The ‘Curry’ is renowned as the birthplace of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) and it's the only town of any real size between Charters Towers and Mt Isa. In the 19th century Cloncurry was the largest producer of copper in the British Empire. Today it’s a busy pastoral centre with a reinvigorated mining industry.

There's information and historical displays at Cloncurry Unearthed (%07-4742 1361; www.cloncurry.qld.gov.au; Flinders Hwy; museum adult/child $10.50/5; h8.30am-4.30pm Mon-Fri, 9am-4pm Sat & Sun Apr-Sep, 8.30am-4.30pm Mon-Fri, 9am-1pm Sat & Sun Oct-May; W) in the Mary Kathleen Memorial Park.

John Flynn Place (%07-4742 4125; www.johnflynnplace.com.au; cnr Daintree & King Sts; adult/child $10.50/5; h8am-4.30pm Mon-Fri year round, 9am-3pm Sat & Sun May-Sep) is a must-see museum celebrating Dr John Flynn’s work setting up the invaluable and groundbreaking Royal Flying Doctor Service, which gave hope and help to everyone in the remote outback. The museum's three levels include interactive displays on the RFDS and early pedal radio, Flynn's old Dodge and the Fred McKay art gallery.

Cloncurry has a good range of pubs, motels and caravan parks.

Wagon Wheel Motel (%07-4742 1866; 54 Ramsay St; s/d $90/101, deluxe s/d $105/116; aWs) is said to be the oldest licensed premises in northwest Queensland. At the back, the motel rooms are clean and comfortable with TV and fridge. It's worth paying the few extra dollars for the larger and newer deluxe rooms. The restaurant (mains $22 to $36) is one of the better places to eat in town and is open for breakfast and dinner.

It’s pioneer days at 40 paces on main-street Winton, a cattle and sheep centre that does its best to make the most of its Waltzing Matilda connections. Banjo Paterson reputedly wrote the Aussie anthem after a visit here, and it was first performed at the North Gregory Hotel 120 years ago.

Elderslie St is a colourful streetscape of old timber pubs and historic buildings, so there's plenty of photogenic period charm here. Winton is also the best base for diving into the Dinosaur Trail, with the two biggest dinosaur attractions in outback Queensland within easy reach.

The Outback Festival (%07-4657 1558; www.outbackfestival.org) offers hilarious outback antics in mid-September.

A prosperous outback town, Longreach was the home of Qantas early last century, but these days it’s equally famous for the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame & Outback Heritage Centre, one of outback Queensland’s best museums. The tropic of Capricorn passes through here – look for the marker near the visitor centre which points to the torrid (north) and temperate (south) zones.

Barcaldine (bar-call-din) is a colourful little pub town at the junction of the Landsborough and Capricorn Hwys (Rte 66), 108km east of Longreach.

The town gained a place in Australian history in 1891 when it became the headquarters of a major shearers’ strike. The confrontation led to the formation of the Australian Workers’ Party, forerunner of the Australian Labor Party. The organisers’ meeting place was the Tree of Knowledge, a ghost gum planted near the train station that long stood as a monument to workers and their rights. It was mysteriously poisoned in 2006 but a radical new monument now raises plenty of political ire.

The original inhabitants of Barcaldine were the Inningai, who ‘disappeared’ soon after explorer Thomas Mitchell arrived in 1824.

The unofficial capital of the Channel Country is a neat little outpost on the cusp of the great Simpson Desert. The world’s longest mail run ends here, having travelled some 3000km from Port Augusta in South Australia. If you're here for the third weekend in July, the Boulia Camel Races (h3rd weekend in July) is one of Australia's premier camel-racing events.

The most famous residents of Boulia are the mysterious min-min lights, a supposedly natural phenomenon that occurs when the temperature plummets after dark, and erratic lights appear on the unusually flat horizon. They’re out there, perhaps, or at least there’s sci-fi animatronic gadgetry and eerie lighting in an hourly ‘alien’ show at the Min Min Encounter (%07-4746 3386; Herbert St; adult/child/family $18/15/45; h8.45am-5pm daily Apr-Sep, 8.45am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm Sat & Sun). Doubling as the information centre, this is classic travel kitsch.

The Stone House Museum (cnr Pituri & Hamilton Sts; adult/child $5/3; h8.30am-5pm Mon-Fri, 8am-noon Sat & Sun) has sheds full of outback stuff, space junk, local history, Aboriginal artefacts and the preserved 1888 home of the pioneering Jones family (the Stone House).

There's a caravan park (%07-4746 3320; Herbert St; swag sites $10, unpowered/powered sites $20/25, cabins $75-95) and pub (%07-4746 3144; Herbert St; s/d $44/55, motel units $99; a) in town, or try the Desert Sands Motel (%07-4746 3000; www.desertsandsmotel.com.au; Herbert St; s/d $127/137; aW), with modern and spacious units.

The sealed Kennedy Developmental Rd (Rte 62) runs east from Boulia, 369km to Winton. The only stop along the way is Middleton, 175km from Boulia, where there’s a pub (%tel/fax 07-4657 3980; Kennedy Developmental Rd; mains $16-30, bar snacks from $10) and fuel.

Bedourie is the administrative centre for the huge Diamantina Shire Council, and a friendly outback outpost. Coming from Boulia, it’s 200km south on a recently sealed road. A big attraction is the free public swimming pool and artesian spa.

The charming adobe-brick Bedourie Hotel (%07-4746 1201; www.bedouriehotel.com; Herbert St; r from $88; a) was built in the 1880s and is a social hub for the region. There are cosy motel rooms out the back. Monstrous plates of steak and barramundi are served in the dining room.

There’s also a caravan park and comfortable motel units at the Simpson Desert Oasis (%07-4746 1291; www.simpsondesertoasis.com.au; 1 Herbert St; powered en-suite sites $35, s/d motel $149/150; ai), a roadhouse with fuel, a supermarket and a restaurant.

Aspiring off-the-beaten-track travellers can’t claim the title until they visit Birdsville, an iconic Australian settlement on the fringe of the Simpson Desert, and Queensland’s most remote ‘town’.

During the first weekend in September, the annual Birdsville Cup (www.birdsvilleraces.com) horse races draw up to 7000 fans from all over the country to drink, dance and gamble for three dusty days. Parking is free for all light aircraft.

Standing strong in sandstone since 1884 is the much-loved Birdsville Hotel (%07-4656 3244; www.theoutback.com.au; Adelaide St; s/d $140/160; a). The motel-style units are tasteful and spacious, while the restaurant is surprisingly slick.

Incredibly, little Croydon was once the biggest town in the Gulf thanks to a short but lucrative gold rush. Gold was discovered in Croydon in 1885, but by the end of WWI it had run out and the place became little more than a ghost town.

Croydon’s visitor information centre (%07-4748 7152; Samwell St; h9am-4.30pm daily Apr-Sep, 9am-4.30pm Mon-Fri Oct-Mar) has details of the historic precinct and shows a short (free) film about the gold-rush days. Lake Belmore, 4km north of the centre, is stocked with barramundi if you feel like fishing or swimming.

The Club Hotel (%07-4745 6184; www.clubhotelcroydon.com.au; cnr Brown & Sircom Sts; d $80, units $115; as), built in 1887, is the only pub left from the mining heyday when there were more than 30. It serves up huge meals, ice-cold beer, and sunset views from the veranda. Campers can pitch up at Croydon Caravan Park (%07-4745 6238; www.croydon.qld.gov.au/croydon-caravan-park; cnr Brown & Alldridge Sts; unpowered/powered sites $20/30, d/f cabins $100/120; as).

At the timber Croydon General Store (%07-4745 6163; Sircom St; h7am-6.30pm Mon-Fri, 9am-7.30pm Sat & Sun) the sign declares this the ‘oldest store in Australia, established 1894’. The interior is definitely a throwback to ye olde days: wooden floorboards and a small collection of historical curios worth checking out.

The port for Croydon’s gold rush, Normanton boasts a broad and rather long main street lined with with some colourful old buildings. These days it's a tourist junction for Karumba- and Burketown-bound travellers, and the terminus for the Gulflander train. The Norman River produces whopping barramundi; every Easter the Barra Bash lures big crowds, as do the Normanton Rodeo & Show (mid-June) and the Normanton Races (September).

In the historic Burns Philp building, Normanton's excellent visitor information & heritage centre (%07-4745 8444; www.carpentaria.qld.gov.au; cnr Caroline & Landsborough Sts; h9am-4pm Mon-Fri, to noon Sat & Sun Apr-Sep, closed Sun Oct-Mar) has a library, historical displays and lots of regional information. If it’s closed, you can get information at the Normanton Train Station.

Everyone stops to take a photo of Krys the Crocodile on Landsborough St. It's a supposedly life-sized statue of an 8.64m saltie shot by croc hunter Krystina Pawloski on the Norman River in 1958 – the largest recorded croc in the world.

Normanton Tourist Park (%1800 193 469, 07-4745 1121; www.normantontouristpark.com.au; 14 Brown St; unpowered/powered sites $24/32, cabins with/without bathroom $105/100; aWs), in a shady setting on the main street, has cabins and an artesian spa.

You can't miss the colourful timber Purple Pub (%07-4745 1324; cnr Landsborough & Brown Sts; s/d $100/120, mains $15-25; a). There are motel style rooms out the back and good pub meals ($15 to $25).

Aaah, Karumba: fishing mecca and winter base of many a southern retiree. When the sun sinks into the Gulf of Carpentaria in a fiery ball of burnt ochre, this is a little piece of outback paradise. Even if you don’t like fishing, Karumba is the only town accessible by sealed road on the entire Gulf coast, and it's a great place to kick back for a few days.

The actual town is on the Norman River, while Karumba Point – the better place to stay – is about 6km away by road on the beach. The two communities are also linked by a hot, exposed 3km walking path. Karumba’s visitor information centre (%07-4745 9582; www.carpentaria.qld.gov.au; Walker St, Karumba Town; h9am-4.30pm Mon-Fri, to noon Sat & Sun Apr-Sep, closed Sun Oct-Mar; W) has details of fishing charters and cruises.

Burketown

Burketown to Boodjamulla National Park

The 120km road from Burketown to Gregory is sealed all the way so it's an easy drive and the most direct route to beautiful Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park. It's another 185km of rough dirt road south to the Barkly Hwy which can take you west to Camooweal or east to Mt Isa.

The entrance to Boodjamulla is 100km west of Gregory (population 40), a mere roadside stop on the pretty Gregory River. Fuel is available at the Gregory Downs Hotel (%07-4748 5566; Gregory; s/d camp sites $10/12, d motel units $100; a), a laid-back spot to quench your thirst and tuck into decent pub meals (dinner Monday to Friday, a barbecue on Saturday night and lunch Sunday).

From Gregory, the sealed Wills Development Rd leads 147km east to join the Matilda Hwy at Burke & Wills Roadhouse.