Dajarra Roadhouse Lethem Street, Dajarra Queensland Phone (07) 4748 4844 Fax (07) 4748 4876 All fuels, oils, tyres, air-conditioned accommodation, excellent meals

Amazing landscape

To see some absolutely amazing landscape, head west from Winton on a byway that will take you all the way to Mount Isa.

Driving along the fully sealed Kennedy Development Road from Winton, you will see unusual mesa-type landscape. Stop at the Cawnpore Lookout to take in the stark flat-topped beauty of the Lilleyvale Hills. These hill formations occur in only two places in the world – Australia and South America.

Another stopping spot along the way is the Middleton Hotel, once one of nine changing stations on a Cobb and Co route and now the only one left. While you’re there, take a photo of the Cobb and Co coach. Ask the licensee Stoney Cain to tell you about when his parents used camels to pull the coach from Winton to Boulia. If Stoney’s not there, it’s probably because he’s off aerial mustering somewhere!

Have a meal and a cold drink while you’re there. There’s an area where you can camp overnight for free. (Make a small donation [which goes to the RFDS] for your shower.) Or book into one of the rooms at the hotel. The pub offers breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days.

Also located on the road are the ruins of the Min Min Hotel. The ­hotel was destroyed by fire in 1912 and it was in this area that Min Min lights were first seen. The first documented sighting of the light was in 1912, however the ­local Pitta Pitta people claim it has been around for many years and that it represents the spirits of their ancestors. Learn about this unexplained phen­omenon in Boulia. You can even “see the light” for yourself at the Min Min Encounter and Inform­ation Centre complex. While in Boulia, visit the Stonehouse Museum, the corroboree tree (the last recognised corroboree tree of the Pitta Pitta tribe and one of Australia’s rarest plants) and go fishing or birdwatching at Parapituri Waterhole and Burke River.

Then it’s back on the Diamantina Development Road and north to Dajarra, now a sleepy little outback post but once the biggest cattle trucking centre in the world. Back then, it was the end of the line and the closest railhead to the Northern Territory.

Dajarra is home to Aboriginal people of many different tribes. The old culture is kept up here and the Aboriginal language is taught at the school by a couple of elders. So as well as visiting the local museum, take the time to learn more about the area’s Aboriginal heritage. A short distance out of town is Rock Quarry, an old Aboriginal stone axe site.

If you’re a fishing buff, the Georg­ina River 90km away is good for catching yellowbelly, or you can try your luck catching perch at Carbine Creek. An hour’s drive from town on a dirt road is Black Mountain, which has a gorge and lovely waterholes.

While in town, fuel up at Dajarra Roadhouse, which also sells oil and tyres and does tyre repairs. They have a range of meals available and offer air-conditioned accommodation.