I am wanting to travel up and down, and up and down again, in the Qld outback.
I am wondering when the best time of the year is to do it. I live in Sydney. I did notice today that outback Qld were expecting 50 Degree temperatures over the next few days, so I guess this is not the time to be going.
Hoping to hear from some experienced G/N's who have been there & done that, so to speak. Cheers to all, KB
I don't know where these forecast figures of 50 deg temperatures for Queensland come from - the highest ever recorded temperature in Queensland was 49.5 deg at Birdsville 24/12/1972.
Apart from that, if you visit western Qld in winter you can experience very cold weather so be prepared for that. The bonus is that it will usually warm up through the day and be very pleasant.
First you need to indicate how much time you have, otherwise it's pretty well scattergun. If you have 2 months, then May and June would be my pick but only for inland Qld....coastal you need to watch out for the southeasters which make life near the beach unpleasant.
We've lived and travelled extensively in Qld for all our lives. April or October are the best months; longer visits are best planned to begin or end in one of those.
That applies to the whole state with just a proviso that you will experience cold nights (but not frigid) in the western parts. Bring clothes you can layer..safe travels, we know you will enjoy it all.
Fried Rice.
Hi Keiron, I have spent the last 5 winters in outback Qld, it's a wonderful part of the country. I consider you have to be west of Charleville to be in the "outback"
They say once you cross the Barcoo you never want to go back. It happened to me.
The best time is, as others have stated, April to October. The weather usually is excellent, I have seen probably a dozen wet days at most in the last 5 years.
Although you can get around a lot of the outback on sealed roads keep in mind that some are narrow beef tracks, 1 vehicle wide. If you get a road train coming the other way you must get of the road completely.
So if you strike a wet couple of days be prepared to sit pat for a few days while the road sides firm up again.
My favourite area is the Channel country, south west of Longreach. Windorah, Jundah, Stonehenge are must sees in my book. Those who haven't been there before will be surprised at the variations in the country as you travel.
The smaller towns in the outback encourage tourists, they often have cheap ($10 per night pwr sites) or areas for free camping.
Jundah has excellent camping on the Thomson river only 1km from the town & Windorah has great camps on The Cooper Creek but 15km from town.
If you (or anyone) is planning on being in this area give me a yell I will point out the camping areas & local info.
