julie hilton

We are planning on doing a road trip to Ulure next year. Within 3 weeks

Has anyone done this trip? If so, I would love to hear your expriences.

Cheers

KJCherokee

What are you driving? How do you plan to have overnight stops?

If you can only travel on sealed roads then you basically have two options: head up to Mt Isa, across the Barkly Highway to the Sturt Hwy, then down through Alice to Uluru; or alternatively head down to Broken Hill, across via Peterborough to Port Augusta, then up the Sturt via Coober Pedy to Uluru. Or make a round trip of it.

If you can travel on dirt roads and camp out, there are a lot more interesting options!

GarryP

Sat nav options for Gold Coast to Ayers Rock all tend to go via Adelaide, etc., avoiding the Simpson Desert. Not avoiding the Simpson Desert means you basically forget the rest of the route, that bit would be challenging enough in it's own right.

If you are doing just one way, then 3 weeks is fine. If you are doing a round trip, then you are basically not going offroad.

KJCherokee

Suggested dirt road circuit.

Gold Coast, Warwick, Goondiwindi, St George, Eulo, Hungerford, Tibooburra, Camerons Corner, then on to the Strzelecki Track via Merty Merty, turn left (south) down to Lyndhurst, Marree, William Creek, Oodnadatta, Marla, Yulara (Uluru), Alice Springs, Plenty Highway (NT), Donohue Highway (Qld), Boulia, Winton, Longreach, Barcaldine, Emerald, Moura, Theodore, Mundubbera, Dalby, Toowoomba, Gold Coast.

Total round trip, about 6000km. Sure you only want to allow 3 weeks? 500km a day is good going, I find, so that's two weeks just driving without stopping to look at all the wonders along the way.

julie hilton

We are planning going via mt Isa and staying on the main roads. We can only do 3 weeks due to work. My hubby wants to exprience the Simpson Desert. We worked out that about 7000 k around trip. We intend on driving about 8 hours a day until we get to Uluru and staying there for about 5 days.

KJCherokee

Sorry Julie, but hubby isn't going to see anything of the Simpson Desert if you stick to the sealed roads - none of them come within cooee of the desert. Plenty of other things to enjoy along the way.

3,500km there via Mt Isa, 3,300 back via Port Augusta and Broken Hill.

GarryP

Personally I'd say take the southern route on the way there. Not only is it going to be easier to find places to stop - you might well find that you are sick of the endless tracts of nothingness going that way. The Mt Isa route is even more nothing, with less stops.

BTW Ayers Rock is an overpriced tourist trap, you might find that 5 days is quite enough - unless you like hiking. Maybe worth considering a stop in Alice or elsewhere along the route. Oh, and you don't say when you are thinking of going. The flies tend to abate in about May time, for the winter. If the flies are around, you WILL need a hat with a fly net - they are the most persistent little b*gg*rs you've ever come across.

mkeylianos

I have no experience road trip with that place , But me too want to hear some suggestion, because I'm planning to have road trip with that place also, So do keep posting reply guys.

KJCherokee

Broken Hill is definitely worth a day, as is Longreach for the Stockman's Hall of Fame and the Qantas Founder's Museum. I agree that Uluru is not worth 5 days - the rock is impressive and well worth visiting but after you've seen it (particularly at sunset) you've seen it! Alice has more of interest, the Desert Park especially, and the canyons in the McDonnell Ranges west of Alice are great.

GarryP is right when he says that there are limited places to find overnight accommodation between Port Augusta to Yulara and Alice to Mt Isa, and don't forget that Alice is 400km from Uluru!

EvannTel

Perhaps a little harsh. It is very expensive but given its the only place in the middle of nowhere there's a reason for that! And hardly a trap - you don't find yourself accidentally stuck there.

Nonetheless 5 days Is more than enough, I'd say 2-3. The rock is a day, Kata Tjuta another day (and far more spectacular and spiritual than the rock). Maybe a day to relax and just have a day off driving. Even Uluru is a reasonable distance from the campsite though.

I've not been but apparently kings canyon is a must see f driving in that neck of the woods.

Good luck, we love our road trips!

GarryP

Well, its a trap that once you're there, you are stuck partaking of their services, at their prices, until such time as you fly out again. Kind of the definition of a trap I'd say.

1 morning for the climb of the rock, maybe a sunset as well.

The Olgas is well overrated, maybe half a day.

The rest of the time you can spend in the pool, or by the bar, or even better, by the bar in the pool.

Oh, and at least 2 days working out new and novel ways of exterminating all flies within a 100m radius; napalm sounds good.

Pollyana

And that raises the other question of course - should one climb Uluru or not?

GarryP

Yes, if you are fit (and I mean it) you should climb Ayers Rock. The weather rock formations on the top are interesting, and of course the view is great. And there is this at the very top

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...p_of_Uluru.jpg

The only proviso is you do have to realise it's dangerous, and the route to the top really needs fencing to stop you falling off/down. Probably the reason that health and safety hazard hasn't been addressed is the same reason you are asking that question.

LeeWillo

I went to Uluru, from Whyalla though. It took us about 12 hours each way. We went through Port Augusta and stopped in Coober Pedy overnight. Coober Pedy is pretty depressing! On the way back we cancelled our hotel booking and drove straight through the day to get home. The roads from there to the NT are exactly the same baron outback landscape. Then it gets a little greener from there to the Rock but not a great deal so again nothing to see.

The Rock was good to see, we went in the morning for sunrise. We couldn't climb the rock because my wife was quite pregnant, and I didn't want to take my 2 year old up either. They close it too if it gets too hot which it was that day.
Fly's are a pain, we went in December so it was hot and supposedly not bad for fly's.

I have heard Kings Canyon is pretty amazing but I didn't go. There are a number of trips you can do at the rock which if you are there for 5 days (more than plenty) you will be best booking some or you will get bored. There is dining under the stars, helicopter rides and motorbike hire & tours.

There is only really one resort, it was a little expensive more than normal but nothing ridiculous. The main expense is fuel. I think diesel up there was about $2.40 when we went compared to $1.50 in Adelaide at the time.

It's definitely worth seeing if you haven't been before, but I won't be rushing back anytime soon. If I were you I'd consider taking a bit longer to get there and stopping off somewhere else on the way.

EvannTel

Are you asking on spiritual or safety grounds?
I would have climbed but it was wet (with waterfalls coming off) when we went.
Your discouraged from climbing on risk grounds, it's not because its sacred or anything, it's because the traditional owners downg want anyone to get hurt. Bad karma and all that.
It is steep and a wrong foot you could kaput. I think the risk helps people decide. A bit like air bags - imagine how safely we'd drive if instead of an airbag it was a hard metal spike! So not having safety rails etc i think is good. It keeps the the place unspoilt and deters the less capable.
It was simlat up in Karijini. Some of the climbs were not for the feint heartened.