Spring has sprinkled her magic over Nardoo station, fox tail wild flowers blow in the warm breeze and baby lambs bleat at the change of season.
Old man emu and his six chicks cast proud, black silhouettes against the thirsty earth — an Outback omen there could soon be rain. Emus, the male of which looks after the young, rarely nest unless they believe rain is imminent.
Nardoo voodoo perhaps, but the 110,000 acres of open Mitchell grass country west of Charleville is as parched as a summer shearer. Nardoo, named after the poisonous plant which saw the early demise of Burke and Wills, has an average rainfall of 16 inches, but in the past three years, just eight inches of water has dropped from the startling signature skies of the Outback.
In bush parlance, station life is a mug's game, but David Meurant, who manages the south-west Queensland property with his wife Carmel, says it's the lifestyle that keeps them there.
So fierce is the Outback hospitality, that David says a one-and-a-half-hour drive can take him between five and seven hours as passing neighbours keep pulling up for a good old-fashioned chin-wag. It's when the mulga trees start talking to you that it's time for a break in the city, according to David.
The hospitality at Nardoo station is rivalled only by Carmel's creative cooking and her latest dish, Yabby Dabby Do — yabbies fresh from the Paroo, drenched in garlic, tomato paste and cream — is worth shouting about.
Nardoo is also famous for its bore-water spa baths, which gurgle at around 36 degrees and are said to have healing properties. A new addition to this Outback day spa is the "sheep dip" — a jet stream of hot water sprays and pure heaven for the weary traveller.
About an hour further west, in eclectic Eulo, Nan and Ian Pike have been growing dates for the past 20 years and turning them into dry, medium and sweet wines at Australia's most remote winery. According to Ian, there is no wastage in their product, as what isn't turned into wine becomes food product such as date chews or moisturising creams. "What gets away here is about bugger all," Ian says. "Dates are a lot easier to muster than cattle and sheep, I'll tell you."
If the Eulo date farm is Australia's most remote winery, than it is also Australia's most remote health retreat as Nan and Ian have now turned their minds to the mud which is forced up from the shales on their property. The dynamic duo have branched into the beauty business. You can recline in a charming claw foot bath as you soak in the mud, which Ian believes has all the "you-beaut qualities of dead-sea mud".
"I'd been eyeing it off for a long time," Ian says. "It makes you feel a hell of a lot better. It has a very similar effect to high sulphur pools in New Zealand. It will take the bend out of corrugated iron."
Eulo is also home to the annual World Lizard Races which started in 1967 and attracted up to 5000 people, prepared to bid up to $1500 for a racing lizard. These days, the event attracts more modest numbers and lizards go for around $70 at the pre-race auction, where shinglebacks, it is fabled, race better than frill-necks.
While in Eulo, meander into the Eulo General Store, where live bees take pride of place among every John Williamson tape ever recorded.
The night sky at Charleville is considered particularly spectacular, as the township sits at latitude 26, has a totally flat horizon and low light pollution. Cosmos Centre Manager Jane Morgan says during the appearance of Mars they were conducting three shows a night.
And if you think this part of the Outback is light years away, think again. Brisbane visitors can board a Qantas flight around 12.00pm on Friday, take in Charleville, Eulo and Nardoo station, all at a leisurely pace, and be back on the plane around 6pm on Sunday evening.
