A Taste of the Queensland Outback: A 10-Day Southwest National Parks Road Trip

Despite the harshness and heat, I am fascinated by Australia’s interior—the vast open spaces, the apparent emptiness and the sunburnt, dark red soil that is so uniquely Australian.

Living on the east coast, you’re never far from people. Out in the far southwest corner, you’re almost always far from them.

We go out west for the solitude, time away from our busy lives on the coast, and to explore a part of Australia that we just love. Since most of us don’t have three months to wander the country, this route offers a real taste of the Channel Country and Mulga Lands by focusing on three distinct national parks: Idalia, Welford and Currawinya.

Once you drop south of the busier central highways to Longreach or Winton, the crowds disappear, and the landscape forces you to slow down. After a week out here, you’ll forget traffic lights exist, and when your phone stops working, you simply turn it off and forget you own one.

And winters are just about as perfect as can be.

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EXPLORING SOUTHWEST QUEENSLAND: A REMOTE NATIONAL PARKS ITINERARY

The national parks in Southwest Queensland offer plenty of space for remote camping, self-guided scenic drives and short hikes. When you need to top up supplies, the vibrant country towns along the way have great local bakeries, butchers and historic pubs.

If you want to get completely off the beaten track, this loop around the southwest corner is exactly where you want to head.

Mobile Coverage & Park Bookings: Connectivity is sparse this far west—don’t expect any mobile reception outside the main towns. Remember that you need to pre-book your campsites for the national parks before you lose signal.

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PLANNING YOUR OUTBACK TRIP: LOGISTICS

A trip into Southwest Queensland is not for the faint of heart—you need to prepare adequately so you don’t find yourself stuck in the middle of nowhere.

BEST TIME TO EXPLORE SOUTHWEST QUEENSLAND

Southwest Queensland can experience heavy summer rains but more so it is heavily impacted by water flows from further north which travel south through the “Channel” Country.

Winter: This is basically the perfect time to visit—stick to the cooler months of the year between May to August. Road conditions will dictate if May is too early. Some years roads don’t open until mid to late June and entire communities remain cut off for months.

Expect cool, if not frosty, nights in winter—it can drop to 0°C but often will be more like 10-15°C. Winter days are beautiful with clear blue skies, very little rain and mid to high 20°Cs.

Summer: Avoid the hotter months completely—temperatures will regularly be above 35°C or 40°C, and sudden rain easily turns the gooey black soil tracks into impassable clay that will keep you stranded for days.

VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS & TRACK CONDITIONS

Much of Outback Queensland isn’t really accessible in a 2WD vehicle unless you’re only sticking to the main highways. Beyond the sealed roads, a high-clearance 4WD is almost mandatory, especially if you want to explore the national parks and drive along the more scenic backroads.

The unsealed roads out here vary from solid gravel or dusty dirt roads to sandy tracks and rocky sections that may require low-range gears. Some of these tracks will turn into a boggy mess with a hint of rain, which is why the dry season is the only time to explore this region of Queensland.

A 2WD campervan that has high clearance, and with careful driving, could possibly manage getting into these national parks in completely dry conditions. But you’d have to be very mindful of road conditions as you really wouldn’t want to get stuck out here when it’s even vaguely wet. The scenic drives will be off-limits.

HOW MUCH TIME TO PLAN

This road trip itinerary around Queensland’s southwest corner will take about 10–14 days. You can easily extend the trip if you prefer a slower pace but attempting this loop in less than 10 days will involve very long days of driving if you’re coming from the coast.

As a 10-day route, this outback road trip is pretty ambitious and requires moving every day or every second day.

We did this road trip in about 9 days, which was just about perfect for us. We clocked up about 3,800km altogether. Of those 9 days, we had three pure travel days: Two days to get to our first stop at Idalia National Park and one day to drive back home.

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GETTING THERE AND THE ROUTE

The problem with exploring Southwest Queensland is that it’s a long way from the east coast.

Just to get to Roma—generally considered the gateway town to Outback Queensland—you need to drive over 500km. And you haven’t even gone anywhere yet.

To get out here, the most direct route usually follows the Warrego Highway out to Roma, Mitchell and beyond to Blackall. It is a long drive that is dominated by mining traffic to Roma and gets increasingly quieter as you head further west.

Once you reach Blackall, you turn off the sealed highway where the main itinerary forms a loose loop through the Channel Country and Mulga Lands.

You can do this loop in either direction and add on plenty of side trips but this route tracks west out to Idalia National Park and then Welford National Park before dropping south to the outback towns of Quilpie and Thargomindah. From there, you head to Currawinya National Park on the border to New South Wales before returning back to the coast.

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ESSENTIAL OUTBACK GEAR AND SUPPLIES

Travelling into the Southwest Queensland outback requires a certain amount of preparation, and beyond the towns, you need to be completely self-sufficient.

• The Outback Fuel Rule: Distances out here are vast and fuel stops become few and far between. Fill up whenever you get the chance, even if you are still 3/4 full, as remote fuel stations can run out of fuel altogether.

• Best Fuel Stops: Blackall, Windorah, Quilpie, Thargomindah and Eulo are your reliable fuel stops for this specific loop.

• Food & GF / Specialty Diets: If you need gluten-free or other special groceries, Roma is your last-chance for a major supermarkets. Once you head into the Channel Country and Mulga Lands, towns only have small IGAs or roadhouses.

• Outback Dust: The drier and the hotter the day, the more fine dust gets kicked up as you drive along these outback roads. Expect the red dust to get into everything and stick. Protect your electronics by wrapping them up—I kept my camera wrapped up, just to protect it from the dust as we were driving.

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A 10-DAY ITINERARY FOR OUTBACK QUEENSLAND

This loop will give you a real taste of the southwest outback. The towns become smaller, the roads narrower, the road trains longer, and the dirt increasingly redder.

STOP 1: MITCHELL OR MORVEN

The drive out to Mitchell (around 600km) or Morven ( around 700km) from the coast is straightforward but it takes a solid few hours. We like to get going early—6am or earlier—and then stop in Chinchilla for a coffee and a quick stretch.

Roma is a sizeable country town along the way—if you need last-minute supplies, this would be your best bet. We’ve driven through Roma a few times, and even stayed in a dodgy motel there once, but we’ve never really explored it much. We always seem to be in travel mode by the time we roll through Roma.

MITCHELL

If you choose to break your journey in Mitchell, make time for a soak at the Great Artesian Spa. We did this once after a week of hiking and camping in Central Queensland, and boy, was I happy to have a shower and a good long soak in the warm artesian waters after all that crusted-on dirt!

The local bakery in Mitchell is also quite famous, and popping in for a snack helps keep these country towns alive. The husband has to repeatedly deal with my insistent “Let’s go in and buy you a nice treat!” suggestions since I usually can’t eat any of the gluten-filled bakery goods myself. It’s definitely worth checking out.

CAMPING OPTIONS

Both towns offer great, budget-friendly camping options for a quick overnight stop with a tent or caravan.

• Mitchell: Free camping along the Maranoa River at Neil Turner Weir (flush toilets) or the smaller Fisherman’s Rest site (drop toilet). Both are incredibly popular with caravans and offer pretty river views.
• Morven: Camping available at the Morven Recreational Facility, i.e. the sports oval ($5 unpowered; $10 powered). While less scenic than Mitchell, the toilets were nice and clean when we stayed here.

STOP 2: IDALIA NATIONAL PARK (~2 DAYS)

The drive from Morven to Idalia National Park takes about 7 hours (add an extra hour—or 90km—if coming from Mitchell).

We expected the Isisford–Blackall Road from Blackall to be unsealed and slow-going. Fortunately, it’s sealed all the way to the Blackall–Emmet Road turnoff, which then takes you into Idalia National Park. We stopped briefly in Blackall for fuel and made it to Idalia by mid-afternoon.

Idalia National Park is a great spot for a couple of days. Here you can explore rocky escarpments, gorges and relics dating back to former pastoral days.

There are a couple of short hikes at Idalia, one of which we ticked off the same day we arrived after setting up the tent. Wave Rock is best explored in the late afternoon light so off we went that first day. The next morning we started early to hike the short but difficult Emmet Pocket Walk, which ended up being a completely flat walk with no difficulty—or views!—whatsoever.

The Bullock Gorge Walk is another short hike and definitely worth it as you get great views into the surrounding countryside from the escarpment. There are a few other sights to see, including Rainbow Gorge, but none of them will take much time.

CAMPING OPTIONS

Our preference is always for national park campsites but you can also find budget camping near Blackall and head into Idalia on a day trip. We stayed two nights at the basic campground at Monks Tank, which seemed just the right amount of time. If you’re after a bit of downtime, plan an extra day or so.

Monks Tank camping area: This campgound offers basic bush camping in the heart of the national park. There are no walks here and little shade but it’s a very relaxing spot.

Blackall: You can also camp along the Barcoo River, just outside of Blackall. This spot is very popular with caravaners.

EN ROUTE: YARAKA AND MOUNT SLOCOMBE

The drive from Idalia to Welford National Park is roughly 250km, so it’s not a massive travel day.

From Idalia, make your way back to the Isisford–Blackall Road, which becomes the Emmet–Yaraka Road at Emmet.

This is a gorgeous drive as you pass by range after range of stunning mesas (or jump-ups). The road is fully sealed all the way to the tiny settlement of Yaraka.

MOUNT SLOCOMBE LOOKOUT

Before you actually reach Yaraka, definitely take the short, sealed side trip to the summit of Mount Slocombe. You’ll get incredible, panoramic 360° views across the flatlands and the Yang Yang Ranges. There’s a fantastic picnic shelter, a bbq, toilet and even tank water available at the top.

This spot would be amazing for sunrise or sunset, you could see for miles around. Alas, we were there at 10:30am so simply had morning tea and headed off.

YARAKA SETTLEMENT

Once you descend, head into the tiny Yaraka. While you still camp near the pub, fuel is no longer available at here so you will either need to detour via Isisford or return to Blackall if you need to fill up.

Past Yaraka, the Yaraka Retreat Road has more unsealed gravel sections than sealed bits but tends to be well-graded. Keep in mind that after rain roads out here quickly become impassable and can remain muddy for a long time after.

CAMPING OPTION

Yaraka: If you want to break up the journey between Idalia and Welford, you can camp at the council-run caravan park just 100m from the Yaraka Hotel for a small fee, which includes powered sites, hot showers and access to the community pool.

STOP 3: WELFORD NATIONAL PARK (~2 DAYS)

From Mount Slocombe, it’s another 100km to Welford along Yaraka Retreat Road, and typically only takes 1-2 hours to reach the boundary of the national park. Bits of the road are now sealed but travel in the outback is also unpredictable so be prepared for changing road surfaces and rougher conditions.

Like at Idalia, planning for at least two nights at Welford National Park is ideal but Welford doesn’t offer much in terms of developed walking trails. It also feels much more desert-like than Idalia, which had a distinct rocky feel to it.

The highlights at Welford are, no doubt, the glistening clay pans, clear waterholes and the little red sand dune, which is perfect for sunset watching.

QPWS have developed three scenic 4WD tracks at Welford, with the Mulga Drive ending up being our favourite. It offered varied vegetation, and the red soil looked amazing in the late afternoon light.

CAMPING OPTION

Little Boomerang Waterhole camping area: There’s only one camping area if you want to stay in the national park. Since the self-guided routes take a few hours to drive safely, two days would be the absolute minimum you need to camp here if you want to explore everything.

After Welford, you’ll have another long travel day ahead of you to get to Kilcowera Station, located about an hour south of Thargomindah (~530km).

EN ROUTE: QUILPIE

We left Welford early and stopped at the much-bigger-than-expected town of Quilpie to refuel and frequent the local bakery. In fact, I scored a gluten-free lemon tart at the local supermarket AND a gluten-free passionfruit cheesecake at the bakery—I couldn’t quite believe my luck!

Water: If you need to top up your water, there’s bore water available at the visitor centre. Just make sure to choose the tap with the specific cooling sign on it. Otherwise, it comes straight out of the ground at scalding hot temperatures and needs to be cooled down first. I didn’t find the bore water here particularly sulphuric or odd-tasting but we still mostly only used it for washing up—rather than for drinking.

Baldy Rock Lookout: About 7km south of Quilpie is Baldy Rock Lookout, which offers nice views across the plains. If you decide to stay in Quilpie for the night, it’d be worth checking out for sunset.

We left Quilpie around 12pm, and it took us another five hours to get to Kilcowera Station, some 90km past Thargomindah. We took a slightly more circuitous route because we wanted to see more of the station country in this neck of the woods.

STOP 4: KILCOWERA STATION (1-2 DAYS)

On our way out to Kilcowera, we saw very few cars or trucks, and this is where things really start to feel remote. As you pass by the isolated properties, you can’t help but wonder how tough life must be out here.

If you’ve never camped on a station before, here’s your chance.

Kilcowera Station is a massive working cattle station that borders Currawinya National Park. While it has changed hands since our visit and is now run by the Dodds family, they still warmly welcome campers to the property.

You can camp on the property and also explore it. The scenic drive around their property—which takes about 4-5 hours to fully explore—is a great way to see more of the Mulga Lands and better understand what it takes to live out here.

CAMPING OPTIONS

Kilcowera Station: Powered ($60 p/n) or unpowered sites ($50-60 p/n) available, or stay in the old shearer’s quarters. For the unpowered sites, you can choose to stay at the central lawn area where you’ve got ready access to the camp kitchen, toilets and showers, or book an off-grid site along Cardenyabba Lagoon.

We stayed in one of the private sites along the lagoon and really enjoyed our little waterfront site. I relished being able to have a shower after a week on the road and tons of red dust in my hair. We honestly ended up wishing we had booked another night here instead of moving on.

Thargomindah: Limited camping along the Bulloo River outside of Thargomindah; for powered sites, stay at the commercial caravan park in town.

STOP 5: CURRAWINYA NATIONAL PARK (2-3 DAYS)

Getting from Kilcowera Station to Currawinya National Park is a straightforward drive and won’t take more than a couple of hours (~100km). We ended up rushing a bit as we spent the best part of Day 7 exploring Kilcowera Station, and only left the station around 3pm.

Along the way you could stop at Hungerford, a tiny border town with a somewhat crazy-looking pub and gravity-fed fuel available.

Currawinya National Park hugs the New South Wales border and takes out the prize as being Queensland’s largest national park. Following recent expansions, it now encompasses a vast and diverse landscape.

The park is a wetland of international importance that can support more than 100,000 waterbirds, including migratory ones. In the dry winter months, the water levels drop, meaning bird watching isn’t necessarily at its prime. Still, you’ll see plenty of birdlife if you keep your eyes open.

Currawinya has two massive lakes—one fresh and the other salty—and a myriad of channels, waterholes and rivers cruising through the area. Except for the Myninya wetland area, camping is found along the Paroo River (think muddy waters, not clear blue).

But what’s really fascinating is Currawinya’s remnants from pastoral times.

Two huge shearing sheds, including a number of other pastoral outbuildings, give a glimpse into the hard life that once was pulsing out here.

You can easily spend two days at Currawinya. Just doing the Boorara Springs Circuit takes a day. 3-4 days allow for a more relaxed way of exploring all that Currawinya has to offer, especially if you’re into poking around relics from the past.

CAMPING OPTIONS

• Currawinya National Park: Bush camping available at various spots along the Paroo River and near the old woolshed as well as near the Myninya wetlands area.

HEADING HOME (1-2 DAYS)

The final 1,000km stretch back to the coast will be travel days again, marking the end of our Southwest Queensland outback road trip.

You can easily spend a leisurely morning exploring yet more historic remnants at Currawinya before heading off. The route home takes you through Cunnamulla to refuel, and then straight on to Bollon along the Balonne Highway.

BOLLON

If you want one last stop before the coast, Thrushton National Park is located just near Bollon.

There are no facilities at Thrushton and the access tracks are strictly 4WD-only. Also keep in mind that the turnoff to Thrushton is before you reach Bollon (Mitchell–Bollon Road), which we only realised an hour past Bollon. As a result, we decided to keep going, stop in St. George for a quick bite to eat and drive home that night. It was a long night, arriving back home around 2am.

CAMPING OPTIONS

• Bollon: Free camping along Wallum Creek outside Bollon; hot showers available along the main road in town
• Thrushton National Park: Thrushton Homestead/Woolshed camping areas
• St. George: For a last stop with more amenities, head to St. George and stay at the River Gum Tourist Park.

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READY FOR A SOUTHWEST ROAD TRIP?

Queensland is a massive state, and even after living here for more than a decade, we’ve still only seen a fraction of it.

I love heading into the interior, albeit only during the cooler months. If you’re after solitude, wildlife, red dirt and wide open spaces, southwest Queensland is a great spot.

The three national parks are all very different, and we enjoyed each one for different reasons. Idalia offers gorges, rocky escarpments and walks. Welford has beautiful clay pans, Mulga shrubland and sand dunes. And Currawinya gives you a real insight into the former sheep shearing industry (though interpretation panels are somewhat lacking).

Ten days isn’t a heap of time for exploring such a vast area so if you have an extra day or two, you’ll be able to travel a bit slower and have some time to relax. We could have used two nights at Kilcowera Station, and would have liked to stop at Thrushton National Park as well. With Currawinya being so vast, three nights there would be the minimum.

Happy roadtripping,

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