Northern Territory in 1 month
Updated: Oct 24, 2022
Part one: 31 days travelling the outback
Northern Territory to Kununurra, WA
Australia. Until you travel it on the road (not plane) you start to realise how big it REALLY is! Roads span for kilometres to reach iconic destinations that truly are magnificent.
picture Above: limited stock. Wander Tshirt click photo to buy
When you are planning, it is overwhelming with information and absolutely saturated with blogs with plenty of ideas. The fear of missing out on visiting places to do on your 'once in a lifetime trip around Australia' is STRESSFUL! … Sounds all familiar?!
Below, is the first 31 days of our 4-month journey in our 4WD, Triton and rooftop tent straight through the centre of Northern Territory, across Western Australia, following the coastline homebound to South Australia. Part one gives you simple details on kilometres driven between destinations, and locations we stopped at.
So, If you are researching your next big adventure in 2022 or even 2023. Itineraries, kilometres and length of stays are important to know, however, do not let this spoil your own travelling adventure, you also need to create your own path.
Regrets are something we don't want to live with. But, we have a saying “you have to leave something to come back too”
Natural disasters, life changes, and COVID-19 regarding the ongoing change in borders can all change your path. Always have a PLAN B. After all, adventures are not the same without challenges!
Snapshot of kilometres travelled.
Provided below is a snapshot of how many kilometres travelled in between destinations.
Personally, I was stunned in reflecting on these figures! to think 58% of our time was driving to destinations, this does not include driving at destinations etc. just A to B! Australia is a massive country!
Total KM travelled | 4320.40km |
Average km travelled per day to destinations *does not include driving onces arrived | 139.37km |
% of time on the road to destination | 58% |
Total nights | 31 |
Total days on the road driving to destinations | 18 |
Itinerary of Travelling between destinations
Below is the detailed itinerary of km travelling between getting to destinations.
Travelling day - does not count in how many nights stayed at a destination
KM - Approximate depending on which location on the map chosen
From - The destination we left from
To - The destination we arrived at
Nights stayed - The number of nights stayed at this location
Most accommodation was booked through booking.com - found it to be great savings and easy to use.
Short cut to the destination of interest:
Travel Day One - Adelaide to Pimba
FINALLY, we are heading off on our 4-month travelling
adventure, there is a lot of preparation required, which will be
a separate blog post. BUT, it was thrilling and to be honest...I didn't really care how far we drove, all that mattered was we were on the road and travelling!
We stopped only once for fuel and a quick bite to eat before hitting the road again, Landing ourselves at a free camp found on Wiki Camp - GET IT! - it is $7.00 and worth it, even works where there is NO RECEPTION.
Travel Day Two - Pimba to Coober Pedy
Wowsers, the sunrise was beautiful! and one of the benefits of a rooftop tent being your home, one - you are high off the ground and two - unzip the canvas and boom, there is a sunrise!
Admittingly, we sucked at packing up the rooftop tent in the morning and took us a good 20 minutes, however, we nailed it after a week with only taking 3 minutes! You just need to find what works for you through trial and error.
Coober Pedy - Welcome to Mars! was just a stop through and stayed around 1.5 hours. The town itself is small however, make sure to check out Umoona opal mine and Museum, Spaceship from Pitch Black and the quirky Shell petrol station on Old Water Tank Road off the main street, which was the cheapest in town!
Travel Day Three - Coober Pedy to Kulgera
Today was all about crossing that border and it was easy! We did, however, plan ahead that we would miss school holidays when crossing the border and it paid off to listen and read the news and live updates on traffic.
Now, Kulgera is one of MANY places you will find bras and undies hanging in the pub and thought it was worth celebrating
crossing the border, so decided to stay at the Kulgera Roadhouse campsite; By the way, it was freezing at night so we were very happy to see a shower that was warm before we jumped into bed!
It's quirky and the owner is the first one into the Northern Territory to bring that true outback ozzie persona, language and all.
Grab yourself a meal, drink and hot shower and celebrate crossing the border!
Travel Day Four - Kulgera to Curtin Springs Station
On our way to Australia's most iconic destination, Uluru (formally known as Ayers Rock) we heard about a station called Curtin Springs and thought we better stop here for a night as we were keen to do a Sunrise at Uluru and then head to Kata Tjuta - so needed a good nights sleep and not too much driving.
Overall, The station vibe is great and has a kitchen serving its very own beef. Here is a link for you to check it out: https://www.curtinsprings.com/
Travel Day Five - Curtin Springs to Yalara
One of our earliest mornings rises as we left at 5:00 am to drive 100km to catch the sunrise of Uluru! TIP: early July nights and mornings are freezing, so make sure to grab some warm gear and bring your head torch!
The feeling watching a sunrise on one of Australia's most iconic destination is extraordinary!
After buying our national park ticket online, we had a QR code to pass through the boom gate when we arrived. It was easy enough and made our way to one of the sunrise platforms.
Here is a link for more information:
https://parksaustralia.gov.au/uluru/do/sunrise-sunset/talinguru-nyakunytjaku/
We even managed afterwards to find another viewpoint and enjoy our morning coffee and chocolate oats for breakfast!
After our energy hit, it was time for some walking, so off we went to Kata Tjuta - meaning 'Many heads' and formally known as The Olgas.
Both the Karingaga Lookout (2.5hours, 5.4km return) and Karu lookout ( 1 hour, 2.2km) were fabulous! however, be prepared! some areas are a little steep and do require you to wear proper footwear. It is classed in grade 4.
After our walk, it was time to find a campground and found this in Yalara, on the Wiki camp app named 'Yalara Overflow' - all the accommodation for this area is at Yalara ranging from luxury to camping. The town has great restaurants, culture and food stores etc. FYI - Yalara was BUSY! the accommodation was expensive and did wonder where we would stay whilst we enjoyed our Sunrise at Uluru and Kata Tjuta.
On our second day at Yalara, we decided to do the 10km base walk of Uluru, since we saw the sunrise already. we did not take pictures as we wished to respect the wishes of the elders, but BOY it was spectacular. You can ride a bike or hire one, run it, walk it etc. whichever way, but take lunch and snacks with you and your rubbish too.
Our third day was doing washing and chilling out in Yalara, food supplies, petrol preparing for our next destination. and then we found the field of lights! this is a MUST!
This was a great way to spend our last night, whether you are a child or an adult.
Travel Day Six - Yalara to Ginty's Lookout (near Kings Canyon)
Our next destination was Kings Canyon, stopping at Ginty's Lookout for a few nights to celebrate my birthday with a view. Word of advice, Kings Canyon is a place where you will need a medium fitness level and somewhat keep your fear of heights in check, but once you are on the rim, it's pretty easy.
Take water and snacks along the way, do your research on the walk to see if it's fit for you. We recommend you do the steep rocky step climb first and follow the blue markers.
Again, Wikicamp app found Ginty's Lookout ( Morris pass..this place has a few names) and could see in the distance King's canyon. We ended up staying here a few nights to soak up the views, relax and restore our bodies from all the hiking and exercise we did, sleep in and of course... celebrate my birthday!
You will need to purchase a Mereenie pass to travel through to Alice Springs. $6.50 for 3 days ( it will only take one day to drive) and can grab this at the service station near the Kings Canyon resort. The road was very corrugated here so be aware!
Travel Day Seven - Ginty's Lookout to Point Howard
After travelling on the Mereenie track, we made it to the Gorge strip of Northern Territory. You can spend more than one night along this strip and do all of them, or base yourself in Alice Springs and do day trips. We visited only 2 places, Ormington Gorge and Ellery Big Creek, Bighole.
The water was freezing, but the sun was inviting - Ormington Gorge, unfortunately, was a little unwelcoming with dead fish as water has not been enough so we drove to Ellery and made a decision that we wouldn't see any others. Point Howards Lookout is another fabulous spot. Free and good distance to the Gorge Strip. Stay here if you can!
Travel Day Eight - Point Howard to Alice Springs
Time spent in Alice springs was all about refuelling, restocking the groceries, using WIFI to research, clean out the car from dust and checking things out that weren't working properly like our dual battery for refrigeration, our mattress for the Rooftop tent and just overall a base to check out Trephina Gorge and a couple of small ones along the way.
Travel day nine - Alice Springs to Tennant Creek
The purpose of this day was to drive - stopping along the way at devils Marbles for a mini walk around the boulders.
We found a free camp near a rail line which we didn't mind.
Travel Day Ten - Tennat Creek to Daly Waters Pub
It only seems right to visit Northern Territory's most famous pub at Daly Waters right?! So we did... it is THE iconic pub that YOU NEED TO VISIT! do not drive past and DO book yourself a camping site as this place gets busy as hell. Example: 6:30 am the next morning, people were lining up just to get in with caravans.
Foods great! Beers Cold!
The atmosphere is what will make you party all night with Free live music! and some characters that run around the place - like a horse and goat not forgetting the Mayor himself. Just go and enjoy it!
