Leigh Creek Outback Resort

On our family trip we came into a bit of difficulty and that’s where we felt like locals in a town that we’ve never been too before. The local service station gave us advice, the tavern looked after our family and gave us the best advice for the nearest vehicle recovery business (Cookes Outback Motors) who were absolutely supurb. So if you ever visit this rugged part of Australia. Be sure to use these fantastic small outback businesses and support them along your journey. We feel blessed to have had the problems we had in such a friendly town.

We stayed a night in one of the Queen Deluxe Motel Rooms and were very pleased. The room must have been recently refurbished as it was in near new condition. The room was immaculately clean and well presented. Microwave, large bathroom, the bed was really comfortable. Close to the restaurant and bar too. The meals were excellent as was the service. If travelling out this way, it would be very hard to beat Leigh Creek Outback Resort. It is an oasis with fuel, a large IGA, and post office in this lovely town. Highly recommended as being well worth a visit.

Not a resort by any means. Credit to Breyten and his few hardworking staff, but the “ transformation” promised a few years ago clearly hasn’t happened yet. The place is tired, untidy, feels abandoned, and needs a big injection of maintenance. The rooms are old and yellowed and we and our friends suffered from bed bug attacks. The Tavern / housekeeping / grounds staff (the same few people it seems) tried hard and were busy, but there needs to be quite a few more employed to lift the rundown feeling of the place. Perhaps it’s down to tough times during Covid, or the current shortage of backpackers, but at present it’s not very good.

Fantastic place to stay. The room was simple but neat and tidy. Split system in room kept the room nice and warm when temperature was 4 degrees outside. Kettle, toaster, microwave, bowls, cutlery, mugs/cups, iron in room. We stayed in a queen motel room. One queen bed, one single bed. Foodland and shopping precincts are all in the little'village' area, so you can walk around for all you need. Nice playground, oval, pool, tennis court, batting cages. There is plenty of room for children to have fun. Great meals on site. Easy parking. Staff were great. Especially Bonnie and Ryan, these two staff members went above and beyond in customer service. Made us feel very welcome. Knew the area and had great suggestions on things to go, see, and do. Very quiet place to stay (other than our very loud neighbours who came in at 11.30pm every night, banging the door and stomping the mud off their boots, waking us all up) Could not fault pricing, food,and service. Rooms are a little outdated in their decor, but still very comfortable, and we were very happy in our room #2 Would definitely stay again when up that way.

I must Give Ben and his staff a big thankyou. for helping to organise, A very early 5am Breakfast for my Tour Group, as we had a very long trip on the second day of our Wonders of The Painted Desert Tour. And had to Depart by 6.30 am from the Resort. Ben is such a nice person, who goes above and beyond to organise, and help . Thats why i keep returning to the Leigh Creek Outback Resort, with my Outback Coach Tours. 100 out of 100 for service and that great country Hospitality, and their meals are amazing, they can never do enough for you. Regards Liam Mackey. Holiday Wonders Tours Adeliade.

Great place to stopover on your outback trip. Rooms are fairly priced ($135), clean and functional. Food in the bistro is very good. $34 for the 300g scotch fillet and $20 for the beef schnitzel. Both cooked really well. Not a huge amount to do in town, but a nice place to relax. Call ahead for a free airport pickup

Had a very good chicken burger...for lunch. Very friendly staff. The restaurant was spotless and nice. I felt sad for the town. Lots of houses closed down and being demolished. Hopefully it will pick up. Great stop on your way north. Pity the mine is totally closed and dont have tours there. Worth the stop to help the town.

We stayed one night as a stopover on our journey so didn't really have time to explore the area. As others have noted, the town was built in the 1980s to accommodate around 5,000 people and is now home to about 140. It's a unique thing to walk around a mostly deserted town. We shared a pizza in the restaurant and it was very good. Staff were pleasant and efficient, especially the young bearded guy in the restaurant - sorry didn't get your name. The room was a bit dated but it was clean and quiet - one negative is that Wifi did not work in the room. It was available in the restaurant/ bar area. There is a petrol station with small grocery store on-site. Would we stay here again? There aren't a lot of other options nearby, but regardless of that, yes we would.

The Leigh Creek Outback Resort is really a bit of a misnomer. In reality, the town of Leigh Creek which was built in the late 1970s is in steep decline due to the closure of the local coal mines. The establishment of the resort is an attempt to rebadge the town as a tourism destination, whilst at the same time using the existing residential infrastructure as accommodation. So it’s not really a resort as such, really more like a booking office/tavern with some hotel rooms and self-contained cabins in the surrounding streets. The cabins are quite comfortable, although they do have a very 1970’s vibe (think orange Laminex, patterned carpets and textured floor tiles). They have kitchenettes where you could prepare modest meals and there are adjacent laundries. The rooms aren’t particularly well soundproofed and light sleepers may be disturbed by the sounds from next door. Whilst satellite TVs are provided, it should be noted there is no WiFi currently available in the cabins. The town of Leigh Creek has a couple of shops including a small Foodland grocery store if you need to stock up with anything. Sadly, I wouldn’t say Leigh Creek is a true tourist destination, but the Outback Resort is perfectly adequate accommodation on the way through.