Australia outback tours: Mail run, Coober Pedy opal mine & Birdsville burger
Strangest Australian outback tours
Bizarre outback Australia: Dig for opals in South Australia, do a scenic flight mail run in Newman & eat the world’s most expensive burger.
Down N Dirty Tour, Coober Pedy, South Australia
At Coober Pedy, underground tours are ten a penny. But the Down N Dirty tour is a little step beyond.
It involves the usual barrage of history, the chance to look around a mine and an opportunity to rummage around in the mullocks of rubble in the vague hope of finding an opal.
But the really interesting part is when they get the deadly weapons out.
Inside the Quest mine, visitors are given a hardhat, torch and pickaxe and told to go for their life. That’s the “Dirty” part, incidentally.
Golden Eagle Mail Run, Newman, Western Australia
Another option for a scenic outback flight with a twist is to head out on the Golden Eagle mail run from Newman in northern central WA.
As part of its remit, Australia Post has to deliver to absolute whoop-whoop, and, frankly, it can’t be bothered to do that as part of its normal service. So it hires contractors such as Golden Eagle to fly to ultra-remote properties in the Pilbara.
The cunning swines have turned the rather mundane task of hopping from mailbox to mailbox into a tourist experience.
Thus anyone who wishes to land on a few dirt runways in the middle of nowhere while the odd letter gets delivered can hop on board to visit well known hotspots such as Balfour Downs, Punmu and Jiggalong.
Eat the world’s most expensive burger in Birdsville, Queensland
While the burgers at the Birdsville Pub are relatively good, they’re hardly world beating. And worth $600? Now that’s a bit of a push.
However, Charleville’s Outback Airtours are graciously offering to fly people out to Birdsville so that they can sink their teeth into the wallet-busting burger.
On the way, they fly over some seriously spectacular outback scenery and there’s a walking tour of Birdsville once you get there to help create space for the bun-encased feast.
The flight is free, but the burger costs $600. However, if four people come along, the burgers only cost $150 each. Strange, that.
This article was originally written by David Whitley for Australian Traveller magazine.
