Birdsville, QLD
636.0 km (9.5 hrs )
★★★☆☆

While not as iconic as the nearby Birdsville Track that heads south, the Birdsville Developmental Road is still a fascinating remote 4WD track that offers plenty of interesting sights in this seldom visited part of Australia (especially when I went in summer).

Beginning at the iconic outback destination of Birdsville, the mostly unsealed road heads east along the southern border with South Australia. Distances between towns (and therefore fuel) are large and you need to be well prepared. Even with more than 120 L of fuel still left in my tanks, I was grateful that I was able to fill up in Windorah on New Year's day, as you can never have too much!

On this fascinating drive my friends and I visited the abandoned town of Betoota, saw the spectacular views from Deon's Lookout, travelled countless kilometres through the desert, complete with sand dunes, stopped overnight in Windorah where the meals at the hotel were as large as the town's characters, before finally reaching our destination, the opal mining town of Quilpie in central Queensland. A fascinating drive through some of the more remote parts of Australia.