The Ultimate 9-Day Newell Highway Itinerary: An Inland Odyssey
The Newell Highway is the spine of inland eastern Australia. It runs from the Murray at Tocumwal to the Queensland border at Goondiwindi, cutting a nearly 1,100 km line through the Riverina, the central west wheat country and the volcanic ranges that punctuate the Pilliga’s edge. This is the Ultimate 9-Day Newell Highway Itinerary based on our own travels on the route.
For caravanners heading north from Victoria, it is the obvious alternative to the coast: less traffic, cheaper fuel, bigger skies and a string of towns that have built their economies around travellers passing through.
This itinerary covers the drive from Tocumwal, NSW to Goondiwindi, Queensland in 9 days. Daily drives are under 300 km, so you arrive at camp with time to set up and actually explore. There is one rest day in Dubbo and three nights in the Warrumbungles. We lean on private campgrounds, national park sites and showgrounds, with one rough overnight stop, keeping costs reasonable without forcing self-containment every night.
From the Queensland border near Goondiwind, the route continues into Queensland and is known as the Leichhardt Highway. It continues to its termination at the Capricorn Highway to the west of Rockhampton. We have not yet done this route so it is not covered.
Why the Newell?
Most travellers heading from Melbourne to Brisbane default to the Hume and the Pacific. The Newell is the better road if you have a week to spare. It is shorter and quieter, and fuel is cheaper once you get north of Shepparton. The towns along the way (Narrandera, Forbes, Parkes, Dubbo, Coonabarabran, Moree) have all been working highway towns for over a century, which means good bakeries, working mechanics and supermarkets that actually stock what you need.
The route also gives you something the coast does not: a clean geographic transition. You start on the Murray, cross the wheat and canola belts of the central west, climb into the volcanic spires of the Warrumbungles and finish in the artesian basin country at Moree before crossing the McIntyre into Queensland. Four distinct landscapes in nine days.
Quick Facts
- Duration: 9 days
- Distance: 1,083 km
- Start / Finish: Tocumwal / Goondiwindi
- Best Months: April to October
- Road Conditions: Fully sealed bitumen main highway with frequent overtaking lanes. High heavy-vehicle traffic and active roadside wildlife (kangaroos and emus) around dawn and dusk.
- Caravan Suitability: High. Suitable for all setups, including large off-grid caravans and big rigs.
- Camping Cost: Low to Moderate. Excellent mix of quality 72-hour free camps, low-cost showgrounds, and full-facility caravan parks.
- Fuel Availability: Excellent. Major regional hubs and roadhouses located every 80 km to 150 km.
- Mobile Reception: Reliable along the main highway corridor (Telstra network recommended), with limited coverage inside parts of the Warrumbungles and Siding Spring Observatory.
- Pet Suitability: Moderate. Welcome at most free camps, showgrounds, and private caravan parks, but prohibited inside Warrumbungle National Park.
- Highlights: Brewery Flat Reserve free camp on the Murrumbidgee, “Roadkill” Corten steel sculpture in Forbes, Parkes Radio Telescope (“The Dish”), World’s Largest Virtual Solar System Drive, Dark Sky stargazing and Whitegum Lookout in the Warrumbungles, and artesian bore baths in Moree.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Who This Trip Suits: Self-sufficient caravanners, big-rig overlanders, astronomy enthusiasts, and road-trippers looking for an iconic inland route.
- Last Verified: August 2026
Newell Highway Map
The map below shows the route, with campground locations and points of interest along the way. At the end of the itinerary, there is an interactive map providing more details (see interactive map now).
The Main Itinerary at a Glance
- Day 1: Tocumwal to Narrandera.
- Day 2: Narrandera to Forbes.
- Day 3: Forbes to Dubbo via Parkes.
- Day 4: Dubbo. Rest, restock and zoo day.
- Day 5: Dubbo to Warrumbungle National Park.
- Day 6: Warrumbungles. Grand High Tops walk.
- Day 7: Warrumbungles. Fans Horizon and dark sky observing.
- Day 8: Warrumbungles to Moree.
- Day 9: Moree to Goondiwindi.
If you are commencing your trip in Melbourne, you may wish to follow the start of our Kidman Way itinerary as far as Shepparton before deviating onto the Newell Highway at Tocumwal.
Day 1: Tocumwal to Narrandera
Leaving the Murray Behind
The Drive
Tocumwal to Narrandera via the Newell Highway | 165 km | 2 hours
On the Road
A short, easy first day on sealed bitumen the whole way. The Newell crosses the Murray at Tocumwal and immediately straightens out into the rice-growing country of the Riverina. Jerilderie is the natural mid-morning coffee stop, with a Ned Kelly connection that the town has marketed hard since the gang held it up in 1879. Fuel is reasonable here and the bakery on the main street is open early.
Note that those with enough time may like to consider taking a road trip along the Murray River.
From Jerilderie the country opens further. Watch for rice irrigation channels crossing under the road and the long convoys of B-doubles hauling grain in season. Traffic is light outside school holidays.
Rob’s Tip: Tocumwal is worth half a day if you have the time. The Murray foreshore is one of the prettiest stretches of river anywhere on the system, and the town’s Foreshore Reserve has good walking tracks under the river red gums. If you’re starting fresh in the morning, take a coffee down to the water before you hitch up.
The Stay
Brewery Flat Reserve: 1 night
This is a large open reserve on the Murrumbidgee River, with free camping for up to 72 hours for self-contained caravans and RVs. It’s dog-friendly, with toilets, picnic areas and BBQs, and is directly opposite the boat ramp with a fishing pontoon. There’s a view across to the historic 90-foot Oakbank Brewery tower on the adjacent land. It’s close to the highway, so expect a bit of road noise at night.
The Highlight
The Murrumbidgee Valley Nature Reserve on the south-eastern edge of town is the obvious stop. It’s a 400-hectare bushland reserve along the Murrumbidgee where a small but stable koala population has been re-established since the 1970s. The walking track runs for about 4 km through grey box and yellow box woodland. Take binoculars and look up. You won’t see one on every visit, but the odds are decent in the late afternoon.
The other thing worth your time is a look at the Town Beach (Narrandera Beach). The campground is right on the riverbank. The Murrumbidgee here supports the surrounding irrigation plains, but the red gum forests along it are still largely untouched. Take a quiet walk through the reserve’s tracks at dusk and you’ll see plenty of kangaroos coming down to the water’s edge. Keep an eye on the lower forks of the gums too, since this stretch also has a resident koala colony.
Day 2: Narrandera to Forbes
Into the Wheat Belt
The Drive
Narrandera to Forbes via the Newell Highway | 233 km | 2.75 hours
On the Road
The country shifts on this leg. After Narrandera, the Newell crosses the Murrumbidgee floodplain and climbs gently into the wheat and canola belt of the central west. In spring, the canola makes for some of the most photogenic driving in NSW: yellow fields running to the horizon with the road train shimmer above them.
West Wyalong is the main town on the route and the natural lunch stop, about two-thirds of the way. It’s a working gold and farming town with a wide main street, a good bakery and the last full-size IGA before Forbes. Fuel is competitive here, generally a few cents per litre cheaper than Narrandera or Forbes. Petrolspy will confirm before you commit.
The Stay
Road Kill Campground: 1 night
Road Kill is a free roadside stop 7 km south-west of Forbes, just off the Newell. About three sites on a gravel turning circle approximately 300 m from the highway, which puts enough distance between you and the road to drop the noise to acceptable levels. The site takes its name from the Road Kill sculpture by Jimmy Rix, part of the Sculpture Down the Lachlan trail.
There are no facilities at all: no toilets, water, dump point or power. You must be fully self-contained. Pets are permitted. Tents and fires are not permitted. Telstra and Optus both have coverage. The site is cramped, so don’t expect to spread out, and we wouldn’t recommend leaving the van here unattended while you explore. It’s an overnight stop, nothing more.
Full details on facilities, access and what to watch for are on our Road Kill Campground review.
Rob’s Tip: If Road Kill is full or you want facilities, the Forbes Showground is your best option. There is also a free camp at Wheogo Park. Either works, but if you’ve planned to go bush, Road Kill is the more authentic stop and gets you back on the highway five minutes faster in the morning.
The Highlight
Forbes has a Ben Hall connection that the town leans into hard. The bushranger was shot near here in 1865 and his grave is in the Forbes Cemetery, which is signposted from the highway. The Forbes Historical Museum on Cross Street covers the gold rush and the bushranger era in a more measured way than the roadside billboards suggest. Take an hour if the timing works.
The town centre is worth a walk: the heritage shopfronts on Lachlan Street are unusually intact for a working country town, and the IGA on the main street is a good resupply point.
Day 3: Forbes to Dubbo (via Parkes)
Detour to The Dish
The Drive
Forbes to Dubbo via Parkes and the Newell Highway | 172 km | 2.25 hours (plus detour)
On the Road
A short driving day, which leaves you time for the Parkes Observatory detour. The Newell heads north from Forbes through Parkes, with the observatory turn-off signposted about 20 km north of town off the highway. The detour adds 12 km return on a sealed road that’s fine for any rig, although the visitor centre car park gets tight when buses are in.
From Parkes, the country flattens again into mixed cropping and grazing. Peak Hill is the only town of note before Dubbo, and it’s worth a slow pass through to see the open-cut Peak Hill Gold Mine on the western edge of town. The walking track around the rim of the pit is free and surprisingly good.
Keep an eye on the billboards along the way. The Newell forms part of the World’s Largest Virtual Solar System Drive, a scale model of the solar system 38 million times smaller than the real thing. For our route, it starts at Pluto right outside the Dubbo Visitor Information Centre on the Newell, then runs north through Gilgandra (Neptune, at the Coo-ee Heritage Centre) and the Tooraweenah Rest Area (Uranus) before joining the other four regional feeder routes at Coonabarabran. The remaining planets (Jupiter, Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury) sit along Timor Road on the final run toward the park, and the model finishes at the Sun, represented by the massive 37m Anglo-Australian Telescope dome at Siding Spring Observatory. The billboards are large, three-dimensional and signposted, but the road doesn’t slow down for them, so plan your stops in advance if you want photos. All planet locations are identified on our map.
The Stay
Blizzardfield Campground: 2 nights
Blizzardfield is a private campground next to the Dubbo airport and about 6 km from the CBD. It’s 12 minutes from Taronga Western Plains Zoo. It’s a 30-site property on flat, mowed grass under established fruit and nut trees, with most sites unpowered and a small number of powered sites. The cost is $15 unpowered and $25 powered, payable into an honesty envelope on departure. Look for the two giraffes at the entry.
You must be self-contained as no toilets or showers are provided. Water is available at the site, although it’s worth topping up before you set up if you select an unpowered site. Fires are permitted above ground level. Pets are not permitted. A laundry is available for $4 per wash and $5 per dryer load, paid into the honesty box on departure. Telstra and Optus both have coverage. Maximum stay is three days, so you can stretch the rest day to two if you want.
The site is adjacent to the Dubbo airport. Flights generally cease early in the evening, although the Royal Flying Doctor Service base operates from the same field, and the occasional night flight is possible. We weren’t disturbed. The resident dog, Mr Darcy, is part of the experience.
Full details on layout, payment and what to watch for are on our Blizzardfield Campground review.
The Highlight
The Parkes Radio Telescope, known to a generation of Australians as “The Dish”, is the highlight of the day. It’s still an operational research instrument run by CSIRO, and the visitor centre at the base of the 64 m dish includes a small museum, a theatre showing Apollo 11 moon-landing footage, and a café with the best coffee within a 50 km radius. Entry is free. Allow an hour or two.
The dish is genuinely working: you’ll often see it slewing during your visit, tracking a pulsar or a deep-space spacecraft. It tracked Voyager 2 during the Neptune flyby in 1989 and is still part of NASA’s Deep Space Network. Read the signage. The film with Sam Neill captured the spirit, but the real story is better.
Day 4: Dubbo
Rest, Restock, Zoo
The Drive
Local driving only today. Dubbo is your last full-service town before the Warrumbungles and Moree, so use it.
On the Road
Keep the rig at Blizzardfield. Dubbo is 6 km away and easy to get around in the tow vehicle.
The Stay
Blizzardfield: second night.
The Highlight
Taronga Western Plains Zoo is the obvious draw. It’s a 300-hectare open-range zoo where you drive, walk or hire a bike to circuit the loop. African plains animals, Asian rhinos, Sumatran tigers and a good native section. Entry is $49.50 for adults at the gate, with multi-day passes available, and the loop takes a solid four to five hours if you stop properly. Get there at opening for the best animal activity.
The other genuine stop in Dubbo is the Old Dubbo Gaol, a fully restored 1870s lockup on Macquarie Street with animatronic displays of the prisoners and warders that sound corny but actually work. It’s well done and worth an hour.
Beyond the attractions, Dubbo has every supermarket chain, a Bunnings, a BCF and the last decent service-station network before you head north. Restock food, check tyres, top up gas bottles and run any errands now. From here, supermarkets shrink and prices rise.
Day 5: Dubbo to Warrumbungle National Park
Into the Volcanic Spires
The Drive
Dubbo to Warrumbungle National Park via the Newell Highway and John Renshaw Parkway | 149 km | 2 hours
On the Road
Head north on the Newell for 105 km on good bitumen. Head initially north on John Renshaw Parkway for 45 km to arrive at Camp Blackman.
The landscape transition over the day is the real story. You leave the Newell’s flat wheat country, climb onto the volcanic remnants of a 13-million-year-old shield volcano and arrive in a campground surrounded by trachyte plugs and dykes that punch through the bush like broken teeth. It’s a different country from the one you woke up in.
Between Dubbo and Gilgandra, the Newell Highway coincides with the Great Inland Way.
The Stay
Camp Blackman: 3 nights
Camp Blackman is the main caravan campground in Warrumbungle National Park, 27 km east of Coonabarabran on a fully sealed access road. The campground has 119 sites spread across three areas: Area 1 for tents and camper trailers (37 unpowered sites), Area 2 for mixed setups (39 sites, five powered), and Area 3 for caravans (33 sites, mostly powered). The facilities are new after being rebuilt after the 2013 bushfire, and the amenities block is clean.
The cost is $24.60 unpowered and $34.85 powered, plus a booking fee. The park entry fee is an additional $8 per vehicle per day. Toilets and showers are provided (showers run on a strict three-minute timer, so get organised before you push the button), and a dump point is available in Area 3. Drinking water is from tanks and is restricted, so arrive with full tanks. Telstra and Optus both work. Pets are not permitted. Tents and fires are allowed (fires in supplied fire rings, take your own wood).
Bookings are essential and made through the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service website. We found it possible to extend our booking after arrival, but don’t count on it in peak season.
Full details on the three camping areas and what to watch for are on our Camp Blackman review.
The Highlight
Setting up at Camp Blackman in the late afternoon, with the Belougery Spire and the Breadknife visible from the loop road and the kangaroos drifting through camp at dusk, is one of the better arrival evenings on the Newell. The hard walking starts tomorrow. Tonight, get the awning out, pour something cold and watch the light change on the spires.
Day 6: Warrumbungles
The Breadknife and the Grand High Tops
The Drive
No driving today (apart from the short hop to the Pincham car park trailhead, about 5 km from Camp Blackman).
On the Road
The Breadknife and Grand High Tops walk is the marquee day-walk in the Warrumbungles and the one you came here for. It starts at the Pincham car park and climbs through Spirey Creek to the saddle below the Breadknife before traversing the high ridge with views over the entire volcanic complex. The full loop is around 14.5 km and takes 5 – 7 hours depending on pace, fitness and how many times you stop for photos.
The terrain is rugged. The track is well-formed but steep in sections, with steel stairs and ladders bolted into the rock on the climb to the Breadknife saddle. There’s no water on the route, so carry at least 2 L per person, plus snacks, a hat and sunscreen. Start early, especially in the warmer months: the exposed ridges get hot by mid-morning.
The Breadknife is the highlight: a 90-metre vertical fin of trachyte, the eroded remnant of a magma intrusion, that splits the sky above the track. The high tops circuit then traverses the ridge with views to Crater Bluff, Tonduron Spire and Belougery Spire, all volcanic plugs from the same 13-million-year-old eruption.
The Stay
Camp Blackman: second night.
The Highlight
The walk is the day’s highlight. If you have anything left in the legs at the end, the short Whitegum Lookout walk near the visitor centre gives you the volcanic complex from the other side as the sun drops. Otherwise, get back to camp, hit the timed shower (have everything ready before you press the button) and put your feet up.
Rob’s Tip: Do the Grand High Tops as an early start, not a mid-morning amble. The car park fills up by 9 am in peak season, the heat builds fast on the ridge, and the afternoon light is much better for the descent through Spirey Creek. We were at the trailhead by 7 am and back at camp by 1 pm, with the entire afternoon to recover.
Day 7: Warrumbungles
Fans Horizon and the Dark Sky
The Drive
Short hops within the park, total under 30 km.
On the Road
A lighter walking day after the Grand High Tops. The Fans Horizon walking track is a great option. It is a 4.4 km return climb from the Pincham car park to a saddle on the southern ridge with views back to the Breadknife and out across the western plains. Allow 2 – 3 hours. It’s steep in places (around 470 vertical metres of climb) but much shorter than yesterday’s effort, and the views from the saddle are arguably better than the Grand High Tops for sheer drama.
If the legs aren’t cooperating, the Wambelong Nature Trail from the visitor centre is an easy 1 km loop through grasstree woodland with good interpretive signage on the volcanic geology.
Whitegum Lookout, just past the Siding Spring turn-off on the John Renshaw Parkway, is worth the stop if you want the view without the climb. It’s a 500-metre sealed, pram and wheelchair-friendly path from the car park, with a gentle incline and a panoramic view over Belougery Spire, Crater Bluff and The Breadknife at the end.
Spend the late afternoon on the visitor centre exhibits. The geological story of the Warrumbungles (a shield volcano that erupted between 13 and 17 million years ago, now eroded to expose the volcanic plumbing) is well presented and worth half an hour.
The Stay
Camp Blackman: third night.
The Highlight
The Warrumbungles holds Dark Sky Park status, awarded by the International Dark-Sky Association in 2016 (the first in Australia to receive the designation). The combination of inland location, low population density and dry, stable air makes for some of the clearest night skies on the east coast. Camp Blackman has minimal lighting, and the campground is genuinely dark.
Set up a chair on the western side of your site after dark and look south. The Milky Way core is directly overhead in winter, and the Magellanic Clouds are visible to the naked eye. If you have a tripod, even a basic phone camera will pull off a usable Milky Way shot in night mode.
If you are inspired to do some more stargazing, you may like our Stargazing in Australia guide.
The Siding Spring Observatory, perched on the northern edge of the park, offers daytime tours of the working research telescopes (the Anglo-Australian Telescope is Australia’s largest optical telescope). Tours run most days; check the website for the current schedule. The drive up to the observatory is sealed and signposted from Coonabarabran.
Day 8: Warrumbungles to Moree
North to the Artesian Basin
The Drive
Camp Blackman to Moree via Coonabarabran, the Newell Highway and Narrabri | 255 km | 3 hours
On the Road
From Camp Blackman, head east to Coonabarabran and rejoin the Newell. The road climbs gently onto the western edge of the Pilliga (the largest temperate forest in NSW, a 500,000-hectare expanse of white cypress, ironbark and scribbly gum), then drops onto the Liverpool Plains for the run into Narrabri.
Don’t forget to look out for the solar system models along Timor Road.
Narrabri is the natural lunch stop, about halfway. It’s a working agricultural town built on cotton and dryland cropping. Fuel is competitive, and there’s a decent bakery on the main street. The Australia Telescope Compact Array is 25 km west of town on the Yarrie Lake Road. If you have an extra hour, the visitor centre is free, and the antenna array is genuinely impressive: six 22-metre radio dishes that work in conjunction with telescopes elsewhere in Australia.
North of Narrabri, the country opens into the flat black soil plains of the upper Namoi. Cotton fields run to the horizon in summer; the same paddocks are sown to wheat and chickpeas in winter. Watch for cotton-laden B-doubles in the harvest months and the occasional irrigation truck crossing the road without warning.
The Stay
Moree Showgrounds: 1 night
The Moree Showgrounds offer powered and unpowered camping with toilets, showers and a dump point. A powered site is $30 per night, payable on arrival to the caretaker. Pets are generally permitted. It’s a working showground, so during local events (rodeos, ag shows, livestock sales) it can be busier than expected. Check ahead if you’re travelling in event season.
It’s not the most scenic camp on the route, but it’s central, secure and a short drive from the artesian baths, which is the real reason you’re stopping in Moree.
The Highlight
The Moree Hot Artesian Pool Complex on Anne Street is the standout. Moree is on the Great Artesian Basin, the largest artesian aquifer in the world, and the town has been piping 41°C mineral water from the basin into public baths since 1895. The complex has two outdoor thermal pools at different temperatures, a heated freshwater swimming pool and a kids’ pool. Entry is around $7 – $10 for adults. Go in the late afternoon when the day cools and stay until the sun drops.
The baths are the best post-Warrumbungle recovery you’ll find on the Newell. Tired legs from the Grand High Tops and Fans Horizon will thank you. The water is mineral-rich and warm enough that you can stay in for an hour without getting cold.
Beyond the baths, Moree has a strong Aboriginal arts scene. The Moree Gallery on Frome Street offers free entry and houses a substantial collection of contemporary Indigenous art from the surrounding region. Worth half an hour.
Day 9: Moree to Goondiwindi
Crossing the Border
The Drive
Moree to Goondiwindi via the Newell Highway and Boggabilla | 125 km | 1.5 hours
On the Road
The final and easiest driving day on the itinerary. The Newell runs almost dead north from Moree across the flat cotton and chickpea country of the northern NSW grain belt. Watch for the cotton modules stacked beside the road in autumn: each one weighs around 9 tonnes and represents about a bale of finished cotton.
Boggabilla is the last town in NSW, sitting just south of the Macintyre River. It has a roadhouse, basic fuel and a pub. The Macintyre River bridge takes you across the state border into Queensland and directly into Goondiwindi.
Goondiwindi is a town that has earned its identity from the river, the highway and the racehorse Gunsynd, whose statue stands in the main street. It’s a tidy, well-kept regional centre with a good main street, decent supermarkets and a working economy built on cotton, cattle and through-traffic on the Newell and the Cunningham.
The Stay
Goondiwindi Showgrounds: 1+ night(s)
Goondiwindi Showgrounds is 3 km north of the town centre on sealed roads, with more than 40 sites split between powered and unpowered zones. The powered area is on gravel with water connections at each site, located closer to the amenities block. The unpowered area is across the main access road on a large flat grassed area with plenty of space to spread out (water is available from taps at the entry). We recommend the unpowered section for those who like to have a bit of space.
Costs are $22 unpowered and $30 powered per night for two adults, dropping to $20 and $28 after the first two nights. Extra adults are $5 each, children under 12 are free. The site runs a cashless system. Toilets and showers are in the amenity block, and a dump point is on-site. Pets, tents and fires are all permitted. Telstra and Optus both have coverage. Maximum stay is two weeks.
Important: you must arrive before 5 pm or have a booking with an access code, as the gates are locked overnight. Bookings on 043 780 9415 or online.
Full details on the layout, payment and what to watch for are on our Goondiwindi Showgrounds review.
Stay extra nights here to explore the town and area before continuing your journey.
The Highlight
The Gunsynd statue in the main street is the photo, but the real Goondiwindi experience is a beer at the Victoria Hotel on Marshall Street, watching the cotton trucks roll through and listening to the regulars argue about the rugby league. The pub has been operating in its current form since the 1860s and the bar wraps around the building.
For something more active, the Macintyre River walk follows the southern bank for about 3 km from the highway bridge into town. The river marks the state border and is genuinely scenic in the late afternoon, with red gums lining the bank and pelicans working the slow water.
Continuing to Brisbane?
This section is outside the main 9-day itinerary. When we did this trip, we were heading to Brisbane to catch a flight. From Goondiwindi, we headed east rather than continuing north on the Leichhardt Way. If you’re doing the same, here are the practical notes.
The route is the Cunningham Highway, which runs from Goondiwindi to Ipswich and on into Brisbane. It’s around 360 km from Goondiwindi to Brisbane, sealed throughout and an easy two-day drive with a stop in the middle. The country shifts from the cotton plains of the McIntyre into the Darling Downs grain belt, then climbs through the granite belt and over Cunningham’s Gap before dropping into the Scenic Rim.
Two camps break the drive nicely:
Inglewood RV Stop is a free council camp about 120 km east of Goondiwindi on the Cunningham, a short walk from the centre of Inglewood. Around eight unmarked sites on mowed grass sloping down to Macintyre Brook. No facilities on site (public toilets and a dump point are 300 m away at the Apex Lions Park), so you must be self-contained. Pets are welcome. Tents and fires are not permitted. Maximum stay is three days. Both Telstra and Optus work.
Mt Alford Hotel is a free pub camp 15 minutes south-west of Boonah in the Teviot Valley, about 220 km east of Inglewood and roughly 90 minutes from Brisbane airport. Around seven unmarked sites on a flat grassed area behind the historic 1800s pub, with views to Mt French and Mt Edwards. A public toilet is available next door, so you don’t need to be self-contained. No water on site. Pets are welcome. The pub is closed on Mondays and only serves meals Thursday to Sunday, but the deal is clear: have a beer or a feed at the bar in exchange for the free camp. The staff are good for a long yarn.
From Mt Alford, Brisbane is an easy 90-minute drive via Boonah and Ipswich.
Rob’s Tip: If you stay at Mt Alford Hotel and need to use a dump point before arriving in Brisbane, there is on at Boonah Showgrounds. For those staying in Inglewood, there is a nearby dump point.
Interactive Newell Highway Map
This map covers the route, with campground locations and points of interest marked.
The map has layers you can turn on and off. Click the icon in the top left to view the layers. You can zoom into areas with a high density of points.
For those who jumped to the interactive map, you may return to the static map: click to return.
Final Tips for the Newell Highway
Fuel: Top up in the bigger towns (Narrandera, West Wyalong, Forbes, Dubbo, Coonabarabran, Narrabri, Moree, Goondiwindi). Smaller roadhouses charge a premium. Use Petrolspy or FuelMap to compare prices ahead of arrival. Dubbo is generally the cheapest stop on the route.
Water: Carry a minimum of 80 L of drinking water with reserves for washing. Camp Blackman has restricted drinking water and Road Kill has none, so top up at every council tap when you get the chance. Blizzardfield and Goondiwindi Showgrounds both have water at the site.
Wildlife: Kangaroos at dawn and dusk are the main hazard along the entire Newell, particularly south of Coonabarabran. Wild goats appear in the Forbes-Parkes section. Avoid driving in the first or last hour of daylight where possible.
Road trains: Common on the Newell, especially the grain and cotton runs in season. Set your UHF to channel 40 and listen. The Newell is mostly dual-lane bitumen with good shoulders, but pull over and let them past on the narrower sections.
Heat: The Newell is brutal in summer (December to February) with consistent 35°C plus temperatures and very little shade at most camps. Plan for April to October if you can. The Warrumbungles in particular get hot and snake-active in summer.
Bookings: Camp Blackman requires pre-booking through NSW NPWS. Goondiwindi requires either a booking or arrival before 5 pm. The other stops are first-in, first-served, but check ahead during school holidays.
Cash and cards: Most paid sites on this route take card now (Blizzardfield uses an honesty envelope, Goondiwindi is fully cashless). Carry a few notes for emergencies, but you can do this trip almost entirely on card.
Self-containment: Required at Road Kill and Blizzardfield. Camp Blackman, Moree Showgrounds and Goondiwindi Showgrounds all provide toilets and showers. Make sure your grey-water system and toilet are in order before you leave Tocumwal.
Wrapping Up
The Newell Highway is one of those routes that rewards taking the inland line. Nine days is enough to cross from the Murray to the Macintyre, with three nights under the volcanic spires of the Warrumbungles in the middle, a rest day in Dubbo and a long soak in the artesian baths at Moree to finish. The drives are short by Australian standards, the camps are a sensible mix of free, private and showground, and the four landscape transitions (Riverina to wheat belt to volcanic range to artesian plains) give the trip a genuine geographic arc that the coast can’t match.
It’s a trip you can do for under $25 a night on average and one of the best ways to cross between Victoria and Queensland without joining the caravan procession on the Pacific. Pack the head torch for the dark sky, the walking shoes for the Grand High Tops and the swimmers for Moree.
Safe travels and we’ll see you out there.
