- Where: Adelaide – Uluru (Adelaide – Mount Remarkable – The Outback – Coober Pedy – Uluru)
- Time needed: 3 weeks
- Distance: 1600 Kilometers
I hope you embraced all the beautiful beaches and ocean views in our last itinerary because things are about to change big time – Welcome to The Outback Road-Trip!!
Things to Know Before You Head into The Outback
This is a very unique itinerary and needs to be well-planned and prepared. Let me say that again – PLAN AND PREPARE!!!! To begin with, this will not be like any ordinary road trip you have done before.
Gone are the days of mobile phone reception, walking into a shop for some bread and milk – forget about it! Additionally, you will have to calculate where to get fuel because fuel stations will be limited, in fact just fill up every time you get the opportunity!
It is quite understandable if this all sounds a bit overwhelming, and that’s OK. It sounds more intimidating than it is in reality. Just make sure you understand you are driving into an area where there will be no shops, fuel stations, or people in fact for literally hundreds of kilometers.
So, what does all of that mean? To keep it simple, while in Adelaide you plan and prepare accordingly, then you shouldn’t have any problems. As they say in Australia….Too Easy!
If you are unaware of the term “Too Easy” in Australia, you need to read our Free Australia Tutorial For First Time Travelers.
The Outback Road-Trip: Your Personal Vehicle
First and most important of all, inspect your vehicle. You don’t have to be a mechanic, but you must know some very basics at least. If your car should break down, then let it be for something that you couldn’t have planned for.
Keep the car in good working order by having all car fluids topped up at the correct level. It is quite hard to find engine oil, coolant, and brake fluid in the middle of the desert!
Look over the thread and pressure on your tires, don’t forget to also check your spare tire and jack tool kit. Check your lights, are they all in working order? Inspect all bulbs, this includes headlights, full beam, indicators, and brake lights.
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The Outback Road-Trip: Water
Stocking up on water for your journey is a major must-do!! Many supermarkets sell 10-liter drums of water for around $5. These are reusable drums so don’t go wasting your money buying expensive ones in camping shops. For the five months we drove around Australia we had the same three drums from the start.
Almost every campsite will have drinking water, you just need to make sure you will have enough to last for a few days when you are driving from Point A to Point B. Washing water is a separate thing again.
As mentioned above, there are going to be long days of driving. At the end of the day, you just want to pull into your campsite, have a shower, and rest.
But you are now in the “Dusty Outback” and showers are a thing of the past! These days you wash out of a bucket of water and use baby wipes! This is extra water that must also be included in your plan.
The Outback Road-Trip: Food
Now we are going to start stocking up on provisions. You will need to calculate this one as well. It all depends on the pace you will travel and how long your trip is going to take.
If you think your trip will last for two weeks, then you will need to have plenty of food for that duration. Of course, you will come across shops for when you need a loaf of bread, but they often have a heavy price tag hanging off them.
Dry foods such as noodles, rice, and pasta are easy foods to store, can be cheap and is very easy to make a decent meal out of. Other items include cereals, porridge, spices, chocolate, biscuits, and crisps.
Trust us you will not be impressed when you have to spend nearly 8 dollars on a packet of plain digestives biscuits!! If possible, try and freeze your meats, bread, and milk before you set off.
Remember, to cook all your delicious meals you are going to need lots of fuel as well!! Don’t forget to include plenty of gas cylinders and I always like to have lots of spare gas cylinders as well.
Kmart and Bunnings offer the cheapest options compared to camping shops where prices are always higher. If you are also using refillable cylinders, then BCF is your most low-priced option.
The most sensible way to store any bit of food that doesn’t need cooling is in plastic boxes or containers. In some parts of Australia, there are major rodent infestations, and these little critters will get into your vehicle if there is any food left out…… Believe us!
The Outback Road-Trip: Alcohol
If you enjoy a drink after a day of exploring, then this chapter is probably the most important one for you! Alcohol is banned in a lot of towns in the Northern Territory, and if you do come across a liquor shop (remember they are called a “BottleO”) it will be a very expensive shopping trip.
Should you enjoy a particular brand then chances are that brand isn’t even in the shop.
The smartest way of stocking up is to start buying weeks if not months in advance. That way when you start your trip you don’t have to spend a fortune on one huge hit.
If you buy all of your Christmas presents the day before Christmas, then this part of the post is probably irrelevant to you!
The Outback Road-Trip: Fuel
Unlike any normal city or town where you can find fuel within a few minutes’ drive things are again different in the outback.
Fuel stations are located 200 to 400 kilometers away from each other. You are best off topping up every time you get a chance too. Should you run out of fuel then you will more than likely be very remote without any phone reception.
Be prepared that due to its location and transport costs, fuel prices are going to be way higher than your average price. Expect to pay up to 33% more!
The Outback Road-Trip: What to do When You Come Across a Vehicle that Has Broken Down?
On our travels, we were very lucky to have our car in good working order and it never broke down on us. But saying that, anything can happen, and vehicles will break down.
One day when driving beyond the horizon we came across a vehicle at the side of the road with two occupants. We stopped off to check if they were OK, only to be told that they had been stranded for two days and we were only the second car to have stopped.
They had no phone reception and were relying on the first people that stopped to help them believing they had phoned a tow truck on their behalf once they had reached a campsite or town.
The nearest town is 400 kilometers away, which is an 800-kilometer round trip for a tow truck. Who then must assume and believe that a good Samaritan is telling the truth about a car broken down somewhere?
We phoned a couple of tow truck companies when we had phone reception again. Only to be told that they had not received any official request and could not drive out in the hope that the vehicle is still broken down and in place. Fair enough in our opinion.
So, what to do? We ended up phoning the local police who went out on a patrol for 800 kilometers (what a days work!) and located them.
They then returned and put in an official tow request with the details and location of the stranded travelers who at this stage were in the same spot for four days!!!
So what have you learned? Inform the police when you can about fellow road-trippers who have broken down.
Mount Remarkable
By now you should be fully stocked up and ready to go. Say goodbye to the ocean because you won’t be seeing that for a while and let’s hit the road.
The first stop we are going to is ‘Mount Remarkable’, as you can tell the clue is in the name. This place is …… eh, remarkable!
It was so named when an explorer first put his eyes on the mountain range. This huge scenic area is part of the ‘Southern Flinders Ranges’
Mount Remarkable is a fantastic mountain range located only three and a half hours from Adelaide. An alternative option is to take a small detour and drive via Clare to make the drive a bit more scenic if time allows.
Hikers will love this part of Australia with so much vastness to explore. You will be greeted with wave after wave of green hills overlapping each other, steep red stone cliffs, and picturesque views from everywhere you look. That can be either on top of a mountain, or at the bottom looking up!
There are lots of known tracks to go for hikes, some small ones and some very large ones. In fact, the entire range is a hike. We stopped at random places and went for walks uphill as far as we wanted to. Just make sure you do not cross onto private property….
Alligators Gorge
Of all the hikes you can choose from there is one that is a must-do – Alligators Gorge or also known as Ali’s Gorge.
If you are thinking “I never knew there were alligators in Australia” then you would be thinking correctly! It is believed that the Gorge is named after a local Aboriginal shepherd who was named Ali.
Getting to the gorge will lead you on a picturesque drive through old historical towns such as Murray Town, Melrose, and Wilmington.
All three places are worth a stop to explore some of the unique and cheap museums, and also some of the gorgeous buildings that look like you are in a time warp.
When starting the gorge walk begin at the carpark and go down the many steps into the gorge and take a left. It is possible to go straight on as well, but this is a 10-hour -26 KM return hike called the “Alligator Gorge Ring Route Hike“. We are focusing on “The Narrows” a handy 3-kilometer circuit hike.
It happens sometimes in the winter months that the gorge fills up with a bit of water. Don’t be shocked if you have to walk through water that is ankle-deep at some stage.
The spectacular views in the gorge will make the wet shoes worthwhile!
Welcome to The Outback
After exploring Mount Remarkable you can travel further up to Flinders Ranges.
We, unfortunately, did not take this route as it would be better off if you were driving a vehicle with 4-wheel drive.
Instead, we drove towards Port Augusta, and about 10 minutes after passing through the town we were greeted by a billboard saying – Welcome to The Outback!
Accommodation is easy to find in this part of Australia. Anywhere off the main road seems to do for everyone and you will have plenty of choice!
Now you can finally see and feel the famous powder-like red sand. At first, you will be wowed, but once it gets everywhere you will lose interest pretty fast!
Your first night of setting up camp in the desert at sunset creates a great feeling of adventure.
At night, you can hear dingo’s howling, combined with the stars and milky way lighting up the sky with nothing around you for miles.
Maybe you shouldn’t watch Wolf Creek before this part of the journey…..
Coober Pedy – Opal City
Located over 600 kilometers away from Mount Remarkable is a town known as the opal capital of the world.
A town where you might think you have landed on the moon. A truly mad and unique sight and will never see anything similar again – Coober Pedy
The name Coober Pedy is believed to have come from the Aboriginal term, Kupa Piti. Which means – white man in a hole.
And there are many holes here, over 250,000 mine shafts have been dug by miners of all sorts of life trying to make a few bucks looking for precious opal stones.
Due to its location, there are no trees in Coober Pedy. Just lots of piles of sand, rock, and crazy-looking houses as well as tools and old cars from many a decade ago.
Yet there is so much to see in this town.
What to see and do in Coober Pedy – Underground Tour
Opals are one of the main reasons that make Coober Pedy so famous. Besides opal shops on every corner, you will also find many opal mining museums.
The majority of these museums offer underground tours that are all around the same price ($15AUDpp).
You will start off with a brief film about the history of the town in an underground cinema that has been completely dug out of the rock.
The story of how it was formed is crazy, yet also fun and very informative. After the film, you will be taken down the mineshaft and shown how opals were and still are found to this day.
We know this may sound a bit boring, but it is actually really cool, both literally and figuratively!
One of the other reasons why Coober Pedy is so unique is that half of the population lives underground in accommodations called “dugouts”. With summers over 40 degrees Celsius and freezing conditions during the winter months living in Coober Pedy can be quite tough.
That was until miners decided to live in the tunnels they worked in and even extend them to fully dug-out underground houses, hence the name “dugouts”.
Temperatures underground are a consistent low twenty’s the whole year through which makes living in Coober Pedy during those tough months a lot easier. Imagine not even finding any opals and living in those harsh conditions.
Part of the underground tour will explain how miners used to live a hundred years ago, right up until the present day with some real class accommodation, all completely underground.
We did the Umoona Opal tour and would highly recommend this tour, we loved it!
Coober Pedy: Churches
Just because Coober Pedy is a working town doesn’t mean there is no time for religion. There are three churches that are completely carved out of rock.
The Serbian Orthodox Church is the pick of the lot. All these churches can be visited for a small donation in the honesty box.
Coober Pedy: The Madness!
When driving around Coober Pedy you might think you are on a set of a Star Wars movie. In fact, many movies have been recorded in this town such as Vin Diesel’s science fiction movie – Riddick. The “crashed spaceship” prop now lies on the side of the main street.
Another famous movie that was recorded here is Mad Max 3 – Beyond Thunderdome.
After visiting Coober Pedy, we totally understand why Mad Max had been filmed here. We even think the population may have all played themselves in the movie without too much acting!
Coober Pedy Accommodation
It is possible to stay a night in an underground room If you wish to do so. There are many motels and hotels with that available option. Of course, the price will be a small bit more.
Depending on the season prices can vary from 120$ to 250$ per night. The cheapest option available is to stay in a campground where prices normally start around 35$ per night.
Uluru aka Ayers Rock
We are now moving on to the last place to visit on this itinerary of the Outback. This last stop is a road trip in itself with a whopping distance of nearly 750 kilometers from Coober Pedy, with fxxk all in between!
Standing at nearly 350 meters tall this big giant red rock is in the middle of nowhere, yet it is one of the worlds most recognized natural landmarks.
It may take a bit of effort to get here but so worth it! You are now in the Northern Territory, welcome to Uluru
Getting to Uluru
Uluru is located in the Southern part of the Northern Territory. The best way of getting there if you are driving is to break up the drive into two days.
Unless you are a proper petrolhead who just loves to drive, in that case, ride on Jeremy Clarkson! It is also possible to fly from all the main airports in Australia.
The smartest choice of where to stay when visiting Uluru is in a town called Yulara. From here it will only take you 20 to 30 minutes to go visit Uluru and Kata Tjuta.
There are other options available, free campsites for self-contained vehicles, but they are very far away and will be time-consuming. Unless you are that same person who just loves to drive then I would not recommend staying anywhere else than Yulara.
Yulara itself is quite small with a few shops, fuel stations, and luxury hotels. We stayed at the only campsite that is there, which is nearly bigger than the town – Ayers Rock Campground.
Surprisingly for the location and local prices, they offer a deal of paying for two nights and staying for three nights for a total of 100$. Which, in my opinion, is exceptionally fair.
Exploring Uluru
The drive towards Yulara from the Stuart Highway will take you about two and a half hours. About an hour into the drive, you will think you can see “Uluru”. This is not Uluru, but Mount Connor, so don’t get too excited yet!
An entry ticket will cost you 38$ per person and is valid for three days, there is more to see than just Uluru! You must purchase this at the entry gate on the only road that leads to Uluru.
Once you have purchased your ticket you can use the “ticket holder” lane for entry on the other days which will be much faster.
Now let’s start exploring Uluru!!
On your first day we recommend walking the circuit around Uluru. This is around 10 kilometers of flat easy walking on a track with plenty of rest areas in between.
We advise to start the walk in the morning as it will be cooler weather and can get very hot in the afternoon. If the weather gets too hot the track can be closed for the day.
The track is continuous and can be walked in either direction. However, we recommend walking in an anti-clockwise direction leaving from Ayers Rock Base Walk Carpark. This way you can include Kantju Gorge at the end of your Uluru walk without any backtracking.
On the walk, you will come across plenty of photo opportunities and places of interest that tell ancient traditional Aboriginal stories of how the rock was created. Some very cool and interesting stories similar to Celtic Mythology.
As always be safe and be smart. Bring plenty of water, sunscreen, and a hat. Respect the areas where you are not allowed to take any photographs and don’t go climbing any rocks!!
Kata Tjuta AKA The Olgas
Saving the best for last. 30 minutes from Uluru lies another massive rock formation, Kata Tjuta.
For some reason, Uluru gets all the attention and Kata Tjuta gets overlooked and is not as famous. Which is mental because this natural landmark is an unbelievable sight. And dare we say, in our opinion, more amazing than Uluru!
Uluru at Sunrise
We are starting the day with an early wake-up for the visit to Kata Tjuta. Today your morning will start with a sunrise view of Kata Tjuta. Remember it takes about 30 minutes to drive from Yulara to Uluru. Allow yourself plenty of time to get there before the actual sunrise. Often the colours of the sky before the sunrise are better than the sunrise itself.
Both Uluru and Kata Tjuta have sunrise platforms for the best views and obviously, both can’t be done on the same day. Whichever one you do not do on your second day, make sure to it on your third and final day.
There are also designated areas for sunset in both Yulara and Uluru. (The sunset is when the rock glows in its famous red colour)
Kata Tjuta: The Hike
The hike around Kuta Tjuta is two kilometers shorter than Uluru but a bit more physically demanding. If you have a pair of legs, you will be fine though!
Start at the “Valley of the Winds” carpark and follow the signposted track for the first kilometer and then go in an anti-clockwise direction again.
The track will lead you through some out-of-this-world rock formations and eventually lead you to a lookout that no picture can do justice to, absolutely stunning.
Now you can truly embrace the landscape around you, sit down, take a break, and relax. After you leave the viewpoint the walk is mainly all downhill but can get very rocky in some parts. Don’t forget to turn around now and again to embrace the sights behind you!
Walpa Gorge
Once you completed the “Valley of the Winds” hike there is one more trek to do. Don’t worry, this is not another long hike, but a handy 2-kilometer trail in total.
Only a 10-minute drive away from the carpark at Kata Tjuta our last visit of this itinerary is Walpa Gorge. Follow the track that leads to the huge cliffs of this valley. Walk one kilometer down, and one kilometer back, easy!
On the way keep an eye out for some Rock wallabies who are camouflaged into the cliffs.
Upon entering Walpa Gorge it is compulsory to sing Coolio’s song “Gangsta’s Paradise” As I walk through the valley of……..
Having began in Cairns, we have now roughly hit the halfway mark of both the full Australia road trip and also the halfway mark of the Outback!
Continuing “The Outback” in the next itinerary visiting the Northern Territory, and it’s a big road trip!! Going from Uluru all the way up to the croc-infested waters of Darwin.
Again, it will be another road trip full of fun, interesting and crazy stop-offs!
Adelaide to Uluru: Things to Consider!
- Plan and prepare before you set off!!! Have plenty of water, rations and know where to fill up your car with fuel.
- Always carry enough water when going on hikes, and don’t forget sunscreen and a hat. It gets really hot out there!!
- Have an epic road-trip playlist downloaded.
- Most important one of all – Have fun and enjoy!
Enjoy The Outback Road-Trip!
This Adelaide to Uluru road-trip was one of our favourite road trips on our travels so far and we truly hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
This was definitely a tick off the bucket list for us and it did not disappoint!
We would love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to leave us a message below or contact us through our socials.
Slán go fóil
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Looking forward to the next segment!
Happy to hear Sue and Rod, another one out today! enjoy!
Damn gangsters paradise is now permanently in my head lads
Great read..x x