The great Australian outback - where conditions are harsh, the climate extreme and the distances daunting, has a unique fascination to the more intrepid traveller.

Australia's desert region is extremely dry and only very sparsely populated although not like the true deserts such as the Sahara. In fact, Australia's arid zone contains an amazing amount of flora and fauna. Even the slightest rain can transform the dusty dry desert into a beautiful garden of rare and beautiful flowers such as the Cunningham's Bird Flower, Billy Buttons, Sturts Desert Pea and so on.

Primary production is scattered and limited to low intensity sheep and cattle grazing. The few significant towns are all largely dependent on tourism or mining. Because of their isolation, even the smallest towns generally have an excellent range of facilities and services.

The region has some of the nation's remotest treks, each with their own unique attractions. Major adventures include challenging 4WD tracks such as the French Line across the Simpson Desert and the Anne Beadell Highway where there are no facilities for days.

There are a few desert regions namely Strzelecki Desert, Sturt Stony Desert and Simpson Desert with the more well known tracks being the Strzelecki Track, Birdsville Track, Oodnadatta Track, Rig Road and French Line.

All these tracks and those within nearby regions such as Lake Eyre, Innamincka Regional Reserve, Witjira National Park, Tallaringa CP and the Flinders Ranges all require special access permits. The simplest way to obtain permits is to purchase a Desert Parks Pass. This permit grants you unlimited access to all conservation parks and National Park regions within the desert fringe of SA, NT, Qld for 12 mths from date of purchase. The permit consists of an information pack for outback travelling, brochures detailing desert wildlife, desert trees and plantlife and Westprint maps for each trek. Once you have the pass there are no additional fees unless you stay in private areas.

Purchase your in the ExplorOz Adventure Shop.

NOTE: The Tanami Desert, Gunbarrel Highway and Canning Stock Route are featured in our Western Deserts> region.

Closest Weather Station

Temperature	Feels Like	Rel. Humidity	Dew Point	Pressure	Rainfall	Wind Direction	Wind Speed	Gusts
17.4°C	16.0°C	95%	16.6°C	1012.5hPa	0.0mm	N	19km/h 10knots	22km/h 12knots

Closest Climatic Station

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Mean Max. °C	37.7	36.6	33.7	28.5	23.2	19.9	19.5	22.0	26.5	30.2	33.8	36.4
Mean Min. °C	22.8	22.3	19.2	14.4	9.8	6.6	5.8	7.4	11.4	15.0	18.5	21.2
Mean Rain mm	24.6	32.2	12.3	11.2	12.8	12.6	10.5	7.8	9.3	14.1	11.3	16.5

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