Staying at an outback station (or farm) is a great way to experience a small taste of what life is like in the remote outback. After researching several options we booked into Turlee Station near both Mildura and Mungo National Park.
The underpopulated township of Silverton near Broken Hill is an unlikely candidate to be a tourist destination.
Arriving in Broken Hill is an awe inspiring experience. As you drive in you are immediately struck by the vision of what on first glance appears to be a mountain towering over the middle of town. On second glance you realise that the behemoth is manmade.
In Australia there is also a long history of underground homes called dugouts, primarily in the opal mining towns of outback Australia. The most famous is Coober Pedy in South Australia, and the lesser known option is the township of White Cliffs in New South Wales.
Our outback Australia journey commenced with the lengthy 1000km (650 mile) drive from urbane Sydney to the isolated opal mining town of White Cliffs. We were unsure where the real outback began, and looked forward to exploring new territory.
We recently had the opportunity to briefly visit the well-known Mudgee wine and gourmet food region. Mudgee is too far to visit as a day trip from Sydney, but is an excellent weekend destination.
After much deliberation we have finalised our itinerary for our road trip to outback Australia. We have limited time during the winter school holidays, so our plan is to travel approximately 3100 kilometres (1900 miles) over 12 days.
Travel inspirations can develop unexpectedly, or take a while to come to fruition. Our current inspiration to visit outback Australia has been bubbling quietly in the background for many years now, and has been bypassed several times by other ideas whose time had come.