Booking accomodation
Submitted: Saturday, Feb 13, 2016 at 13:43
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Greg M15
My partner and I are leaving on our trip the end of June for approx 12 weeks and heading up through
Flinders Ranges....
Alice Springs...Uluru...
Kings Canyon..through to
Darwin .
We plan to do both
free camping and park stays and were wondering if there are certain
places we need to pre book when we are staying in the caravan parks and how early we need to do or is there usually plenty of sites available .
Greg and Leonie
Reply By: Member - tazbaz - Saturday, Feb 13, 2016 at 14:47
Saturday, Feb 13, 2016 at 14:47
We did this trip last year at the same time. Very busy but we did not book a thing and all worked out ok. Trouble with booking is you commit to be at a particular place at a particular time, and that is pretty restrictive.
Kings canyon etc is chockers in the school holidays. We fluked a caravan spot at G'day Mate
Alice Springs, and the decent free camps are usually pretty full by about 2pm. You would probably be better off if you can set off in April, I reckon.
AnswerID:
596200
Follow Up By: baznpud (tassie) - Sunday, Feb 14, 2016 at 08:51
Sunday, Feb 14, 2016 at 08:51
We were in
Alice Springs last year and stayed at the Temple Bar cvp, it's about 9 ks out of town but you only pay $24 pn (
well that was last year) and deposit $10 for power and get a refund if you don't use it all.
The other cvp's are anywhere from $35 to $50 pn.
Cheers.
baz
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Reply By: Idler Chris - Saturday, Feb 13, 2016 at 16:05
Saturday, Feb 13, 2016 at 16:05
Wing it. In busy
places try early afternoon so that if you cannot get in you can head out of town to a
bush camp. CP's loath turning money away so can usually fit you in somewhere.
AnswerID:
596202
Reply By: Crusier 91 - Saturday, Feb 13, 2016 at 16:11
Saturday, Feb 13, 2016 at 16:11
RE: Flinders
If your going outside of school
holiday dates you should be fine with the exception of popular
places.
It doesn't hurt to give some of these place a ring now to
check how busy they'll be. Most of the operators in the Flinders are very honest and wont pull the wool over your eyes if their not expecting to be busy.
AnswerID:
596203
Reply By: Mick O - Sunday, Feb 14, 2016 at 18:42
Sunday, Feb 14, 2016 at 18:42
Greg, June-August is prime travel time in the Red Centre regardless of school holidays. Fink Desert Race, school Holidays, School trips, Footy carnivals and the big truck gathering are a few that come to mind. You would be mad not to book in Uluru,
Kings Canyon and the Alice. I usually use the Macdonald Ranges Big4 and am happy to recommend it.
Avoid disappointment, book
well ahead.
Cheers Mick
AnswerID:
596248
Reply By: Nomadic Navara - Monday, Feb 15, 2016 at 11:16
Monday, Feb 15, 2016 at 11:16
Mostly you only need to book ahead a few days in advance. We often lob into a place and quickly estimate how long we would like to stay. We then ring ahead if we feel we need to.
AnswerID:
596267
Reply By: Member - John and Lynne - Monday, Feb 15, 2016 at 17:00
Monday, Feb 15, 2016 at 17:00
We found that it was not necessary to book far ahead in 2014. Obviously
check for extra busy dates like
Finke River Run and school holidays. It is easier to plan to avoid these times anyway. We did not want to be constrained by an itinerary and found that we had no trouble just ringing the day before if a place was likely to be busy. This gave us the advantage of arriving with a booking and, often, getting a better site. At
Yulara (Uluru) booking a day ahead enabled us to avoid the very long queue at the
gate and go straight in to an excellent site. Free camps will get very crowded at that time so be prepared to start looking for a spot soon after lunch. It may be a good idea to book a bit further ahead for
Darwin at that time, especially if you wish to stay a few days. Don't worry too much - you will generally get in somewhere. Enjoy the trip! Lynne
AnswerID:
596274