Strzelecki Track — Lyndhurst to Innamincka via the Sturt Stony Desert

The Strzelecki Track has been chewing up vehicles since pastoralists first pushed cattle through this country in the 1800s. You leave the bitumen at Lyndhurst in South Australia’s north Flinders Ranges and immediately commit to one of the continent’s most unforgiving corridors — 460 km of corrugated dirt, loose gibber rock, and red dune crossings through the Strzelecki Desert to Innamincka on Cooper Creek. The jump-up at Montecollina Bore is a classic gut-check moment, and the final dune fields before the Cooper are the kind of terrain that reveals whether your gear is actually sorted or just looks good on Instagram.

This is a remote outback overland route, not a weekend scratch. Minimum two high-clearance 4WDs travelling together, 150-litre-plus fuel capacity, and enough water for at least five days in case of breakdown — there is no help out here. The RAA and NRMA both recommend satellite communicators as non-negotiable. Best season is April to September; summer temperatures regularly exceed 48°C and tracks flood unpredictably after rain. Innamincka Trading Post is the only resupply. You’ll cross into Queensland briefly near the Cooper, where Burke and Wills met their end. This route earns its place in every serious overlander’s logbook.