Come along with us way out west to the land of red sands, red kangaroos, emus and Major Mitchell cockatoos … Mulga country. Coolibah country (remember the jolly swagman?), semi-arid shrublands, and also waterholes, the Paroo River, and vast inland lakes (Ramsar-listed because of their importance to inland bird breeding)
The itineraries can be altered depending on interests of our guests and local conditions – e.g. sometimes we don’t go as far as Eulo and Currawinya, sometimes we don’t visit Bowra, we don’t always have a night of camping, and with sufficient notice we can visit other places such as Charleville.
Warning: this is not a luxury tour. There are no five star or even four-star hotels out where we’re traveling., and apart from the first and last nights you will not have an ensuite bathroom (mostly you’ll need to go to a separate small building out the back – basic and possibly occupied by frogs but quite adequate and safe, and very typical Aussie Outback) Of course we carry plenty of water, 2-way radios and spares of all essentials just in case we do have problems in a remote place.
It’s not an endurance test though – we do our walking in the cool early mornings and late afternoons, and our purpose is not to cross wide distances but to feel the atmosphere of the outback and see the animals that live there. While driving we make plenty of ‘comfort stops’ as well as pausing to look at anything of interest along the way. We sleep in comfortable beds (and for camping comfortable air-mattresses or hammocks) and enjoy some great meals, and you really get a taste of the ‘dinkum’ (genuine) Australian Outback, meet the locals (both human and otherwise) and absorb the vastness of the outdoors without crowds around you trying to do the same. If you would like a little pampering as well, try soaking in a mudbath while sipping wine and nibbling nuts and dry fruit at the Eulo date farm (additional cost).
The first day’s travel usually takes us to St George. There are different definitions of ‘outback’ but this is where we feel it really begins – we leave behind cotton, wheat and other crops and head out into long stretches of free-range grazing country and natural semi-arid woodlands, and of course red sandy soils. We’ve usually seen a few emus, apostlebirds, black kites and outback parrots long before reaching St George, and we take a few breaks tostretch our legs and stroll around some ineresting places.
Our main destination is the Currawinya National Park. Here we will be right away from the forests of the coast and into red sands and outback vegetation such as mulga (Acacia aneura) and poplar box(Eucalyptus populnea), gidgee (Acacia cambagei), semi-arid shrublands and other outback plant communities.
The outback tours are only run in autumn and spring. Winter is too cold for reptile activity and summer is too hot for everyone.
NEXT OUTBACK TOUR: We could run one in autumn 2022, but we are planning for September 2022 to join in with the National Bilby Day celebrations in Charleville. In Charleville in addition to seeing the babies and joining the fun, we will visit the cosmology centre to new planets, galaxies and whatever else happens to be visible at the time.