone quiet for a while.
For another year, 7 Mile Diggings has taken the first place. It has remained at the top spot since the website began. A notable change to the list is the tourist drives. Southern Moreton Bay Tourist Drive and Fraser Coast Tourist Drive 12 took the last two places in 2023, in positions 9 and 10 respectively. Fraser Coast Drive 12 has skyrocketed to second, and Southern Moreton Bay Tourist Drive raised three placed into sixth.
Another tourist drive, Blackall Range Tourist Drive 23 has joined the list. And 90 Mile Straight has joined it twice, once for each end of the straight – they are 90 miles apart from each other. Deepwater Railway Station slipped in at tenth place, taking the last spot on the list.
With newcomers to the list, other destinations have dropped off the list. These were The Big Pipis, Maclean Tartan Poles, Yuraygir National Park Brooms Head, and Lake Perseverance Active Recreation Centre.
1. 7 Mile Diggings
7 Mile Diggings is forever the most popular place. Year after year it appears at number 1 in the top 10 views. Why would 2025 be any different? It was very close this year, only 0.02% ahead of second place. I put forward that the number one position may have shifted for a tourist drive but it was a big thing that nearly took its spot.
2. Big Macadamia Nut
A big thing in the top 10 list takes second place this year and nearly took first. It was visited in 2024 but added to the Brown Signs website in 2025, so if it had been published a little earlier it may have been higher up the list. The Big Macadamia Nut became a hidden big thing for a while until it reopened in 2020 for the Nambour Treetop Challenge. As a bonus for those who collect big things, it is next to the Big Pineapple.
3. Fraser Coast Tourist Drive 12
Moved from 2nd to 3rd.
The Fraser Coast tourist drive 12 begins near Maryborough, taking you through Hervey Bay and finishing in Howard. It looked like it may challenge for first spot last year but is still in the top 5. Within an acceptable drive from Brisbane for a few nights away, the Fraser Coast region is a popular area to head to.
4. Blackall Range Tourist Drive 23
Moved from 9th to 4th.
First appearing on the top ten list in 2024, the Blackall Range Tourist Drive 23 shoots up the list in 2025. A 55-kilometre drive, starting at the turnoff into Landsborough off Steve Irwin Way. From Landsborough, it climbs up the Blackall Range to Maleny, then follows the tops of the range northward through Montville and Mapleton. The tourist drive then heads back down the range into Nambour and finishing near the Bruce Highway.
5. Southern Moreton Bay Tourist Drive
Moved from 6th to 5th
Located on the southern side of Brisbane and following the shoreline of the beautiful Moreton Bay, there are many destinations to see on this tourist drive. It is the third year the Southern Moreton Bay Tourist Drive has made it into the top ten list. The Northern Moreton Bay Tourist Drive just missed out at 11th place.
6. Kenilworth Tourist Drive 22
Yet another tourist drive to join the list is the Kenilworth Tourist Drive 22. It links up with the Blackall Range Tourist Drive 23 in Maleny if you jump off it early, taking you through to Kenilworth.
7. Churchbank Weir Reserve
Moved from 4th to 7th.
Churchbank Weir Reserve has dropped three places from last year, five from 2 years ago. Churchbank Weir Reserve is a free camp not too far from Brisbane, especially if you are on the south side. The weir is downstream from the reserve, so the water in the creek beside the camping area is plentiful. After seeing Churchbank Weir Reserve in 2024 in poor condition with permanent homeless taken residence there, it is no surprise it is slipping in the list, and not somewhere we’d recommend at the moment.
8. 26th Parallel Leaving The North West
Moved from 3rd to 8th.
The 26th Parallel is at the border of South Australia and Northern Territory, although this location is further west near the coast of Western Australia. It is 330km south of the Tropic of Capricorn, between Carnarvon and Geraldton near the Gladstone National Park. There is a brown sign for both directions with a slight difference. The other sign says “Entering The North West”.
9. Coomba Falls
Coomba Falls is a short drive from the town Maidenwell and a popular spot for a cooling swim, especially in the summer months. The waterfall comes through a wide gorge of granite cliffs before falling into a deep waterhole.
10. 90 Mile Straight East
The eastern end of the 90 Mile Straight has joined the list last year and has just kept in the list at tenth place. The longest straight stretch of road in Australia, the Eyre Highway between Balladonia and Caiguna in Western Australia, is the same lengthy 146.6 kilometres or 90 miles regardless of which direction you go – east or west.