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The Queensland Outback is a surprising place - and the town of Eulo, best known for holding the world lizard-racing championships each August, has its own surprises.
Eulo, population 49, is home to Ian and Nan Pike's Palm Grove Date Farm.
Ian makes what he believes is the world's only date wine.
The Pikes' business, based just off Eulo's main street, also offers mud baths which are said to be good for the skin.
They have five old-fashioned stand-alone bathtubs - four of them open-air and one inside a small building.
There's also a "stretch" bath, more than 3m long, in which couples lie toe to toe.
A mud treatment, said "to make you feel 10 years younger", takes up to 90 minutes.
My wife Val and I opted for the stretch tub.
Ian filled it with hot water then poured in a mineral-rich clay powder and gave it a stir.
Mud springs produce clays that are rich in minerals such as magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron, silica and zinc.
Ian explained what was to happen next, then handed over a small container of local clay and an even smaller jar of moisturising cream.
On a tray across the the bath he placed two platefuls of nibbles - dates, figs, cheese, onions, crackers - with a bottle of cold white date wine standing nearby in an ice-bucket. Then he retreated to his date shop.
Modestly clad in our bathers - some customers prefer to be in the raw - we stepped into the tub and lay down, all but our heads beneath the warm, muddy water that resembled kava.
The wine had a distinctive date taste although Val said it reminded her a little of sherry.
After about 40 minutes' basking in the winter sunshine and nibbling on the refreshments, we got out, dried ourselves and smeared clay mud from the container all over our bodies.
A fire in the corner of the enclosure helped cake the mud within 10 minutes and we jumped back into the tub, washed off the clay, showered, towelled ourselves down and applied the moisturiser.
Ian told us that a party of women visiting from Sydney were astonished at what he charged: $60 per person.
"They said that in some up-market Sydney spas it would be over $A300 [$338]," he said, looking pleased but amazed at this city profligacy.
Back in the shop, Ian offered three date wines to taste - a dry, a sweet and one in between - plus a sticky date liqueur.
Also on sale were fresh and dried dates, figs, jams and date-ginger and date-chilli spreads.
His dates come from the palms that stand around artesian bores in the area. The trees were brought to Australia in the early 1800s by Afghan cameleers.
So how did we feel after all this? Certainly our skin felt aglow - and not only because of the date wine.
Ian's mud-bath customers go away with a certificate assuring them: "You have been successfully rejuvenated and youthified."
Eulo may be small but it has quite a history which can be explored through a Heritage Trail.
On the Paroo River, it was a stopping place on the west-east cattle trails of the late 1800s and nearby opal fields also attracted hundreds of fossickers.
The story goes that in its wilder days, residents asked that a policeman be stationed there because "the riff-raff from New South Wales were coming over the border".
Fortunately it's a bit quieter these days.
- AAP
* James Shrimpton visited Eulo as a guest of Tourism Queensland.
Checklist
Eulo, Queensland
How to get there
Eulo is 68km west of Coonamulla, 198km south of the railhead at Charleville in southwest Queensland from which many coach tours of the region start, and where rental cars are available.
The Westerner train runs twice weekly overnight between Brisbane and Charleville, and Qantas flies daily via Roma.
What to do
Ian Pike's Palm Grove Date Farm and Winery and mud baths, phone
61 7 4655 4890. Bookings essential.
Further information
To find out more about the Eulo area visit www.paroo.info and www.murweh.qld.gov.au.
For information on holidaying in Queensland see www.queenslandholidays.com.au/
