The witchetty grub wriggles in the hot ashes of the campfire and in seconds is cooked and ready to eat.

Indigenous woman Christine Breaden holds the snack out to me encouragingly. I’m not convinced I want to taste this particular delicacy, a large white worm that is the larvae of moths found only in the Central Australian desert – but curiosity gets the better of me and I tentatively bite and chew. It’s a little bit nutty, eggy, and not as unpalatable as it looks.

It’s just one of the surprises that awaits on the Outback Way, a 2,700km (1,678 miles) “shortcut” across Australia, a road trip through an astonishing landscape peopled with creative characters, endless stories, and creatures great and small.

We’re about half way across the continent when we meet Christine and her partner Peter Abbott, who live in the Aboriginal community of Wanmarra (population 10), inside the Kings Canyon/Watarrka National Park in Australia’s Red Centre. The couple runs Karrke Experience – named for the Western Bowerbird – where they teach visitors about traditional bush foods, hunting and weapons, dot painting and carving with fire. It’s one of the many highlights of driving the Outback Way.

This is one of Australia’s best road trips, cutting through the heart of the country. Whether you tackle it east to west, as I did, or in the opposite direction, it’s a drive that reveals – slowly – some unforgettable places and experiences.

Daisy Helen Tjunpantarri Ward, of Warakurna, one of many Aboriginal artists working along the Outback Way Credit: LEE MYLNE

Make way for cattle being mustered alongside the track or for hulking “road train” trucks thundering past; side-track to visit artists at work or see space junk; or just gaze out at giant termite mounds, roaming camels, or kangaroos bouncing by.

There’s no better time to drive the Outback Way than now, before “progress” intervenes and makes it more accessible. While much of the road is still gravel or dirt, funding has been approved to seal the entire route, which will enable more travellers to hit the road but diminish some of its romantic appeal.

The landscapes are spectacular Credit: GETTY

Technically, the Outback Way runs between Winton, in western Queensland and Laverton, in Western Australia. But most people extend their drive coast-to-coast, or fly to the nearest airports; for Winton that means Longreach, two hours’ drive away, and for Laverton, the mining town of Kalgoorlie, 300km (186 miles) away. Travelling west from Winton, the drive spins through the Queensland town of Boulia, across the border into the Northern Territory and on to Alice Springs and Uluru (Ayers Rock). Crossing into Western Australia, it wanders through Warakurna and Warburton to Laverton.

Allow two weeks to complete the journey, but if there’s no imperative to finish by a certain time, don’t be surprised if it takes much longer. Each stop along the way offers plenty of diversions.

Tick off some of the world’s most exciting dinosaur fossil finds near Winton, the home of Australia’s unofficial anthem Waltzing Matilda, and five hours drive later in Boulia learn about the mysterious “Min Min lights”, spooky balls of light that have haunted the town since 1918, chasing travellers and stockmen for long distances at night.

Expect long days, with sometimes up to 600km (373 miles) on the road – around nine hours with stops – between breakfast and dinner. Roadhouses punctuate the drive, providing food, fuel, toilets, and sometimes unexpected diversions such as camels, emus or peacocks, or small galleries selling indigenous art.

Roadhouses punctuate the drive, providing food, fuel, toilets, and sometimes unexpected diversions Credit: lee mylne

After the unmarked state border between Queensland and the Northern Territory, the road becomes the Plenty Highway, 498km (309 miles) of sometimes challenging driving; parts of the ‘highway’ are dirt corrugations, others are sand, gravel or limestone and most of it is two lanes. A 4WD or high-clearance vehicle is essential.

At Tobermorey cattle station we are fascinated by the space junk, relics of the 1960s when Australia was part of a major international satellite testing program. Rockets launched from Woomera in South Australia were likely to land anywhere, and many fell in this area.

A few days respite from the road is recommended at Alice Springs, the unofficial capital of the Red Centre (washing away the red dust is an unmissable luxury). There’s plenty to see, with major attractions including the Alice Springs Desert Park, the School of the Air, and camel rides.

A camel in the Outback Credit: GETTY

From Alice, we hit the Stuart Highway, stopping at the Curtain Springs Roadhouse, where the Severin family have lived since 1956. Ashley Severin and his wife Lyndee run the cattle station, roadhouse, and accommodation, as well as paper-making classes in their art gallery using 15 different types of desert grasses as their base product.

Ayers Rock Resort provides accommodation for travellers visiting the incredible monolith Uluru (Ayers Rock), about 205km (127 miles) further on. And if Uluru is nature’s wonder, then British artist Bruce Munro has created a man-made one. His spectacular Field of Light installation, open until December 2020, consists of more than 50,000 stems topped with frosted globes “planted” over an area the size of seven football fields. After dark, wander through pathways between them below star-studded outback skies.

The spectacular Field of Light installation Credit: LAUREN BATH

The red-dirt Lasseter Highway leads 285km (177 miles) west to Warakurna. At the Northern Territory/Western Australia border, we stop for photos at the “Great Central Road” sign. From here, the road gets rougher and more corrugated, but the scenery continues to astonish. Near Warakurna, the Giles Weather Station sits almost slap in the middle of the continent. As the only staffed weather station within an area of about 2.5 million square kilometres (965,255 square miles) it is an important weather and climate observatory for the whole country. Tourists are welcome to watch the daily release of weather balloons and look through the small museum.

Ten days after leaving Winton, we roll into Laverton with our fuel tank on empty, after a nail-biting final 20km (12.5 miles). The fuel pump at the last roadhouse was broken, leaving us travelling, almost literally, on fumes. It confirms the wisdom of travelling in convoy with another vehicle, and of planning ahead.

The Outback Way is an extraordinary journey. Washing the ochre outback dust from my hair and my boots, I’m glad I’ve seen it now, before the road is smooth. Every rut and corrugation helped etch Australia’s red heart into mine.

See www.outbackway.org.au for advice on planning a trip.