The Outback Way extends across three states for over 2,750kms; from Laverton in Western Australia, through Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, to Winton in Queensland. Seven interconnecting roads and highways make up the Outback Way route including the: Great Central Road, Tjukaruru Road, Lasseter Highway, Stuart Highway, Plenty Highway, Donohue Highway and Min Min Byway.
In an announcement by the Federal Government on 21st February 2022, "The Government is committed to sealing the entire 2,720 kilometres of Outback Way". The Australian Government has allocated funding to cover 80 per cent of the total upgrade costs with state and territory governments providing the remaining 20 per cent. Obviously this will take time, but the WA Government under Mark McGowan has announced the 800km seal project in WA will take 7 years to complete. So if you're keen for an outback adventure, now is the time to travel this route before it changes completely.
This Trek Note covers the route as it is currently - effective 2022. There have been many small sections that have been gradually sealed or are regularly graded by the NT section has been notorious for the worst corrugations and lack of maintenance and the Plenty Highway section currently remains one of the great outback 4WD routes that is still relatively easy to traverse with an offroad van without sand dunes and other complications.
The trip itself is home to an impressive collection of sites and places of interest for travellers. These include iconic scenery such as Ayers Rock, the Olga’s, Peterman and MacDonnell Ranges. Travellers can also indulge in a range of activities like bird and wildlife watching in the numerous waterholes, nature walks through mulga scrub and oak forests, viewing indigenous art galleries at selected communities, gem fossicking, and geo-caching - a fun world-wide GPS activity, which involves finding hidden caches (34 in total, around 80kms apart) along the route.
There are many places where you can top-up on fuel or provisions, or even stay overnight. Yulara and Alice Springs have a variety of accommodation facilities; Winton, Boulia and Laverton have motel, hotel and caravan park facilities, whilst most roadhouses en-route provide campgrounds suitable for caravans and camper trailers. To travel the entire Outback Way requires no less than 3 to 4 days of daytime travel (travelling at night is not recommended), although typically 6 to 7 days of daytime travel is required to stop and enjoy a majority of the highlights of central Australia.
How to Use this Trek Note
- To download this information and the route file for offline use on a phone, tablet, headunit or laptop, go to the app store and purchase ExplorOz Traveller. This app enables offline navigation and mapping and will show where you are as you travel along the route. For more info see the ExplorOz Traveller webpage and the EOTopo webpage.
Environment
The interesting thing about the Outback Way is that the route passes through ten uniquely identified bioregions. Each of these regions are characterised with a unique combination of flora, fauna, geology and landscape characteristics. The ten bioregions are:
Great Victoria Desert,
Gibson Desert, Central Ranges,
Great Sandy Desert, Finke, MacDonnell Ranges, Burt Plain, Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields, Channel Country, and
Mitchell Grass Downs.
Laverton to the WA Border has been fully upgraded and is now a
well formed, graded, gravel road. The WA Border to
Kata Tjuta is unsealed with sections of
rock-sand
limestone or red desert sand with some occasionally rough corrugations, ruts and soft sections on dune rises. Some of the river and creek crossings have dry, soft surfaces that are susceptible to seasonal flooding, so exercise caution after rains or during the wet season.
The roads joining
Kata Tjuta to
Yulara,
Yulara to
Alice Springs, and the Alice to Gemtree are all sealed bitumen, dual lane, main road or highway standard. There are intermittent rest bays and 24hr overnight stops. Gemtree to Ongeva River is sealed, however further eastward to
Boulia consists of unsealed road, varying from sandy,
limestone, gravely-
rock with sections of corrugations, occasional rutted-lanes and unformed surfaces. Again, some of the river and creek crossings have dry, soft surfaces that are susceptible to seasonal flooding, so exercise caution after rains or during the flooding season - November to March. The section of road approximately 100kms before and after the
NT/QLD border can sometimes be badly corrugated as a result of truck traffic, the rocky substrate and dry conditions.
Boulia to
Winton is sealed bitumen, single lane, susceptible to flooding at major river crossings especially within the channel country. This section should not be driven at dusk, dawn or night due to the presence of wildlife.
History
The Outback Way was coined by five local Shire Councils, who in 1997 formed the Outback Highway Development Council (OHDC) to promote the development of a third strategic link across Australia. The main aim was to establish the Outback Way as a transcontinental route, whilst promoting social, economic and cultural interests. The roads within the WA section between Laverton and the WA/NT border (known as the Great Central Road) has now been significantly upgraded and is a fast gravel road suitable for caravans with no corrugations however the NT section is still significantly rough for caravans with heavy corrugations.
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