Six of Australia's best outback drives

DARLING RIVER RUN, NSW

This route follows the Darling River for 940 kilometres diagonally across NSW, starting at Walgett and finishing at Wentworth where the Darling meets the Murray. Indigenous heritage is astonishing: Brewarrina's fish traps are among the world's first human structures, Mutawintji National Park has superb rock art, and Lake Mungo has archaeological sites 42,000 years old. This route also showcases the early European inland settlements that helped define modern Australia, such as wool towns Bourke and Wilcannia. Time your journey for the middle-of-nowhere horseraces at Louth in August and you're in for a classic outback experience. See visitnsw.com

STUART HIGHWAY, NT

You could hardly experience the outback more easily than on this sealed transcontinental highway that runs 2720 kilometres from Port Augusta to Darwin via Alice Springs, and whose detours tempt you to national parks such as Litchfield, Kakadu, Nitmiluk and Elsey, where you can float in hot springs. The route has all the outback road-trip elements, from gold-rush towns to characterful pubs and striking landscapes such as the MacDonnell Ranges and Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles). Coober Pedy has quintessential quirkiness where you can get underground and listen to the improbable hopes of eccentric opal-hunting characters. See discovercentralaustralia.com

SAVANNAH HIGHWAY, QLD/NT

This epic 3700-kilometre journey links damp Cairns to sun-baked Broome. Its western half is all sealed road, making the Cairns-to-Katherine section the most adventurous as, skirting the Gulf of Carpentaria, it swings across tablelands, grasslands and rust-red outback. Among highlights are volcanic landscapes and lava tubes at Undara, a cruise through Cobbold Gorge (though this requires a slight detour) and Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge. Former gold-mining towns, barramundi fishing, eccentric bush pubs, cattle stations, waterfalls and wetlands filled with bird life are other incentives. You'll need a four-wheel drive; stick to the May-October dry season. See queensland.com, northernterritory.com

KIDMAN WAY, NSW

This 820-kilometre south-north route cleaves straight through the middle of NSW along the divide between outback and agricultural land and is a varied, easy drive for those who don't want red dust every day. Start off in Albury on the Murray River and head to Jerilderie, which is central to the Ned Kelly story, and then Riverina foodie hub Griffith. At mining town Cobar the outback takes over. In Bourke, the Back O'Bourke Exhibition Centre gives an excellent overview of regional outback history and the importance of the Darling River to modern Australian development. See visitnsw.com