The northwestern corner of Victoria is a wild region of expansive salt flats, sprawling sand dunes and arid scrub. Located just six hours from Melbourne, it is easily accessible yet provides a taste of the kind of arid wilderness found in much more remote parts of the Australian interior. For this reason, it is often referred to as 'Victoria's outback'. A spectacular and surprisingly varied environment, it offers travellers dramatic scenery, challenging hiking and off-road driving, and the chance to view a host of unusual plant and animal species, some of which are unique to the region. Much of Victoria's Outback is encompassed by Murray-Sunset National Park, the second-largest national park in the state.

The southern half of the region is dominated by mallee scrub. The name 'mallee' is an Aboriginal word that refers to the unusual stunted form of these eucalypt trees. Twenty different species of mallees can be found here, many of which live to an age of 500 years. To the north, this vegetation dwindles, giving way to broad swathes of sand and normally dry salt lakes.

A wide range of specially adapted animal species thrives in the arid environment. Most, such as the planigale and native hopping mouse, remain hidden by day, though red and western grey kangaroos are abundant in the northern sector and birdlife, including emus, parrots, wrens and warblers, is plentiful, particularly around floodplains and billabongs. The animal most closely associated with the region is the mallee fowl, a remarkable bird that incubates its eggs in an enormous purpose-built mound of earth.

The principal access route to the region is the Sunraysia Highway, which runs north to Mildura on the New South Wales border. Two main roads branch westward from the Sunraysia: the Mallee Highway, which stretches from Ouyen to the South Australia border and thence to Adelaide, and the Sturt Highway in the far north, which leads directly west to Renmark. Some minor roads are suitable for conventional vehicles, but a 4WD will permit deeper exploration of this fascinating part of the state. Travellers are advised to avoid visiting in the summer months when temperatures, and the risk of bush fires, soar.

Murray-Sunset National Park

This immense national park covers 633,000 ha (1,564,000 acres) and includes four major wilderness zones. Its most distinctive feature is a group of lakes in the southern end of the park whose distinctive rosy hue forms a striking contrast with the surrounding desert sands and dense mallee scrub, and earned them the name of the Pink Lakes. This is the best base for exploring the area by 4WD, bicycle or on foot. The pleasant campsite at Lake Crosbie is accessible to conventional vehicles and has toilets, fireplaces, picnic tables, gas barbecues, and a limited supply of water. Walkers can follow several pleasant trails around the lakes and view the remnants of the area's salt works and abandoned farming equipment.

Once you leave the environs of the Pink Lakes, you must be entirely self-sufficient and travel in a 4WD vehicle. There are wilderness camping areas at Mopoke, Pheneeys Track, Mount Crozier and Rocket Lake (which can also be accessed via Settlement Track in the north of the park), all of which have toilets, fireplaces and picnic tables.

Well-prepared 4WD parties can enjoy the full gamut of environments in the area by undertaking the following trek from Ouyen in the south-east to Lock 7 on the Murray River, a distance of 307 km (191 miles).

Head west out of Ouyen on the Mallee Highway towards Pinnaroo, and near the tiny railway siding of Linga, 61 km (38 miles) west of the town, turn north onto the good dirt road leading into Murray-Sunset National Park, 11 km (7 miles) away. After you pass Lake Hardy on your right, continue straight ahead at the next Y-junction for 2 km (1.2 miles) to the camping ground on the southern shore of Lake Crosbie. Roos are common here, as are emus and other birds.

Return to the Y-junction and head west, and after just over 1 km (0.6 miles) turn right onto the Ring Road. Stay on the main Ring Road for nearly 4 km (2.5 miles), then veer left at the next Y-junction onto the Mount Crozier Track. Stretches of soft sand here indicate the start of 4WD-only territory. Most of the surrounding country is covered in mallee scrub, but there are patches of cleared land which are ideal for camping.

About 9 km (5.6 miles) beyond the Ring Road turn-off, you cross Honeymoon Hut Track and come to a Y-junction signposted 'Mount Crozier'. A short distance up this track, 88 km (55 miles) from Ouyen, is the car park for the walking trail to the top of the mountain itself. Although it's not much of a peak, Mount Crozier is the largest hill for many miles and its summit provides impressive views.

Backtrack to the main road and turn right, continuing westward. At the main Underbool Track some 10 km (6 miles) from the Mount Crozier junction, turn right. You are now on the park's main north-south track, most of which is easy going.

To the west is the biggest wilderness area in the park, the Sunset Wilderness Zone, which can only be explored on foot. If you are travelling early in the morning or late in the evening, you may spot a mallee fowl here as it flits across the track. The distinctive mounds where these birds incubate their eggs are harder to locate and you'd need to do a bit of exploring before you are likely to find one.

Continuing north, you reach Pheneys Track after 25 km (16 miles) and after another 10 km (6 miles) you come to a T-junction, where you should turn right onto the Rocket Lake Rail Track. This track is sometimes called the Nowingi Line Track, after the railway line that was built west from Nowingi on the Calder Highway to Rocket Lake in 1929, to help open the area up for settlement. But the settlers never came, and the line was never opened; it was dismantled soon afterward.

Veer left at the next junction 5 km (3.1 miles) from the Underbool track; 2 km (1.2 miles) later you reach the southern edge of Rocket Lake, 140 km (87 miles) from Ouyen. There are some pleasant camping sites around this remote lake, which is also an excellent spot for birdwatching. The lake was supposedly named by the railway workers: those occupied near the lake fired rockets to let the workers further up the line know when it was time to knock off for the day.

If the lake is dry, you can take the track across it to reach the far side. Otherwise, follow the route around the shore to reach its northern edge. Here, another track heads due north. Nearly 10 km (6 miles) further on, a crossroads, with a small dam on the left, marks the northern boundary of the national park. The east-west track is Settlement Road, which was intended to help open up the area to farming in the 1950s and 1960s. The plan failed, however, and this and other tracks are its only legacy.

Turn left onto Settlement Road and head west for 34 km (21 miles), past numerous sidetracks, to the Yarrara track. Turn right and continue for about 15 km (9.3 miles) to reach Yarrara Forest Reserve. This is the largest remaining stand of belah woodland in Victoria, and it is home to many native birds, such as mallee ringnecks, mulga parrots, fairy wrens, honeyeaters, and robins; in spring, it is carpeted with colourful flowers.

Keep heading north for another 14 km (8.7 miles) or so through rolling wheat country until you reach the main Sturt Highway, then turn right; 10 km east along the bitumen you will come to Cullulleraine, 225 km (140 miles) from Ouyen. Here you will find two caravan parks with camping areas, and a licensed roadhouse where you can obtain supplies and fuel.

Head north away from the bitumen, across rolling fields that soon give way to saltbush-studded plains-classic outback scenery. Within 10 km (6 miles), you come to a crossroads. Turn left onto the east-west track, which was once the old stage coach and mail route from Mildura to Renmark. This road is usually pretty good, but it becomes slippery after even light showers and impassable after heavy rain or flooding.

After 6 km (3.7 miles), you reach Kulnine Station, and nearly 4 km (2.5 miles) after that the track crosses a grid and skirts the river. Some 26 km (16 miles) west of where you turned onto the east-west track you reach Neds Corner, and another 13 km (8 miles ) further west you come to the edge of Lake Wallawalla. By now, you are in the northern sector of Murray-Sunset National Park.

The route continues straight through the centre of this lake, which is generally dry. If it is flooded, take the track along the eastern edge, which meets up with the main route 3 km (1.9 miles) west of the lake, just where it veers north. No more than 4 km (2.5 miles) beyond this point, a track on your right leads about 1 km (0.6 miles) to Lindsay Bridge. This is the only access to Lindsay Island.

Between 1847 and 1955, Lindsay Island was used for grazing. During the 1960s, the government planned to build a huge dam in the Chowilla area, downstream in South Australia, which would have flooded all of the island and surrounding country. Bridges were built and the area heavily logged in expectation of this flooding, but the project never got underway.

Popular with anglers and sailors, the island is now one of the wildest parts of the entire state. It is prone to flooding, however, and travellers should check the conditions locally before venturing into the area.