Canowindra might be known as the hot-air ballooning capital of Australia, but there's plenty more going for this town. The Canowindra community is looking to reinvent its future, doing big gestures of kindness along the way.
Heather travels to Pine Creek, a pioneering outback town in the Northern Territory. On the fringes of Kakadu National Park, Pine Creek has long been a boom or bust mining area, but the town now finds itself at a cross roads.
Heather Ewart heads to the Pilbara region of Western Australia to meet some of the remarkable locals who are driving change as the mining boom ends. There's also plenty of 'girl power' to be found out in this harsh landscape.
In this special hour long episode Heather returns to communities whose good humour and inventiveness inspired and uplifted us in the best of Back Roads.
Violet Town, Victoria, is a small place with a very big heart. It might be well-known by some for its popular monthly market, but it's the way Violet Town locals embrace creativity and diversity that really makes a difference.
Heather Ewart travels to Waterfall Way in NSW, one of the most beautiful drives in Australia. But it's not just the scenery that's spectacular, Heather meets some wonderful locals including celebrated pianist, David Helfgott.
Heather Ewart travels along the southern Murray River. She meets locals who've weathered drought and flood. She experiences many shades of the river from its bountiful Riverland to the spectacular limestone cliffs of Big Bend.
Guest presenter Paul West visits the small, yet spectacular, town of Natimuk in Victoria. Paul discovers that two worlds have collided in Natimuk, where the community is a mix of rock climbers and German-Lutheran farmers.
Heather visits Scottsdale in Tasmania's north-east. After losing three major industries, the area's unemployment figures doubled. With the only options to move or innovate, locals started creating new jobs.
ABC News presenter Joe O'Brien visits the tiny Queensland town of Thallon. Joe grew up in regional Queensland, and he gladly leaves the studio behind to head into the outback.
Heather Ewart visits Robinvale, in Victoria, which was named after a local soldier, Lieutenant George 'Robin' Cuttle, who was killed at the Somme during the First World War, near the town of Villers-Bretonneux in France.
In the mid-season final, Heather Ewart travels to the surprising little town of Nyngan. The gateway to the outback in NSW, this isolated spot on the Bogan River, Nyngan locals are changing the lives of others.
Heather Ewart is on a road trip in Queensland with a much-loved travelling greengrocer. For 30 years, Fari Rameshfar has traveled through droughts, cyclones and floods to deliver fresh food to people living in isolation.
Heather Ewart heads to the NSW outback town of Lightning Ridge, a place of dreamers and drifters, with most residents lured by the black opals. Heather discovers the many stories of Lightning Ridge's outback grit.
Guest presenter Paul West visits the Furneaux Islands, a wild and windswept group of islands in Bass Strait, just off Tasmania. The cold ocean waters are full of treasures like lobsters and abalone, plus rusted shipwrecks.