You can’t say you’ve been outback until you’ve been to the world-famous Packsaddle Roadhouse!
Packsaddle Roadhouse is located on the Silver City Highway, 175 kilometres north of Broken Hill, and is home to Mia and Arnie, who offer a welcoming stop for weary travellers.

With on-site and camping accommodation, Packsaddle Roadhouse is a “must do” stopover in your outback travel adventures, with its bar, dining room and outside area.
The world-famous Packsaddle Roadhouse has featured in many Australian travel and camping guides including an Outback feature in the New York Times.
At Packsaddle Roadhouse you can enjoy a meal and a drink, sit and have a chat with fellow travellers and locals, or just gaze into the clear outback night sky.
Life couldn’t be better!
Bar & Restaurant


There’s nothing like happy hour at the end of a long hard travelling day. Come on in, sit down inside or out, and enjoy an icy cold beer, wine, spirit or soft drink.
Have a chat with Mia and Arnie and the locals – they know all the secrets about travelling in the outback, the out-of-the-way sites, the best four-wheel drive trails and the best way to get there.
Accommodation
Packsaddle Roadhouse offers friendly, refreshing, outback motel style accommodation, from on-site cabins set amongst wonderful sandy gardens, through to sites for caravanning and camping enthusiasts.
With 16 rooms ranging from family rooms to doubles and twin singles, our on-site accommodation can sleep up to 36 people.
If you’re a camper and just need a break from travelling, Packsaddle Roadhouse offers quality shower and toilet facilities, powered and unpowered sites.
Our cabins include:
- Air-conditioning
- TV
- Fridge
- Tea and coffee making facilities
- Free continental breakfast is available in the Wool Shed
- Shared clean, modern bathroom facilities
- 3G Telstra service available
Things to do






Packsaddle
On the Silver City Highway between Broken Hill and Tibooburra, you’ll find Packsaddle. A gum-lined creek crosses the highway a short distance to the north of the Packsaddle Roadhouse and some say the creek was named when Burke and Wills crossed the area to the east, near Wonnaminta, and lost a packsaddle from a camel or horse.
Whatever the reason, this is one of many ephemeral creeks in the district which flow westward through adjoining properties. Packsaddle was one of the properties that formed part of the Goldsborough and Company holdings.
During the days of coach travel, a shanty hotel operated in the vicinity of today’s roadhouse, providing exchange horses, accommodation, and a meal and a drink to the travelling public.
Just a simple, corrugated iron structure, the hotel closed in the 1920s when the advent of motorised transport changed outback travel for ever. Call in and see the museum which houses an array of relics from days gone by.
Mutawintji National Park
Mutawintji National Park has been a significant place in the lives of local Aboriginal people for a long time and is worth the four-and-a-half-hour trip from Packsaddle just for its beauty and tranquillity.
They say you can feel it when you’re there. In years gone by it served as a place for large gatherings where business, social and cultural interests were furthered. Hear about the features of the landscape in and around Mutawintji on a guided tour of Mutawintji Historic Site with a traditional owner. Immerse yourself in the landscape of the park’s walks, amazing gorges, ephemeral creeks, waterholes and prolific birdlife. Learn about the geology of the area that is considered to be of major palaeontologic significance.
White Cliffs Opal Fields and Heritage Trail
White Cliffs is a four-hour trip from Packsaddle through scrubby, semi-desert saltbush. You can take the easy way or the dusty trail. Whichever way you go, it’s worth the effort. Opals mined in White Cliffs are far more vivid and vastly superior to opals mined in other countries. The heritage trail allows you to amble your way through a dozen significant sites around town where you can appreciate its pioneering history.
Broken Hill
Broken Hill is a city situated in the far west of New South Wales and is worth the leisurely day trip from Packsaddle. It is surrounded by vast arid plains. Often described as an oasis in the desert, Broken Hill was built on the back of a mining boom that began in the 1880s. Broken Hill offers several underground mine tours available for visitors. Broken Hill has developed into an important regional art centre with a collection of galleries and outdoor parks featuring stone sculptures.
Silverton
Silverton is two and a half hours from Packsaddle Roadhouse and is almost a ghost town these days. Originally a thriving mining centre during the 1880s, the town quickly declined at the end of that century due to the rapid depletion of minerals and the huge deposits discovered at nearby Broken Hill. These days, Silverton is a popular tourist destination with a number of historic buildings remaining, the most famous of these being the Silverton Hotel built in 1885. Due to its remaining historic buildings and desert surroundings, Silverton has been used as the scene for many movies and advertisements over the years.
Tibooburra
Visit the Keeping Place Museum in nearby Tibooburra, around two hours drive north of Packsaddle. For 25,000 years this region was home to the Wangkumara and Maljangapa Aboriginal people, whose middens, quarries, camp and ceremonial sites and tool ‘workshops’ are scattered throughout the area. Tibooburra’s Keeping Place Museum has a collection that includes tools and photographic material related to the Aboriginal history of the region.
Getting Here
All roads from Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney are sealed.
Adelaide
690km – Barrier Hwy to Broken Hill, then Silver City highway north of Broken Hill to Packsaddle.
Melbourne
1,010km – M79 (Calder Hwy) to Broken Hill, via Mildura, then Silver City Highway north of Broken Hill to Packsaddle
There are many different routes that can be taken when driving from any of the capital cities to Broken Hill. The following is an overview of the routes from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide that may help you in planning your Outback Beds experience.
From | Routes | Distance |
---|---|---|
Brisbane | Warrego Hwy <>Darling River Run (Unsealed) <> Barier Highway | 1,445km |
Sydney | The Great Western Highway > Castlereagh Highway > Barrier Highway | 1,150km |
Melbourne | Calder Highway > Silver City Highway | 837km |
Adelaide | Barrier Highway | 518km |
Our Towns
Tibooburra
The most isolated town in NSW, Tibooburra is the ultimate destination of those travelling to the Corner Country and beyond.
Broken Hill
Broken Hill, known as ‘The Silver City’, is the largest centre in Outback NSW and is often referred to as “The Jewel of the Outback”.
Contact us for information & bookings
For more information on rates, accommodation, bookings, etc, please contact us directly by visiting our website or giving us a call. We look forward to hearing from you!
Phone: 08 8091 2539