Back Roads

- Season 5

(2019)

Back Roads returns with an epic journey in the Northern Territory, from one of the world's most remote cattle stations to some of the most spectacular landscapes in the heart of Australia.

Heather visits Tolmie, tucked away in Victoria's High Country. In the past it was known as a hideaway for bushrangers, near the infamous Stringybark Creek ambush where Ned Kelly and his gang murdered three police officers.

Heather Ewart explores a vibrant coastal community in northern New South Wales, where East meets West and which the locals affectionately call Woopi.

Guest presenter, chef and farmer Paul West heads to the Gulf of Carpentaria to see one of the world's most extraordinary weather events.

280kms from Perth, Kulin is home to less than 400 people. From the 'Tin Horse Highway' - horse-shaped sculptures made out of 44 gallon drums to a giant waterslide, the quirky town is known for its generosity of spirit.

Fish Creek is a whimsical town straight from a storybook, home to children's book authors and illustrators, world-renowned botanical artists, musicians and sculptors. It is near the southernmost tip of Australia's mainland.

News Breakfast co-host Lisa Millar traces the footsteps of her Prussian ancestors who migrated to SA in the mid-1800s, discovering a town rich in film history and a spectacularly coloured yellow-footed rock wallaby.

Heather visits one of the flattest places on earth, the dusty Hay Plains. Home to a fascinating bunch with a dry sense of humour, the town hosts the Hay Rodeo and Rainbow on the Plains - the Hay Mardi Gras. (Midseason Final)

Heather Ewart discovers a very different type of community on the roof of Australia as she visits the peaks of Victoria and New South Wales' snow country.

Heather Ewart catches a ride to the Bulloo Shire in south-west Queensland, a community that thrives despite its isolation.

Guest presenter Joe O'Brien leaves the ABC newsroom for the wilds of Wynyard in north west Tasmania.

Heather Ewart visits the preserved gold rush town of Clunes, in the Victorian Central Goldfields. Its golden days might be long gone, but a wave of newcomers is putting its untouched 19th century main street back on the map.

Heather Ewart discovers a patch of Ireland tucked away in coastal Victoria. Koroit is reportedly home to the largest Irish community in regional Australia, and it's a place that thrives on music, poetry and potatoes.

Last summer, Menindee in NSW made worldwide news when a perfect storm of drought and poor water management caused a mass fish kill of nearly a million fish. Guest presenter Lisa Millar uncovers the town behind the headlines.

Heather joins a cavalcade of showmen and their little town on wheels on an 800 km run through far north Queensland. It's a journey that will bust every preconceived idea of what the travelling carnival life is like.

Join award-winning journalist and Murawari-Gomeroi man Allan Clarke as he uncovers the small community of Jabiru. Buried deep in Kakadu National Park, it is one of the most extraordinary places on the planet. (Season Final)