Self Drive Adelaide to Uluru
 

Hi. having been a regular on the Africa Forum whilst my wife and I lived in the UK, we are now here in Adelaide for 4 years and looking forward to seeing some of this vast country.

I have posted here our proposed itinerary for a trip to Uluru/The Alice in mid-October and would welcome any comments/suggestions for enhancing this trip. We are both keen wildlife spotters and love the idea of going at our own pace to soak up the atmosphere of the Outback. We will be driving a new Nissan X-Trail, but we are NOT experienced off-roaders; having heard so many horror stories of broken axles, blown tyres and engines overheating I think we may be staying on the tarmac!

Itinerary:
Day 1 - Adelaide to Port Augusta. Overnight 1: Port Augusta. Hotel Augusta

Days 2/3 - Port Augusta to Woomera to Coober Pedy. Overnight 2/3: Coober Pedy. Desert Cave Hotel

Day 4 - Coober Pedy —to Ayers Rock Resort. Overnight 4: Ayers Rock Resort.

Q - Would it be feasible to drive straight through from Adelaide to Coober Pedy?

Days 5/6 - Ayers Rock Resort & Uluru/Kata Tjuta National Park. Overnights 5/6: Ayers Rock Resort

Days 7 & 8 - Ayers Rock Resort to Alice Springs. Overnights 7/8: Alice Springs. Alice Springs Resort

Q - Sails in the Desert or Desert Gardens Hotel?

Day 9 - Alice Springs to Cadney Homestead. Overnight 9: Cadney Homestead

Day 10 - Cadney to Woomera. Overnight 10: Eldo Hotel,Woomera.

Day 11 - Woomera to Adelaide. Overnight 11: Home!

If it were me I'd leave the new Nissan Patrol at home cos that's a whole lot of driving with nothing much to see.

Now if you were planning on going via the Flinders Ranges and William Creek to get to Coober Pedy, then drive it - otherwise seems to me like a big waste of time.

Fly or take the Ghan to Alice - hire a car there, and then you could use the 4? days you would have spent getting there and back really exploring the area around AS.

Just my opinion, of course. But I can't see the point of spending all that time on the tarmac. There are amazing places to visit between Adelaide and the Alice but you won't see any of them.

I too would suggest a side trip to the Flinder Range, between Adelaide and Coober Pedy. Of course, if you live in Adelaide, you may already have been there.

You could drive from Adelaide to Coober Pedy, but you would end up getting there at night. I didn't like driving the Stuart Highway at night, as there are just too many nocturnal creatures to run into. I'd break up the trip by staying in Port Augusta or the Flinders Range (Wilpena Pound).

It is true that it is quite desolate between Port Augusta and Coober Pedy, but it the landscape is so flat and dry that it was interesting to see. Perhaps just not for such a long time!

While Coober Pedy is a dry dusty old town, there are some interesting things to see. You might consider taking a 'Breakaways' tour to some of the mines, underground buildings, and The Breakaways landscape.

If I was driving all the way from Adelaide to Alice, I'd take a side trip to Watarrka Natnl Park (Kings Canyon), as well as the MacDonnel Range. Some of the highlights of our trip were sunrise hikes at Kings Canyon and Standley Chasm. I thought that the Alice Springs Deser Park was very interesting too, particularly if you like wildlife.

I can't speak to your choice of hotel in Yulara, as I can't afford either of them! Have been in Sails in the Desert for dinner, and it was very nice. I hear that Desert Gardens is smaller and more intimate.

Hi Gov,
I would definitely drive. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! I have never found our landscape boring. The varying colours etc are just a sight to behold. There's not a great need to get off the bitumen. The horror stories of broken axles, blown engines etc are probably due more to foolhardiness than anything else.

I would skip Port Augusta and definitely try and visit Wilpena Pound in the Flinders. Maybe check out Quorn as a base instead of Port Augusta - but I'm not sure what sort of accommodation is available at Quorn.

Definitely check out The Breakaways - you can drive there yourself - this is where they filmed Mad Max and it is a very interesting landscape.

I'm sure you will love our beautiful Red Centre - sit back and enjoy the ride!

Thanks everyone for your help. We love driving in Australia and while many Australians think there's nothing to see on these long drives, for us Brits it's a complete wonder to see such open spaces and big skies and we love it. So we're definitely committed to the drive.

We have already been up to Wilpena -it was fantastic out there so we wouldn't mind going again. However we don't want to have to double back too much and would only wish to go this route if we could go either up or back via the Oodnadatta track. But we are very inexperienced at real outback driving, not very good at car maintenance etc and we are therefore concerned that the road may be too difficult / risky for us.

So if anyone has experience of this route please advise how rough / hard / risky you think it would be for us.