Adelaide to Darwin advice

Steve11 · Senior Member

Adelaide to Darwin advice

NeilandRaine · Guru

Have a look at woomera
Coober Pedy, stay a few days.
If you go to the Rock it is better to book into Erldunda C/P or Mt Ebeneza and do a day trip by car from there.
spend some time in Alice make sure you go to the living desert and the transport museum
All the little road houses have a story to tell, check them out.
Make sure you go into Daly Waters, spend the night for the pub meal and entertainment
Katherine Gorge is worth doing
Just for the hell of it and to say you did it turn right at pine creek and go through Kakadu. There are cheap or free things to do.
(on the way back have a look at Litchfield and Adelaide River war memorial)
Anyway enjoy your trip, maybe 6 weeks might not be long enough

valiant81 · Guru

Hi all;

Another thing to have a look at on the way up is the devel's marbles, north of Alice Springs, worth the stop over for the night. take a good digital slr camera. Madaranka also comes to mind.

Enjoy your trip and 6 weeks would be to short a time to see every thing.

Good luck.

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

Give these sites a bit of a gander, Steve -

http://www.ritas-outback-guide.com/stuart-highway.html

http://www.exploringaustralia.com.au/stuart.php

Cheers - John

Steve11 · Senior Member

Thanks for you replies so far. We can easily stretch it out to a few more weeks if required.

cheers Steve.

Ozzie_Traveller · Senior Member

G'day Steve

All good stuff above too & more to think about ...

A "detour" just north of Coober Pedy is the run thru the Breakaways. Head out of CP on the Oodnadatta road for 20km or so then turn into the Breakaways. Good dirt roads, no worries, and the most spectacular scenery. Camp over night if you want to, then rejoin the Stuart Hwy about 50km north of CP and keep going upwards

Around Alice Springs you have choices as well ...
Westwards to Ormiston Gorge [and others as well], plenty of campsites, paid & unpaid, stay the night at Glen Helen "resort" / CP or Ormiston Gorge CP
-or-
Eastwards out to Trephina Gorge [and others] etc etc staying the night at Trephina or Ross River CP ... a quaint place with a good eatery

Each journey is about 200km round trip and both are well worth the time

Some more to think about
Phil

wendyv · Guru

Refer to a map - good road atlas map, or Google maps.
Then Google names of towns, places, national parks - will get a heap of information that way. From that, you can plan a rough schedule.
For free camping, if that is your thing, use Wiki and/or Camps book to see if there are suitable spots.
For caravan parks, if wanted, use the Badgers site, get information from above Google; I also use Caravan Parks Australia Wide.
Be aware that you are going at a popular time of year and if you want to get into a decent park in places like Alice Springs and Darwin, you will need to book ahead - maybe not right now, but once you have an idea of how fast you are progressing, at least a couple of weeks ahead.

wendyv · Guru

Some of the best places, in my view - The Breakaways, out of Coober Pedy. Yulara/Ayers Rock/Olgas. Kings Canyon - you will probably need to backtrack to stay on the sealed roads, but worth the detour. The assorted gorges etc west of Alice Springs. Territory Wildlife Park at Alice Springs - allow the best part of a day for this. Ditto the one near Berry Springs, near Darwin. Devils Marbles - overnight stay for sunset and sunrise on them, if you can find a spot to park - don't leave it very late in the day!! Mataranka Katherine - Gorge (boat trip) and springs Kakadu - Gunlom Falls, Barramundie Falls, dawn or dusk cruise at Yellow Waters, Nourlangie Rock, Ubirr, Mamakula Wetlands Window on the Wetlands on Arnhem Highway Litchfield National Park - stay there and really explore it

Darwin - wharf precinct Museum - Cyclone Tracy feature and art collection Mindil Beach markets and sunset Parap Markets Air Museum historic old Darwin buildings & oil tunnels day trip to Tiwi Islands if you can afford it

If you start researching the above, should lead you to other things. There is a lot that people do that I have not included.

BruDi · Senior Member

I do lots of my planning via the RAA site. I presume you're a member so accessing it is quite simple. Access is through the Travel tab, then Domestic Travel, then Travel Planner. You can print off the map too, it is from Google. I never do that as we use a GPS and Atlas.

Di

Hylife · Guru

The strip maps are still available from RAA but now you download them and print them off.

Google RAA stripmaps https://www.google.com.au/#q=raa+stripmaps

For your trip links as follows

Adelaide to Alice
https://www.raa.com.au/documents/pt-wakefield-pt-augusta-coober-pedy-via-port-wakefield-rd-and-stuart-hwy-route

Alice to Darwin
https://www.raa.com.au/documents/alice-springs-to-darwin-tennant-creek-katherine-via-stuart-hwy-route-2

Mutley · Senior Member

We leave Adelaide & sometimes our 1st stop is Pt Wakefield. If its early, we just stop for breaky in a cafe, if its not early, we drive down the side street & have lunch in the park on the water near the CP.

Alternately, Snowtown is not far up the road & a great lunch stop.

From there, its usually Pt Augusta, where the park in the centre of town near the bridge is a pretty good spot to have a break & is handy to the shops.

As you drive on, you will notice that all of a sudden, there are no more trees!

Island Lagoon will be on your left side as you drive up, just before Woomera. Sensational scenery!

Glendambo is the next stop & if you haven't been up that way before, its worth stopping there. There is a CP & the bar comes alive in the evenings if there are enough fellow travellers there!

There are numerous wayside stops & then Coober Pedy. We've stayed at the Stuart Range CP & the CP attached to the Opal Inn - no complaints about either! As mentioned above, the breakaways are pretty special & definitely worth a look.

Next up is Cadney Park - which is a good place to leave the van & explore the Painted Desert if you are so inclined! We did it in reverse, coming out at Cadney Park, after leaving Oodnadatta. I'd absolutely recommend it!

Then, Marla; there is a CP there & a roadhouse, not much else!

This is followed by the NT/SA border. A photo opportunity & toilets, but that's it really!

Kulgera is the 1st roadhouse in the NT & also the way into Finke. If you choose, you could leave the van at Kulgera & drive down a very good dirt road to "Lambert's Centre" - the geographical centre of Aust! The last bit in, from the Kulgera - Finke Rd is a 4WD track, but easily passable. This would easily be done in a day Kulgera to Kulgera. Definitely a good option!

Erldunda is your next stop & is the busiest roadhouse between AS & Pt Augusta! They have a CP, but there isn't much to do/see there! It is also the junction of the Stuart Hwy & the road to Uluru. If you go to Uluru, keep an eye out for Mt Conner along the way. A lot of people mistake it for the rock! At Ayer's Rock Resort, be prepared to pay through the nose for EVERYTHING! It is definitely worth seeing, but they know it & they charge accordingly!

You can get up to King's Canyon on the bitumen from the road back to Erldunda from the rock - The Meerenie Loop through there, back to AS is one of the best long dirt roads I've ever travelled on! But King's Canyon is not on my "I'd like to go back there one day" list! I found it over rated & they charge like Uluru! Further along of that road, you can either turn off & go up to AS via Glen Helen & the gorges, or keep going to Hermannsburg & Palm Valley. You can do the gorges out to Glen Helen as a day trip from AS once you're there, so I'd keep on going & have a look at Hermannsburg & Palm Valley. Palm Valley is a definite 4WD track! Keep your eye out for camels on the Mereenie Loop!

If you choose not to go to the rock & continue up the Stuart, you will come to the little roadhouse at Stuart's Well & also the road into Rainbow Valley. The diversion is worth a look, but this is a roughish road. We met some Wicked campers there once, but................ I wouldn't have taken my 2WD in there. You can camp there overnight if you wish.

Next is AS! The eastern Mac's are a great place to explore, out to Ross River via Corroboree Rock etc.................

Have a great trip! :)

Steve11 · Senior Member

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. Looks like I better get busy reading all the sites and maps.

Here we goooooooo........ just started retirement!

thanks Steve

JeffRae · Guru

Definetrly good advice Steve11, we are heading that way later in the year, will store for our use as well

Mutley · Senior Member

Alice Springs is a very busy town with lots to see! There is a market in the mall on Sundays, with food outlets & coffee shops & you will be offered dot paintings by the locals no matter when you visit. I was in the car waiting for my other half, who was buying pizza & I got approached by someone selling dot paintings one time - the price started at $70 & went all the way down to $2 (I really should have bought it!). The original "Alice Spring" at the telegraph station is worth a visit. We did the dawn ballooning over the desert with a champagne & strawberry breaky one time, EXCELLENT! You can also get tours in 4WD buses out to Palm Valley & Chambers Pillar if you're not keen on driving out there on your own. The AS walking & running club also have a great day where you climb up the peak adjacent to the Gap, they call it "the king of the mountain"if you're up to it! It was in September when we did it (had a ball!)

Heading north, the next photo opportunity is the tropic of Capricorn. Not a lot there, but hey, you can say that you've been there lol! I must confess, we've never stopped at Ti Tree! So I can't comment on it. Have stopped at Barrow Creek a few times & would never stay there overnight unless I had to, but some do (very rustic lol!)

Wycliffe Well is a brilliant little stop! We'd only ever stopped for a short break or fuel there until last August & destiny put us there overnight. I thoroughly recommend it! There was a crowd in the bar & live music, great fun! We had someone's cattle come into the CP from the bush after dark to feed on the nicely kept lawns. They were no problem & added to the atmosphere!

The Devil's Marbles are definitely worth a look. You can camp there (we haven't)

Tennant Creek is the next big (ish) town; we've stayed at both motels & the CP. The 1st motel into town from the south is pretty good! Their restaurant is really good. The other motel & the CP are pretty good too IMO. This town has improved out of sight since John Howard introduced the 'intervention" in the NT. I wasn't a fan of Tennant Creek before, but am now. Fuel is usually cheaper here than further up at 3 ways.

Next is Banka Banka - we haven't stopped there, but it looks pretty nice from the highway!

Renner Springs is a roadhouse/CP/motel & has had the most expensive fuel on the Stuart when we have stopped there.

Elliot is very run down.

Newcastle Waters is a nice little stop over, there are historical things to look at.

Dunmarra is another roadhouse with a CP attached.

Daly Waters is the best spot to visit since we left AS! A beer at the pub is a must!

Mataranka is IMO a wonderful place! We have stayed at all 3 CP's & enjoyed them all! My favourite is the Tourist Village on the south side of town, where the clear springs are. Although Bitter Springs & the CP on the north side of town are both pretty good too!

Elsey cemetery is definitely worth a look! You are now in the tropics!

Enjoy! :)