Captain Starlight’s look out [Longreach]

This weekend just gone, nearly everyone from my work travelled out to a small town in Western Queensland for the Ilfracombe races (It was a “training trip” – If someone’s offering a holiday, don’t ask questions haha!). The races were Saturday (had a little win on the last race) and we had Sunday to explore. I’ve been on this hiking kick so my first thought was let go find somewhere to hike or a mountain to climb – if you’ve been out to Ilfracombe or Longreach, you’ll know it’s flat. Very very flat. After a little research, I found “Captain Starlight’s Lookout,” which is just about the only hill around those parts. After getting a little group together we set out – If you’re around Longreach at all and enjoy a bit of a rock scramble, I’d definitely recommend the lookout.

The way there is fairly easy to find – but not well sign posted (or well described on the internet) until you’re on the highway. If you’re in Longreach, head West on the A2 towards Winton. Cross the Thompson River and you’ll see a signpost telling you to turn right onto the Cramsie-Muttaburra road for the lookout. Take this right and you’ll go past the sale yards and golf course. After that, there’s another signpost that will tell you to turn right again. Until this point, the road is bitumen. Once you cross the first cattle grid, the road is dirt. As of July 2018, the track was in decent condition; however, there was loose gravel and corrugation. Drive to conditions and you’ll be ok. There’s 45km of dirt road to the look out – the pictures below are what you can expect on the way out:

This road is also on private property (though visitors are welcome) so please respect the road and expect to see stock/brumbies/wild life. We saw cattle, brumbies, emus and Roos. This part of Queensland is currently going through a drought.

You’ll go over 6 cattle grids and every 10km there’s a distance sign post indicating how far left to go. About 10km out you’ll see the look out (the hill in the background of the single horse photo).

The trail isn’t exactly marked but you can see where past walkers have climbed already. The track has loose rocks and dust so take care when going up and down. Once you get to the top, a little bit of a rock scramble will get you to the very top of the look out with 360 degree views – they’re pretty amazing!

The views are well worth the drive out – it would be fantastic to see a sun rise or sunset on the look out – just watch for Roos!

Photo credit to Alice and Andy for the pic below – sums up the trip pretty fantastically!