Your Guide to the Boulia Camel Races, home of Australia’s longest and richest camel race

Boulia is 1,700 kilometres up the road from Brisbane (1,000 kilometres from Townsville), but don’t let the distance be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Whether you plan to road trip, fly in on the ‘milk run’, or make tracks on the ‘Spirit of the Outback’, the journey is all part of the adventure.

Driving? Why not incorporate Boulia into one of Queensland’s Outback road trips? Link up with the Central West Outback Adventure Drive, or hit up Discovery Drive from Townsville.

Or take your trip to new heights and fly in on Regional Express’s (REX) ‘milk run’ from Brisbane, stopping at six remote towns and their tin-shed terminals along the way.

Alternatively, fly direct to Mt Isa with Qantas, Virgin or REX and hire a car to travel the 300-kilometres to Boulia.

If ‘slow travel’ is your cup of tea, why not take the train to Longreach (make sure to see the Qantas Founders Museum and Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame) on the Spirit of the Outback. From there, it’s 540 kilometres by road to Boulia.

Tip: You don’t need a 4WD to get to Boulia, but you’ll be able to adventure off the beaten track with one. See here for our guide to outback driving.

Race Week in Boulia

This three-day festival of fun starts on Friday with the Official Opening and Welcome to Country taking place before the camel racing heats kick off on Saturday.

The jockeys wear colourful silks and caps, but unlike in horse racing, there are no reigns, so it’s the camels who call the shots—sometimes veering off sideways or running in the wrong direction.

The heats lead up to the Camel Cup finale on Sunday. This 1,500-metre race is Australia’s longest and richest camel race, a test of endurance as these 800kg beasts lumber home.

Of course, there’s so much more than camel racing—there’s live music and entertainment, novelty events, fireworks and more.

Catch a live band under the stars, knock back a cold one under an outback sunset, or pick the winning crustacean in the Yabbi Cup—it’s all possible here in the heart of Channel Country.

Feeling brave? Enter the camel tagging, a unique game where players have to stick a piece of tape onto a camel, run back to the start, and then retrieve it, often with hilarious results.

There is quite literally something for everyone, including the young’uns, with fireworks and children’s activities throughout the event.

Tip: Birdsville’s Big Red Bash is the week before the Boulia Camel Races (2 – 4 July 2024). Why not combine both on your outback adventure?

Where to stay

Your ticket includes free camping at the Racecourse before and after the event. Drive in, park the caravan, or camper or pitch a tent and sit around a campfire with new friends.

There are toilets, hot showers and potable water on tap, but no power (generators are permitted). A shuttle bus runs to and from town, while camp ovens are available for use at the canteen. Oh, and pets are welcome, just keep them restrained and away from the Racecourse.

Looking for something more luxe? Book a luxury bell tent, available from Friday to Sunday, and glamp your way through the event.

Options in town include the Australian Hotel Motel, with 21 spacious rooms (including one fully wheelchair-accessible room), the garden-set Desert Sand Motel, and the Boulia Caravan Park.

Tip: Temperatures at night can drop to zero, so pack your winter woollies! 

What to eat

The event brings with it a pop-up city of food trucks, canteens, bars and coffee carts to keep you fuelled and hydrated—it all comes with a thick slice of outback hospitality.

While you’re in town, head to the Australian Hotel Motel and try the signature Camel Sausages and Camel Steaks, washed down with in-house Crazy Camel Lager. It gets busy, so book ahead.

If you need to fuel up the car, head to the Boulia Roadhouse and step inside for a coffee or meal—we recommend the works burger with homemade beef patty.

Tip: Keep an eye out for some of the Australian Motel Hotel’s Crazy Camel Lager infused creations such as Camel Meatball Pizzas and Camel Crumbed Steaks  

What to do

Out west it’s all about outback legends and bush yarns—and they don’t get much bigger than the tale of Boulia’s ‘Min Min Light’, the story of a mysterious light spotted by a local stockman.

After the Min Min Hotel burned down in 1912, the stockman saw a ‘watermelon sized’ light hovering over a graveyard. Terrified, he dug his spurs in and bolted, the light following him until he left Boulia.

You can learn all about the Min Min through animatronics, lights and special effects at the Min Min Encounter and Visitor Information Centre.

Head to the Boulia Heritage Complex where you can learn about three chapters of the town’s history. Here you’ll see prehistoric fossils (including Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs) from the cretaceous period, when present-day Boulia sat in the middle of the Eromanga Sea. Yes really!

It’s also the place to learn about the traditional owners of the land, the Pitta Pitta people, and to explore what life was like 130 years ago in Boulia, at the Stone House.

Looking for adventure? If you’ve got a 4WD, then drive 150 kilometres south-east to the Diamantina National Park. This is where the channels of the Diamantina River—once an Indigenous trading route—converge through the Diamantina Gates.

Tip: Drive to Janet Leap for an epic view from above of the Diamantina Gates.

Interested in doing the Big Red Bash too? Here's our guide to the world's most remote music festival.