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The Australian outback is a place that goes by many names – the Bush, the Back of Beyond, the Never Never – and has no actual boundaries. It is as much an idea as an actual place: A world of big horizons; of deserts and tropical savannah (“the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,” in the words of  Banjo Paterson); of small, isolated towns hundreds of kilometers from the nearest settlement; or cattle stations and national parks the size of small European countries. And like everywhere else in Australia, the outback has for millennia been the realm of Australia’s First Nations people who, in many places, still inhabit the land, maintain deep connections to it and know it best.

Very often, as much as the attractions it’s the journey itself – to get here, to explore its inner reaches – that showcases the best of the outback. Such journeys take place along long, straight roads frequented by road trains (freight trucks with multiple trailers) traveling through big, empty landscapes, roads like the Eyre Highway across the Nullarbor Plain, or the Stuart Highway through the arid heart of the continent. Or they could take you along remote and unpaved “roads” like the Outback Way, the Birdsville Track or the Oodnadatta.

So why should you visit? Because the outback is Australia at its vast, wild and remote best.

Where exactly is the Australian outback?

The outback is frequently confused with being synonymous with Australia’s Red Centre – a region in the Northern Territory that’s home to Uluru, one of Australia’s most storied destinations. 

In reality, the outback is much bigger and more expansive, touching nearly every state in Australia. 

It’s most often defined as anywhere in Australia’s inland that’s removed from large human settlements. Australia’s Outback Magazine defines it as “beyond the city” and “anywhere that is remote, different, challenging, non-urban.” Others just say that you’ll know it when you see it.

Yes, it includes Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and Alice Springs, but it’s also home to attractions as diverse as Queensland’s tropical savannah, South Australia’s underground mining town of Coober Pedy and the country’s largest national park, Kakadu.

When should I visit outback Australia?

Given that the outback covers a significant proportion of one of the largest countries on earth, the best time to visit can vary, but perhaps not quite so much as you might imagine.

As a general rule, the outback is at its best from around May to September. This is when you can expect cooler, drier conditions. In Australia’s desert interior, April and October might also be okay, but daytime temperatures can be punishing, as they usually are from November to March. 

If your outback adventure takes you to tropical and subtropical regions such as the Top End, the warm temperatures of summer (officially December to February, but in reality often extending a month or two either side of it) coincide with the rainy or wet season (with classic Aussie understatement, it’s often simply called “the Wet”), when heavy rains and flooded roads can curtail your explorations. For example, if you’re looking to explore the Kimberley region, most tourist services will shut down from October or November to March, and many roads will be closed or otherwise impassable throughout the same period.

Beyond the desert, the further south you go, the cooler it can be – southern Australia can be surprisingly cold during the winter months, especially from June to August.

When it comes to tourist crowds, high season usually coincides with the April-to-October Dry season, although places like Uluru and Kings Canyon can be popular year-round, with peaks around Christmas-New Year and Easter.

How many days do I need in outback Australia?

Most travellers pick one area of the outback to explore, and unless you have unlimited time – visiting everywhere in the outback could take a lifetime – we suggest you take a similar approach.

The number of days depends on the destination. Places like Coober Pedy could easily be covered in a couple of days, while a week is ideal for a combined Kakadu and Nitmiluk adventure, or for exploring the Pilbara or Flinders Ranges. If your focus is the Red Centre (Uluru, Kings Canyon and the West MacDonnell Ranges) or the Kimberley, 10 days to two weeks would be an ideal amount of time.

 Is it easy to get in and around outback Australia?

Reaching the most popular outback attractions is surprisingly easy (if expensive), with regular commercial flights from major Australian cities into regional centers like Alice Springs, Yulara (for Uluru), Darwin, Broome, and even Broken Hill or Coober Pedy.

Other attractions will require longer road trips. Examples of these include around 400km from Alice Springs to the Devils Marbles; around 320km between Uluru and Kings Canyon, or 450km from Adelaide to the Flinders Ranges. Remember that these distances are a bar minimum, and that road distances can be very long indeed. If you’re wanting to visit Kakadu and Nitmiluk National Parks, for example, you could easily cover close to 1000km by road in a round trip out of Darwin. In all cases, these road trips are along paved roads, and there’s a wide range of options, including car rental, buses, and small- or large-group tours.

And then there are those places that lie beyond where the paved road ends and for which you’ll need a 4WD vehicle. The most obvious of these is the Kimberley and its iconic thoroughfare, the Gibb River Road; many travelers rent a vehicle in Broome and drive to Darwin, or vice versa. Other places where a 4WD is either required or strongly recommended include Sturt National Park, the Birdsville Track and Karijini National Park.

Top things to do in outback Australia

Deserts filled with red-sand dunes, salt lakes and remote mountain ranges that turn purple in the setting sun. Formidable red-rock escarpments sprouting white-trunked ghost gums. Crocodile-filled rivers, deep gorges, and otherworldly rock formations that seem to spring from a child’s imagination. Such are the backdrops to the outback’s signature destinations. More often, it’s the landscapes themselves that are the main attraction.

Northern Territory

Nowhere captures the frontier essence of the outback, its sheer variety of natural wonders quite like "the Territory."

The Red Centre: Uluru, Kings Canyon & Alice Springs

There’s nowhere on earth quite like Uluru, and if you can only visit one outback destination, Uluru and Kata Tjuta would be top of my list. Rising from the red-sand desert like an apparition, these deeply spiritual places take on magical colours and contours at sunrise and sunset. Among the numerous ways to experience this special place are hikes around Uluru or into the deep gorges of nearby Kata Tjuta, but tours run by Anangu guides and other encounters with First Nations people often end up being the real highlights.

Also in the Red Centre, Kings Canyon has an epic quality, from its sheer cliffs and challenging hikes to glorious sunsets and the ethereal after-dark art installation. Away to the northeast, Alice Springs is Australia’s only true outback city, and its First Nations art galleries rank among Australia’s best. West of town, the West MacDonnell Ranges shelter a series of dramatic gorges, including Ormiston, Glen Helen and Simpsons Gap. Heading north, Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles) are said to be the eggs of the Rainbow Serpent by First Nations. 

The Top End: Kakadu & Litchfield National Parks

Everything in the outback happens on a grand scale, and, nearly 1000km to the north, UNESCO World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, with its red-rock escarpments cut-through with rivers and gorges and waterholes. Kakadu is also rich in ancient rock art and wildlife, and the gateway to the soulful Indigenous nations of Arnhem Land. Not far away, at least on an outback scale, Nitmiluk and Litchfield national parks promise more winning combinations of drama-filled landscapes watered by rivers and waterfalls, First Nations' history, and excellent hiking.

Western Australia: The Kimberley & Pilbara

Deserts swallow most of Australia’s largest state, extending from the heart of the continent to the long and wild Indian Ocean shore. In the state’s far north, deserts yield to mountain ranges in hues of red, remote rivers, First Nations communities and art centers, and endless wildlife possibilities. From Derby to Kununurra, the Gibb River Road cuts a path through this astonishing natural and cultural landscape, and it’s one of Australia’s most rewarding yet accessible 4WD adventures. The view of the Cockburn Ranges at the Pentecost River is worth the trip on its own. South of the Kimberley, Purnululu National Park is home to the Bungle Bungles, surely one of the country’s most perspective-altering landscapes.

Still in the state’s northwest, the geological rock formations of the Pilbara are some of the oldest rocks on earth, and the multi-coloured gorges of Karijini National Park must surely be one of Australia’s remarkable (and underrated) natural sites.

South Australia: Coober Pedy & The Flinders Ranges

Of all Australian states, it’s South Australia that most flies under the radar. Yet, the state’s north is synonymous with classic outback travel, nowhere more so than along the story-rich Birdsville, Oodnadatta and Strzelecki 4WD tracks. Travel any of these and you’ll likely spend time in Maree, an iconic outback town with a pub, sunset-filled horizons and even the world’s most unlikely yacht club. As in most outback towns, a dizzying sense of eternity begins at the end of the main street. South of Maree, Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park is one of the outback’s most celebrated, and most beautiful, mountain ranges.

No discussion of the outback is complete without mention of Coober Pedy. Hundreds of kilometres from the nearest town in any direction, this rough-and-ready place (population barely 2000) inhabits a moonscape of opal-mining pits. It also has the added novelty of having many of its “buildings” – homes, churches, hotels – underground, in deference to the fierce heat of Australia’s largest desert.

New South Wales: Broken Hill & Beyond

It’s an old Aussie adage that the outback begins out the back of Bourke, a small town nearly 800km northwest of Sydney. But you need to go a lot further west, almost as far as you can go without leaving the state, for New South Wales’ best outback attractions. Broken Hill is an outback town par excellence, at once refuge from the vast emptiness of the Aussie bush, and gateway to sights as diverse as the Menindee Lakes, Mungo National Park and the end-of-the-road, filmset-like village of Silverton. North of Broken Hill, follow in the footsteps of 19th-century European explorers and explore the wildlife-rich desert landscapes of Sturt National Park, all the way to Cameron Corner, the remote place on the map where three state borders meet.

Queensland: Birdsville & Channel Country

Far western Queensland really is “big sky” country. Out here, perhaps more than anywhere else in the country, Australia really does seem to go on forever. In the southwest, Birdsville, with its pub and the nearby sand dunes of the Simpson Desert, is considered the quintessential outback town: pull up a bar stool, order a Great Northern and listen to tall tales told well. Further afield, Channel Country, which occupies most of the state’s southwest, is Australia’s most extreme boom-bust landscape: riven with channels that flow down into vast inland lakes, this region can be bone dry or entirely underwater, with seemingly very little in between. And the sense of exploring a very ancient landscape is enhanced by the numerous dinosaur sites scattered around the state’s west: the archetypal outback town of Winton, with its pubs and echoes of the classic Aussie ballad, “Waltzing Matilda,” has particularly rich pickings for dinosaur enthusiasts.

My favorite thing to do in outback Australia

I love setting out and driving towards the outback’s very far horizon, destination unknown, looking for stories. This might mean speaking with First Nations artists in remote art centers or sitting down in the shade of a river red gum with a First Nations elder. On other occasions, it might mean sharing a yarn or two with locals in an outback pub. Or it could mean pulling to the side of the road, turning off the engine and just listening to the silence.

But if I had to choose one favorite outback day, it would be hiking into Kata Tjuta’s Valley of the Winds in the morning, renting a bicycle and circumnavigating Uluru in the afternoon, and then watching the sunset over the Rock.

How much money do I need for outback Australia?

Like the rest of Australia, traveling in the outback doesn’t come cheap, although camping can be an excellent option for keeping costs down. And thanks to the tyranny of long road distances and supply lines, everything even costs a little more out here – fuel, food and even building materials have to be transported very long distances.

• Hotel room: A$150-300 (US$90-180)

• Hiring a car/4WD for the day: A$100/200 (US$62/134)

• Pint in an outback pub: A$6-10 (US$4-6.50)

• Counter meal in an outback pub: A$30-50 (US$19-31)

• Per liter of fuel at an outback roadhouse: A$2.50-3 (US$1.55-1.90)

Things you should know in outback Australia

Driving in the outback

Whether you’re in a 4WD or a 2WD vehicle, driving the outback means remembering a few important rules.

Here are my top five:

1. Always fill up with petrol whenever the opportunity arises: you never know when you might next get the chance.

2. Check the insurance policy on your rental vehicle: not every 4WD is allowed to leave the paved road.

3. Each state has its own road conditions website, noting road closures and hazards; it can be a long way back if you have to turn back.

4. Be wary of road trains (trailered trucks that can be over 50m/200ft-long), overtaking them requires very long sightlines.

5. Avoid driving after dark: that’s when wildlife is active and most likely to cross the road without warning.

Outback festivals

Festivals are a wonderful part of the outback experience. Plan to visit a few, but plan ahead early as accommodation and vehicles for rent can be booked out months in advance. Some of the better festivals include:

• Parrtjima (April): 10-day Alice Springs' event that showcases Arrernte culture with art exhibitions, light shows and live performances.

• Ord Valley Muster (May): Celebrating the muster of livestock in the Kimberley with live music and sporting events. Held in Kununurra.

• Uluru Camel Cup (May): Two days of camel racing that draws jockeys and punters to Yulara from all over the outback.

•  Barunga Festival (June): Held over a wonderful long weekend in Barunga, 80km east of Katherine, with traditional arts, crafts, dancing, music, and more.

• Beanie Festival (June-July): This fun Alice Springs festival celebrates the humble beanie (woollen hat) beloved by Indigenous women.

• Alice Desert Festival (August-September): Parades, a circus, live music and much revelry over six weeks.

• Henley-on-Todd Regatta (August): Crews in bottomless boats run down the dry bed of the Todd River in Alice Springs.

• Garma Festival (August): Australia’s largest Indigenous cultural gathering, held on Yolngu Country in northern East Arnhem Land over four days.