A brown dust devil tornado delayed passing tourists as it whipped through the Australian outback.

Footage shows the weather phenomenon ripping through the dry patch of land with scattered shrubs and trees, stalling holidaymakers on a road trip in Queensland on April 20.

The twister had a thick base which gradually thinned out as it reached almost 30ft above the ground.

Victoria Clarke said the mini-whirlwind was powerful but disappeared on its own.

She said: ‘The cheeky dust devil caused me to stop during a roadtrip in the outback. I watched it from a safe distance until it was gone.'

Dust devil tornadoes are types of whirlwinds that form when the sun heats a patch of land and the air above becomes warmer and rises quickly.

Cooler air then moves into the low-pressure gap left by the rising warm air. The new drafts of cooler air also heat up and rise and the cycle continues, picking up dust and debris and making the spiral visible.

They are not as dangerous as supercell tornadoes, which can cause severe damage.