Three Essential Outback Experiences

1. Red Centre National Parks

Start at Australia’s heart where everything is supersized: Uluru’s enormous presence rises up out of infinite desert to meet giant bluebird skies. Slow travel comes into its own here. On our 7 Day Red Centre Escape, see how the light bathes this Outback icon from dawn ‘til dusk. By night, watch thousands of firefly-like illuminations cloak the Field of Light installation nearby. Listen to the sound of silence on Kings Canyon’s yawning sandstone escarpment in Kings Canyon & Watarrka National Park, or the breeze whisper through Kata Tjuta’s contoured domes, in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Most of all learn the Outback ways, from traditional landowners who revere Uluru’s sacred site, to Alice Springs locals who call this remote gateway town home.

2. National Parks of the Southwest

Western Australia’s southwest has cornered more than its fair share of Outback attractions. Stirling Range National Park is favoured with rugged ridge walks and spring’s floral makeovers, when wildflowers blaze into colour on its lowlands. Further north, Kalbarri National Park gets in on this seasonal act with some 800 wildflower species sharing the limelight. Gazing at the park’s layered sandstone cliffs it can be hard to imagine how so much life can thrive here. Closer to Perth,  head to Nambung National Park on our 14 Day Wonders of the South West tour where the Pinnacles’ strange limestone pillars are scattered across the desert in an unsettling yet beautiful image. You’d be forgiven for thinking you’d reached Earth’s outer limits.

3. Kimberley and the Top End

The Outback takes on many guises in the Kimberley and Top End. The Kimberley’s rust-red plateau region dives deep into ancient waterways such as Danggu Geikie Gorge, Emma Gorge and Halls Creek. Travel the Gibb River Road to El Questro Wilderness Park’s stirring open spaces, where Zebeedee Springs bubble up among ancient Livistona palms for a soothing soak in thermal springs. A stone’s throw away, Emma Gorge Resort provides a welcome touch of luxury in the Outback.

For a taste of the Top End on our 10 Day Kimberley and Top End tour, visit the tropical centres of Darwin and Katherine, with neighbouring Nitmiluk National Park invitingly close by. Cruise Nitmiluk Gorge, the celebrity of the park’s string of 13 gorges, drifting past soaring cliff faces, along cool, still waters on the Arnhem Land plateau.