Craig Tansley10:00, May 10 2021
SUPPLIED
The Classic Safari Company runs five-day “Aussie Outback Pub Crawls” that take you 4000km across the outback encompassing three states and visiting eight pubs.
The outback comprises 70 per cent of Australia – that s 5.6 million square kilometres; half the size of Western and Eastern Europe combined. This back of beyond defines Australia, and Australians, and yet for most of us, it s as foreign as any country. Who among us has ever really seen it, let alone know where it quite begins and where it quite ends? Getting there from a capital can takes days of driving; and once you re there it takes days to get anywhere else. That s why it s largely the domain of adventurous, time-rich grey nomads in four-wheel drives with enough grunt to pull their caravan through the heart of Australia.
The outback comprises 70 per cent of Australia – that s 5.6 million square kilometres; half the size of Western and Eastern Europe combined. This back of beyond defines Australia, and Australians, and yet for most of us, it s as foreign as any country.
Who among us has ever really seen it, let alone know where it quite begins and where it quite ends?
See Also
Getting there from a capital can takes days of driving; and once you re there it takes days to get anywhere else. That s why it s largely the domain of adventurous, time-rich grey nomads in four-wheel drives with enough grunt to pull their caravan through the heart of Australia.
1. THE ONE HIGHWAY
Only a few months ago, the Silver City Highway between Broken Hill and Tibooburra remained one of the last two unsealed major roads in NSW. Now, with the final dirt sections of the highway bituminised, a new, safer and more reliable 332-kilometre NSW outback touring route for vehicles of all kinds has been opened up. The highway, named after Broken Hill s nom de plume, extends a further 296 kilometres south to the border of Victoria at Mildura, creating a new gateway to the outback through NSW and near to the Queensland border.
2. THE ONE TOWN Tucked away in the far north-west corner of NSW, 1182 kilometres from Sydney, is Tibooburra, the state s remotest township. Although a sign as you enter Tibooburra registers the population as 150, the real number of people in this one-main-street-town is about half that. But that still makes it the largest town in this part of NSW. Stock up on supplies at the Corner Country Store, right on the main street, and it