Camooweal, Queensland: What are the best things to do?

The best things to do in Camooweal, Queensland, are the Drovers Camp and Wiliyan-ngurru National Park.

Camooweal, Queensland, is an outback town on the Barkly Highway between Mount Isa and the Northern Territory border. It’s not a destination in its own right, but you’ll pass through on the drive from Townsville or Brisbane to Darwin. You’ll also pass through if you don’t have a 4WD and need to take the long way round from Cairns to Darwin.

It’s the sort of town that will sort you out for the absolute basics. There’s a post office and a roadhouse. The Camooweal Roadhouse offers simple meals and accommodation in the form of motel rooms and caravan sites. The former Freckleton’s General Store, once something of a landmark, sadly closed in 2009.

Things to do in Camooweal, Queensland: Drovers Camp

There are, however, a couple of things to do in Camooweal. The first of these attractions is the Drovers Camp. This is a small, but surprisingly fascinating museum about Australia’s fabled cattle drovers. These are the men that would drive cattle hundreds of kilometres across the country for relocation.

The Droving Heritage Centre at the Drovers Camp looks at the cattle industry, and the hardships involved in sustaining it.

Things to do in Camooweal, Queensland: Wiliyan-ngurru National Park

The other key attraction in Camooweal is Wiliyan-ngurru National Park. Formerly known as the Camooweal Caves National Park, this protected area is riddled with caves and sinkholes. Alas, these caves aren’t particularly well set up for tourism. There are a couple of short walks to the Little Nowranie Cave and Great Nowranie Cave, but you can’t go inside either. You can also see birds and monitor lizards at the seasonal waterhole.

Wiliyan-ngurru National Park in Camooweal, Queensland. Photo courtesy of Tourism and Events Queensland.

Camooweal is also the nearest town to Boodjamulla National Park – home to Lawn Hill Gorge.

If heading east, get fuel in Camooweal. The next fuel stop is 260km away at Barkly Homestead.

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