Your journey begins in the picturesque flats of the Liverpool Plains, marked by mosaic fields of fluorescent yellow canola, sunflowers, cotton, wheat and sorghum.

After a good night’s sleep at the Willow Tree Inn in the charming village of Willow Tree – not to mention a delicious paddock-to-plate meal of home-reared beef or lamb at the hotel’s award-winning Graze Restaurant – drop by the Liverpool Plains Visitor Information Centre, where the ‘Kamilaroi, a Highway a People’ display provides invaluable background about the route you’re about to embark on and the people it is named for.

Take a 15min detour northeast on the New England Highway to Wallabadah, driving through prime grazing country. The main attraction here is the First Fleet Memorial Garden, the nation’s only garden memorial to the convicts and sailors of the First and Second Fleet.

Eleven garden beds representing the ships of the First Fleet are arranged around a garden bed in the shape of Australia, with each garden featuring the names of the people who sailed on that ship. The Second Fleet section of the garden continues the narrative, with personal memoirs featured on ‘sail boards’ that line a winding cobblestone pathway.

Enjoy a cuppa on the picnic tables under the tall ship sails before resuming your journey west towards Quirindi.

For an incredible panoramic overview of the township of Quirindi, the sunflower or canola fields of the Liverpool Plains and the Great Dividing Range, head to the quirkily-named Who’d-A-Thought-It Hill, a prominent ridge that rises behind Quirindi.

The surprises continue at Bob’s Shed, an old-time general store jam-packed with collectable nostalgic items, including boxes and tins from the ‘40s and ‘50s, pub kitsch and two rooms dedicated to race car driver Peter Brock, including several of his cars. Bob is quite the character and always up for a chat about his collection, which just continues to grow.

A 20min detour north leads to Werris Creek, Australia’s first railway town that grew around a camp for railway construction workers in 1878. The train station here is the third largest in Australia – not bad for a town of 1,500 residents!

Inside the heritage-listed station building, you’ll find the Australian Rail Journeys Museum, which brings the town’s railway past to life in interactive displays, including miniature trains and railway memorabilia.

Outside the station, the dramatic Australian Railway Monument, featuring six three-metre stainless steel sculptures, commemorates railway men and women who lost their lives in railway accidents since 1850.

Cross back over the Kamilaroi Highway to Tambar Springs, on the edge of the ancient Warrumbungle Ranges. This little village has a big history: it was here that remains of a Diprotodon– the largest known marsupial that lived 35,000 years ago – was discovered.

The town is also the site of the earliest memorial erected to World War I soldiers, which was built in December 1918. It commemorates the 92 servicemen from Tambar Springs who answered the call of duty, the highest number per capita in Australia.

After a long day on the road, the Royal Hotel, dating to the early 1900s, is a welcome place to have a relaxing meal, cold drink and a good night’s sleep.

Heading north on the Black Stump Way, pass the John Oxley Monument at the base of Mullaley Mountain before continuing your own explorations in the vibrant town of Gunnedah on the banks of the Namoi River.

This was the sunburnt landscape that inspired local poet Dorothea Mackellar, whose evocative My Country is beloved by every Australian. Pay tribute to the poet at Gunnedah’s Poets Precinct, before driving up to Pensioners Hill Lookout to admire four Heritage Sculptures illustrating Gunnedah’s diverse heritage.

Immerse yourself in one of Australia’s largest collections of early agriculture, industrial history and transport memorabilia at the Gunnedah Rural Museum, before stretching your legs on one of two trails forming the Bindea Walking Track – one that takes you through the town and its parks and gardens, and another through the Porcupine Reserve, where you may spot koalas dozing in the trees.

Head northwest on the Kamilaroi Highway towards Boggabri, an agricultural centre on the edge of rich coal deposits.For a taste of the town’s agricultural might, visit the Boggabri Tractor Shed, where locals have put rare and prized tractors on display.

Continuing north for 5km, you’ll reach a dramatic sheer rock face known as Gin’s Leap where, legend has it, a young Kamilaroi girl and her forbidden lover from another tribe jumped to their deaths after being pursued by Kamilaroi tribesmen. There are several graves at the base of the rock of early settlers, adding an eerie air to what feels like a sacred place.

Your final destination today is Narrabri, heart of the rich Namoi Valley. Before exploring the town, however, make a one-hour detour east to Mount Kaputar National Park, a breathtaking wilderness with towering forests and dramatic rock formations including the jagged Sawn Rocks, unusual organ-pipe volcanic formations. Take the 1.5km walking track at base of the rocks for a close-up view, before pausing for a picnic under the white cypress trees.

Back in Narrabri, explore the town’s colonial heritage at the Old Gaol Museum, part of an impressive complex of government buildings dating to 1882. The Women’s Cell now houses the Dalway Collection, a collection of documents, paintings and uniforms of an early Irish pioneer; while part of the museum is dedicated to family history.

This region is known as Big Sky Country, and nowhere is that more appropriate than at the CSIRO Australia Telescope Compact Array, 25km east of Narrabri, where six 22m dish antennas mimic one huge antenna, used by astronomers to detect radio signals from deep space. Visitors can view the antennas from the free Visitor Centre and enjoy both indoor and outdoor astronomy exhibits, a fascinating experience for all ages.

From here, it’s just a 20min drive to Australia’s Cotton Capital of Wee Waa. Although a modern town, this regional centre is surrounded by sacred Kamilaroi land, with burial sites, a bora ring and scarred trees found at Tulladunna Reserve, 2km from town on the banks of the Namoi River. Interpretative signage around the reserve explains the importance of this site, both from the past and more contemporary times when Aboriginal people camped here as cotton workers.

Pack your swimming costume, because you’ll be spending much of today submerged in hot artesian waters! First up is the Pillaga Artesian Bore Baths, located an hour west of Wee Waa in the little town of Pillaga.

Constructed in 1902 as a town water supply after severe drought, this pool is filled with therapeutic bore water heated naturally to 37ºC, the perfect temperature to soak away aches and pains. The baths are free and covered with a roof; there are also picnic facilities, a toilet block and an electric barbeque. It even has lighting for night-time bathing.

The town of Pillaga is located near the Pillaga State Forest, a vast and atmospheric woodland of white cypress and iron bark trees dotted with rugged sandstone caves.

Half an hour north on Bugilbone Road you’ll reach Burren Junction’s artesian bore baths. First sunk in 1921, the water from this bore was originally used for agricultural uses, but now runs exclusively into the pool with a constant temperature of approximately 41.5°C.

The water comes from the Great Artesian Basin and is around two million years old. Natural pressure sends the water to the surface through an artesian bore. The Burren Junction Bore Baths are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are caravan and camping areas as well as barbeque facilities.

Next up on your artesian bath crawl is the town of Walgett, a further one-hour drive west on the Kamilaroi Highway. This former paddle-steamer port, located near the junction of the Namoi and Barwon Rivers, is the veritable big smoke in this region, a town with good facilities, cafes, a club and of course, the Walgett Bore Baths, naturally heated to 41.5°C and surrounded by shady trees.

After a relaxing soak, dry off to check out this fascinating town. Start by dropping into the Walgett Historical Society, located in the original Walgett Shire Building built in 1913 and boasting an original pressed tin interior. Here you can admire photographs depicting life on the rivers, as well as a display of agricultural inventions from local farmer Frederick York Wolseley.

Extending for 1.5km along the Namoi River is the Tracker Walford Walkway, created by the family of legendary Aboriginal tracker Norman Walford so walkers could enjoy the tranquil river setting. An interpretive sign at the trail entrance tells the story of trackers in the Walgett community and the Aboriginal families who lived in the nearby area.

Today you’ll be heading to the historic opal mining town of Lightning Ridge, where you can fossick for, shop and admire the colourful gemstones at your leisure over two days.

Start your opal adventure at the Australian Opal Centre, where an architect-designed, energy efficient building recessed into the earth two-storeys deep is currently under construction. After viewing the plans for the future, take a journey into the past with the museum’s incredible collection of rare and beautiful opals, including black opals and opalised fossils from the dinosaur age.

Then, take a tour of a working mine with The Big Opal, with local miner Steve showing you the fossicking ropes; or join an Outback Opal Tour to gain insight into the life of an opal miner, with visits to a miner’s camp, an underground mine and cutting and polishing demonstrations included.

Lightning Ridge locals have also set up four self-driving tours, marked by colourful car doors from wrecked vehicles. Sights include the Chambers of the Black Hand, an amazing underground gallery featuring images carved into the walls by local sculptor, Ron Canlin.

Local artist John Murray also finds inspiration in the colours and life of this vibrant mining town, with his paintings on display at the John Murray Art Gallery.

Finally, take a relaxing soak in the town’s artesian bore bath as you prepare for the next leg of your journey.

Head north on the Castlereagh Highway, before turning right onto Bangate Road, leading to yet another artesian bore bath in the town of Goodooga. After a relaxing, therapeutic soak in this new pool, constructed in 2019 and naturally heated to 40°C, drive south for another hour and a half to Brewarrina, on the banks of the Barwon River.

Brewarrina has an ancient indigenous history, with fish traps estimated to be 40,000 years old and of such significance they have been given National and State Heritage listings. Amongst the oldest man-made structures on earth, this elaborate network of rock pools and weirs – known as Ngunnhu to the local Ngemba people - stretches for around half kilometre along the river bed, ingeniously catching fish as they swim upstream.

To learn about how the traps work and the Dreamtime stories surrounding them, join a cultural tour with a local Aboriginal guide, booked through the Brewarrina Visitor Information Centre. Later, pay a visit to the Aboriginal Cultural Museum overlooking the river, which gives an emotional and no holds barred account of Australia’s indigenous history from the Dreamtime to current days.

Another structure of historic significance you should check out is the Brewarrina Barwon Bridge, one of only two remaining lift span bridges in NSW. Built in 1889, it lifted in the centre to allow paddle-steamers to travel up and down the river.

Your final leg on this epic journey leads to Bourke, one hour west of Brewarrina. Bourke represents the real Outback, and the Back O’Bourke Exhibition Centre tells the stories of this remote desert community – including early exploration, the poets, bushrangers and conflicts between pioneers and the original inhabitants - to life via interactive installations and stunning visual screen displays.

Pay your respects to Bourke’s dearly departed drovers, cameleers, river boat captains, local heroes and bushrangers at the Bourke Historic Cemetery. Henry Lawson wrote a story called The Union Buries Its Dead based on a funeral he attended at this cemetery and it’s also where modern day hero Professor Fred Hollows is buried.

You can further explore Bourke’s history at the North Bourke Bridge, the oldest surviving lift bridge in NSW dating to 1883. A fully-restored 1923 vintage Crossley Engine – an early four stroke diesel engine – occupies the Wharf area at the northern end of Sturt Street.

Your journey ends on the river, relaxing on board the paddle-steamer Jandra. A replica of an original paddle-steamer built in 1894, this is the first paddle boat to operate on the Darling in over 60 years. There are two one-hour cruises daily from Monday to Saturday, with a two-hour cruise on Sunday.