Australia was the final destination of our long journey home; country number 26 after 56,000km of travel, but we were far from ‘travelled out’ when we reached Darwin. We had the crown jewel of Australia in front of us - The Red Centre.
A couple of weeks ago, friends asked us if we had any suggestion of where they should spend a one week holiday in Australia. Without hesitation we suggested Central Australia. It’s such a unique part of the world, and travelling through it on the last leg of our 12 months on the road we were not only amazed at why more Australians don’t make the journey out here, but also at how unique and spectacular our own country is.
More so, we kept thinking that if any of these attractions were half way across the world, we would jump on a plane in a heartbeat to visit them.
So why as Australians, are we more likely to fly 8 hours to explore South-East Asia, rather than jump in a car and see what's our own backyard? There's something to be said for the Australian love of exploring faraway lands, but our two weeks of driving 3818 km across the burnt ochres of Australia was a major highlight of our entire journey.
We were surprised to hear from our friends that they had difficulty finding information on what to see in the Red Centre (aside from Uluru). Luckily we had the advantage of travelling with Emma's parents (seasoned veterans of outback Australia), so here's the lowdown on tips on what to see, where to go and how to get there - from one end of Australia to the other.
More so, we kept thinking that if any of these attractions were half way across the world, we would jump on a plane in a heartbeat to visit them.
So why as Australians, are we more likely to fly 8 hours to explore South-East Asia, rather than jump in a car and see what's our own backyard? There's something to be said for the Australian love of exploring faraway lands, but our two weeks of driving 3818 km across the burnt ochres of Australia was a major highlight of our entire journey.
We were surprised to hear from our friends that they had difficulty finding information on what to see in the Red Centre (aside from Uluru). Luckily we had the advantage of travelling with Emma's parents (seasoned veterans of outback Australia), so here's the lowdown on tips on what to see, where to go and how to get there - from one end of Australia to the other.
Transport
In this part of the world, it really, really, really helps a lot if you’ve got your own wheels…and preferable a solid 4WD. In Darwin, we were lucky enough to have the use of a friend's car to visit Litchfield National Park.
From Darwin to Alice Springs, we had one last hurrah on Australian long-haul public transport a shot, and it was, quite frankly, one of the worst bus journeys we had in 12 months of travel. We booked ourselves onto a Greyhound bus, which left at 11:40am, took 22 hours and cost us the grand total of 152.50AUD each. For that price, we could have taken 10 luxury overnight bus trips in Myanmar.
The bus was old, the seats were uncomfortable, and the straight roads were surprisingly bumpy meaning we arrived in Alice with a handful of hours sleep between the two of us. There were lots of stops along the way, as it seems the driver also delivers the post. Trust us - if you can avoid long bus journeys in Australia then you’ll be doing yourselves a big favour!
From Alice, we spent 2 weeks with Emma’s parent’s Isuzu 4WD, and a Bluetongue 4x4 Camper Trailer packed with everything you could possibly need for camping in the Red Centre, or the Moon - trust us, Emma's parents are very well prepared.
From Darwin to Alice Springs, we had one last hurrah on Australian long-haul public transport a shot, and it was, quite frankly, one of the worst bus journeys we had in 12 months of travel. We booked ourselves onto a Greyhound bus, which left at 11:40am, took 22 hours and cost us the grand total of 152.50AUD each. For that price, we could have taken 10 luxury overnight bus trips in Myanmar.
The bus was old, the seats were uncomfortable, and the straight roads were surprisingly bumpy meaning we arrived in Alice with a handful of hours sleep between the two of us. There were lots of stops along the way, as it seems the driver also delivers the post. Trust us - if you can avoid long bus journeys in Australia then you’ll be doing yourselves a big favour!
From Alice, we spent 2 weeks with Emma’s parent’s Isuzu 4WD, and a Bluetongue 4x4 Camper Trailer packed with everything you could possibly need for camping in the Red Centre, or the Moon - trust us, Emma's parents are very well prepared.
Itinerary
Its worth noting that this itinerary was a pretty relaxed pace. We had plenty time for long morning coffee breaks and usually arrived at our destination at a pretty good time. You could definitely pack it all into a shorter time if you wanted to. Then again....isn't travelling in Australia meant to be all about 3pm beers and chilling?
DAY |
ITINERARY |
Day 1 |
Arrive in Darwin from Bali |
Day 2 |
Darwin, city centre |
Day 3 |
Darwin, Litchfield National park (day trip) |
Day 4 |
Darwin to Alice Springs, Greyhound, 22 hours |
Day 5 |
Arrive Alice Springs, recover from bus ride, city sights |
Day 6 |
Alice Springs |
Day 7 |
Alice Springs to Ormiston Gorge Campground, via Standley Chasm (be there at noon for best light) |
Day 8 |
Sunrise at Ormiston Gorge, visit Redbank Gorge and Glen Helen Gorge. Drive to Palm Valley camp ground. Note: rough 4WD track into Palm valley, best done in daylight. |
Day 9 |
Drive 2km along extremely rough track to Palm valley, hike valley walk (3 hours). Drive to Kings Canyon Resort campground for evening. |
Day 10 |
Hike Kings Canyon rim walk (3 hours) or valley walk (1-2 hours). Drive to Yalara (Town servicing Uluru/Kata Tjuta) |
Day 11 |
Morning, sunrise Uluru. Afternoon; base walk around Uluru. |
Day 12 |
Morning; Sunrise at Kata Tjuta, walk ‘Valley of the Winds' walk (2.5 hours) at Kata Tjuta |
Day 13 |
Morning, optional Uluru climb (2 hours), Drive Yulara to Marla (454km) |
Day 14 |
Drive Marla to Coober Pedy (234km). Explore Coober Pedy and drive to The Breakaways for sunset. |
Day 15 |
Explore Coober Pedy in the morning. Drive Coober Pedy to Port Agusta (542 km) |
Most visitors to Darwin make the pilgrimage to Kakadu National Park for good reason, it's an astounding place, but one we unfortunately didn't have time for. By getting the Greyhound to Alice, it means we also missed out on the Devils Marbles and visiting Katherine Gorge - other staples of the Northern Territory.
Getting Around
Planning this route by public transport would be extremely difficult, and the beauty of having your own transport is that you can do things at your own pace.
If you can’t get your own car, next best bet would be to jump on a tour. There are plenty of these either bookable online or in every accommodation place in Darwin or Alice Springs.
Most days were a balance of waking up around sunrise for sightseeing, with long drives in the middle of the day, and more sightseeing/setting up the camp in the afternoon. It works well to avoid the hottest parts of the day.
If you can’t get your own car, next best bet would be to jump on a tour. There are plenty of these either bookable online or in every accommodation place in Darwin or Alice Springs.
Most days were a balance of waking up around sunrise for sightseeing, with long drives in the middle of the day, and more sightseeing/setting up the camp in the afternoon. It works well to avoid the hottest parts of the day.
Food
We were super spoilt in the food department. Emma’s parents rocked in up Alice Springs with a car load of food to survive the entire trip, a bit extra to survive being stranded in the desert and a bit extra in case the world turns all Mad Max in the meantime. No need to go hunting roos or digging for witchetty grubs for us.
Being fully self-sufficient is definitely the way to go around here. All the bigger camp grounds are excellently equipped with fridges, bbq’s, kettles and sometimes gas cookers. The smaller ones probably won’t have a fridge, but a bbq is the minimum.
Supermarkets can be found for stocking up in Alice Springs and Yalara, while Kings Canyon has a smaller local store as part of the resort.
Sticking to vegetarian options makes life a lot easier, so you don’t need to worry about refrigeration in the heat of the desert. And if it’s Easter, you can forget about the Easter bunny visiting. Chocolate eggs will last 10 mins here. Trust us.
But most importantly, make sure you’ve always got enough water on you. You’ll be drinking litres of it every day which still won’t be enough, and if you break down somewhere you definitely don’t want to be stranded without.
Being fully self-sufficient is definitely the way to go around here. All the bigger camp grounds are excellently equipped with fridges, bbq’s, kettles and sometimes gas cookers. The smaller ones probably won’t have a fridge, but a bbq is the minimum.
Supermarkets can be found for stocking up in Alice Springs and Yalara, while Kings Canyon has a smaller local store as part of the resort.
Sticking to vegetarian options makes life a lot easier, so you don’t need to worry about refrigeration in the heat of the desert. And if it’s Easter, you can forget about the Easter bunny visiting. Chocolate eggs will last 10 mins here. Trust us.
But most importantly, make sure you’ve always got enough water on you. You’ll be drinking litres of it every day which still won’t be enough, and if you break down somewhere you definitely don’t want to be stranded without.
Accommodation
Emma’s parents had a fold out Bluetongue 4x4 Camper Trailer which had everything including the kitchen sink. It's pictured with the Coober Pedy sign earlier in the article. We slept in a tent every night.
Campgrounds ranged from having everything from a pool to gas powered kitchens, to pretty basic with no power at all.
Prices also fluctuated a lot. Bigger tourist destinations like Yulara and Kings Canyon were the most expensive, at around 20AUD per adult for a non powered site, to free or a minimal fee at Palm Valley or Ormiston gorge. The Yulara campground actually had 3 nights for the price of two, making it easier to plan out those sunrise and sunset spots. Just visit them all!
Coober Pedy (fun fact; the name is Aboriginal for "white man in a hole") is known for scorching hot weather (and opals), so we planned on staying in local-style underground accommodation. But the cheapest we could find was around 50AUD per person for backpacker-style bunks, so it was back to the campgrounds for a more reasonable 30AUD total.
There is no need to book ahead at any of the camping grounds. At the smaller ones (such as throughout the MacDonnel Ranges and Palm Valley) a ranger will come and collect the small fee around sunset, or there will be a box to leave payment in.
The larger sites (Kings Canyon, Yulara, Coober Pedy), we just rocked up and always found a spot.
Campgrounds ranged from having everything from a pool to gas powered kitchens, to pretty basic with no power at all.
Prices also fluctuated a lot. Bigger tourist destinations like Yulara and Kings Canyon were the most expensive, at around 20AUD per adult for a non powered site, to free or a minimal fee at Palm Valley or Ormiston gorge. The Yulara campground actually had 3 nights for the price of two, making it easier to plan out those sunrise and sunset spots. Just visit them all!
Coober Pedy (fun fact; the name is Aboriginal for "white man in a hole") is known for scorching hot weather (and opals), so we planned on staying in local-style underground accommodation. But the cheapest we could find was around 50AUD per person for backpacker-style bunks, so it was back to the campgrounds for a more reasonable 30AUD total.
There is no need to book ahead at any of the camping grounds. At the smaller ones (such as throughout the MacDonnel Ranges and Palm Valley) a ranger will come and collect the small fee around sunset, or there will be a box to leave payment in.
The larger sites (Kings Canyon, Yulara, Coober Pedy), we just rocked up and always found a spot.
Must see stops
If you’re really limited on time, the big hitters are definitely Uluru, Kata Tjuta and King's Canyon. They are all close enough together to do in a loop from Alice Springs, and could probably be seen in 3-4 days flying in and out of Alice or Yulara.
If you have more time, add in the MacDonnell Ranges.The road runs parallel to them, and there are dozens of turnoffs which take you to all sorts of Gorges and walks - they're all stunning. For a really special experience (and if it's warm enough for swimming) Redbank Gorge will blow your mind. You can swim the whole way through the marbled red rock of the canyon, and with the sun streaming down through the small gap to the sky above, it’s an unforgettable experience.
From Coober Pedy, its a 30 minute drive out to the Breakaways, and sunset there is absolutely stunning. It's total moonscape territory, and a complete change of scenery from the Red Centre. Trust us - don't miss this one!
If you have more time, add in the MacDonnell Ranges.The road runs parallel to them, and there are dozens of turnoffs which take you to all sorts of Gorges and walks - they're all stunning. For a really special experience (and if it's warm enough for swimming) Redbank Gorge will blow your mind. You can swim the whole way through the marbled red rock of the canyon, and with the sun streaming down through the small gap to the sky above, it’s an unforgettable experience.
From Coober Pedy, its a 30 minute drive out to the Breakaways, and sunset there is absolutely stunning. It's total moonscape territory, and a complete change of scenery from the Red Centre. Trust us - don't miss this one!
Tips
- Driving really is the best way to experience this vast country. If time is on your side, put on some good music, clock up the kilometres and watch the landscape gradually change.
- Make the most of sunrises and sunsets at Uluru, it changes every time you see it and it’s the most spectacular time of day. We even added in a bonus of some night time photography just to get the trifecta in.
- Names can be confusing: Uluru the traditional Aboriginal name for Ayers Rock, and both are officially used. Kata Tjuta is the traditional name for the Olgas. Yulara is a newer ‘town’ which has grown to service the national park of Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. There is no camping within the park boundaries
- Check the weather if you are planning walks around the area. They are often closed due to extreme heat or high winds. The information desks in the campgrounds usually have all the information available.