Rated ‘main unsealed’ on most maps, this 425km route is a good dry weather track, generally wide and well-maintained, with the occasional cow or kangaroo the only hazards. Along it, travellers will encounter artesian mud springs, Ramsar wetlands, secluded riverside camps, historic pubs, Henry Lawson. and precious opals.
PAROO COUNTRY
Embracing a catchment of 76,000sqkm, Paroo Country is a mosaic of flat sandplains, undulating dunefields, and ranges of long, low hills. Much of this semi-arid landscape receives less than 300mm of rain each year, barely enough to maintain a flow in the river. From its source in the Warrego Range, west of Charleville, the Paroo meanders generally south for 1210km in a series of semi-permanent waterholes, lakes and wetlands that connect as a running stream after plentiful rains. Though considered…