Australia's Golden Outback Holiday Planner 2025

As the station is completely off-grid, without any streetlights, all you have to do is step away from the buildings and the night sky comes alive. About 100 metres away from the homestead, there are wooden benches positioned next to a vintage steam engine, which station owner Frances Pollock suggests as the spot to sit with a glass of wine, while allowing the desert stillness to welcome an otherworldly expanse of stars. “Often people talk about how small they feel, when they sit out there and consider their place in the universe. Some people find that a terrifying thought, but for so many, it’s a really humbling feeling,” says Frances. “We’re all little specks of stardust that are going to come and go from this world.” The station has three accommodation options, offering various styles of stays to experience the sky — a hosted and catered experience at the National Trust-listed central homestead, self-contained stays in rammed earth guest houses, and nature-based camping based 16 kilometres away on the banks of the Murchison River. MOUNT AUGUSTUS TOURIST PARK In the remote north of the Gascoyne Murchison, Mount Augustus Tourist Park sits beside the backdrop of Mount Augustus / Burringarrah — the largest monocline rock in the world which is twice the size of Uluru. About 300 kilometres from the nearest town, the tourist park is a place to fully decompress and connect with the vast landscape surrounding your campsite. This far into the desert, there aren’t clear seasons, and after months without rain the skies develop a crisp clarity. So, even without a telescope, you can just relax in your camping chair, and watch shooting stars and passing satellites. With the earth around you bathed in blackness, the depths of space feel close and tangible. As the tourist park manager, Sally Kingdon, says, “It’s a pretty special place, it sort of gets into your soul.” There are cabins, both unpowered and powered sites, and a bar and restaurant that’s open between April and September — often a spot to gather

Mount Augustus Tourist Park

at outdoor tables and watch the stars appear above. GASCOYNE JUNCTION One of the central points of the region, Gascoyne Junction is a town lit by 18 street lights — the only street lights to be seen, within an area of 58,000 sq km — so it’s no wonder the opportunities for seeing stars here are glowing. The pastime is so active in this remote part of the world, the council has even recently introduced a weekly stargazing experience on the town oval. “Our light pollution is pretty much non-existent, and we get to stand here every night and it just feels like the stars are reaching down to touch us,” says Ainsley Hardie, the tourism and community development officer for the Shire of Upper Gascoyne. A team of volunteers, trained by experts from the Perth Observatory, lead the stargazing experience, showing visitors how to use the telescope while pointing out planets, stars, nebulas, and constellations that leave all awestruck.

Ainsley recalls one spectacular eve where, “We took the team from Perth Observatory up around the Kennedy Loop track, with telescopes strapped very carefully in the back of utes. There were 36 of us that sat out under the stars in Kennedy Range National Park, and we were able to see Jupiter and Saturn, just in the absolute silence of the night. The quiet — it’s just otherworldly.”

Melangata

STATION STAY

 (08) 9963 7777  melangatastationstay@gmail.com melangatastationstay.com.au one-of-a kind camp oven cooking classes available. Group camp cooking class packages available. Situated in the Yalgoo region of WA, this sheep station has a unique heritage-listed homestead and offers various types of accommodation from campgrounds with basic facilities to a Homestead Dinner, Bed and Breakfast package. Tag-along, walking and homestead tours and

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