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Date: May 2005
Location: Outback, Australia
Those who want to include a bit of the bizarre in their travel this year should look no further than Queensland's Outback. In a festival-packed calendar, Outback visitors can race a lizard, attend a surf carnival or ride a camel.
Yes, a good sense of irony and fun still exists in the outback. And autumn, winter and spring is when the west comes alive.
Far-flung towns run everything from picnic races to lizard races and rodeos to poetry festivals. The weather's fantastic at this time: warm sunny days and cool nights, lit by an unbelievable spangle of stars.
All this in a landscape that defies the imagination: grassy plains spreading to the horizon; vivid red mesas lying in broken lines against the sky; coolibah-lined rivers flush with fish and bird life.
Fully sealed highways criss-cross Queensland's
Outback and the scattering of towns has a great mix of accommodation ranging
from modern motels to heritage hotels and inexpensive caravan parks to cattle
station stays.
As the Outback springs to life with local events and festivals, people from surrounding outstations pour into tiny towns to socialise. Visitors can intermingle with the locals, who always have a colourful yarn or two to tell.
Most of the events are simply hilarious, like the Kajabbi Yabby Races in May, the World Lizard Races in Eulo during August, the Kynuna Surf Carnival the same month (there's no sea but plenty of sand) and the famous Birdsville Races in early September.
 The biggest event in Outback Queensland without a doubt is the Mount Isa Rodeo in August. This is a bull and bronc riding extravaganza that belittles any other event of its kind in the southern hemisphere.
Winning an Australian Tourism Award in 2000, the rodeo combines live entertainment, a massive street mardis gras and much more. Be sure to book early.
Access to Queensland's Outback is easy, with major highways fully sealed, major
towns served by flights from Brisbane and
Queensland coastal cities, an extensive coach network and three different passenger
train services.
- By Shaun O'Dowd
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