Must See Places in the Outback

The outback is a large area of Australia and stretches out across most states.  The best way to experience all that the Australian outback has to offer is to travel by road, rail or horseback (sometimes), however, if time is short, then you will need to go by plane, as the distance is large.  Every state will have their own differences in wildlife and fauna, as well as what the towns and areas have to offer tourists.

A lot of the Northern Territory is considered the outback.  Here is where you will find a lot of Aboriginal inhabitants with their indigenous art, music, languages and dance. The one must see place in all of Australia is Uluru (Ayres Rock), located in the “red centre” of Australia in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.  The must see towns on the Northern Territory include Katherine, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, and the capital, Darwin. 

All of these towns have beautiful scenery, Aboriginal history and stories and plenty of activities that will keep all ages busy.  While in the Northern Territory, expect to see kangaroos, dingoes, wedge-tail eagle and you may even spot a Stuart Desert Rose.

Western Australia has a vast range of flora and fauna, this is because of its large size. Here you will experience a diversity of landscapes and wildlife.  In the north of the state you will find the Kimberly National Park, the Nigaloo Reef (just as good as the Great Barrier Reef) and the township of Broome.  In the central area has a range of saly-lakes and sand dunes, and a small gold mining towns of Kalgoolie, and further south to Esperance.

South Australia has the largest inland saltwater lake in Australia, known as Lake Eyre. Other sights to see in South Australian outback include the Flinders Range National Park, the Nullarbor Plains, Oodnadatta (the one pub town) and the underground town of Coober Pedy. You may encounter of your way through South Australia a hairy nosed wombat, or maybe a piping shrike (a bird), or you may find yourself an opal.

The outback regions of New South Wales include townships such as Broken Hill, Bourke and Cobar, where you will find Aboriginal art.  These remote towns are mainly either built up from mining (Broken Hill) or agricultural (Bourke) industries.  They offer a unique perspective to the Australian way of life, then what you would when solely visiting Sydney.

Much of Queensland is outback and under agricultural use.  A couple of townships that you must see include Birdsville and Mount Isa, which is just down the road, some 720 kilmetres. Throughout Queensland and New South Wales there are various stock routes. These routes where once travelled by drovers when herding cattle.  Popular stock routes include the Birdsville Track and the Oonadatta Track.  Four-wheeled-drive vehicles can travel on these tracks, or you can travel by horseback with an organised tour company.

Other popular routes around Australia include The Ghan and The Indian Pacific railway lines, that run from Adelaide to Darwin and Sydney to Perth, respectively.  Roads that run through the outback include the Eyre Highway, that connects South Australia and Western Australia, and the Savannah Way joins Cairnes, in Queensland, and Broome, in Western Australia, across the Northern Territory.

Hope you enjoy your stay in the Australian outback, with its diversity of landscapes and sceneries, wildlife and fauna. There are many adventures to have no matter where you go.