Oodnadatta to Finke

Yes, Mt Dare detour is quite viable . . . Bloods Ck is the way to go, direct route via Dalhousie is a shocker for boulders !
Great facilities and camping there, a nice pub and good food / hospitality.

Dalhousie is well worth a visit and swim if you have time for a detour, but I personally don't camp there any more, no comfort fire, and sometimes (usually) lots of mossies after dusk.

Eringa Waterhole is beaut :)
And Hamilton Stn is still ok for camping there, just drop in and say hello, ask if ok to camp there, you do the right thing etc, and they should give you their approval.
Even though they told me they haven't banned it, it's just nice to say hello and ask.

Or, you can go past Finke (you are heading out through Kulgera, yeah ?) and camp at Lamberts Centre.
Supposed to be fine for camping there.
We are camping there in about a week, en route to Madigan . . . if it stops raining !!!

Ditto to what Les said

And I second the detour through Dalhousie with a stop at Mt Dare.

However why not after mt Dare go to Chambers Pillar via the Lambert Center.

Camp at Chambers, see the sun rise "down" it and then to Uluru via the Oaks Valley, in some places called the Hugh River Stock Route, across west to Stuarts Well Roadhouse and then south on the highway to Erldunda and then swing west to Uluru.

I personally haven't been across that stock route so you would have to check conditions. If it is not suitable then you could skip the Lambert Center and instead go from Mt Dare straight to Chambers Pillar and then double back on the Finke to Alice Road (old Ghan railway) after Chambers and visit the Lambert Center on the way across to Erldunda and then Uluru etc.

Phil

Deleted - wrong place.

I a moderator wishes then please delete this post. I hit the wrong "Reply" button.

Phil

Thank you everyone. I'll look in to all these place.
I think we maybe going to Uluru first on the hwy and then on the way back to Melb take the dirt track. This way we should be able to get an extra day on the oodnadatta and wont have to rush it.

Will get back to everyone with the next iteration of the route plan. Thanks again :)

Have heard from reliable sources that Eringa waterhole is open and closed to camping!

You can back track 20 km's from Kulgera to Mulga Park Drive and take that road to Curtain Springs. its a good road we just traveled it last month. Great spots for bush camps as we did. Its well worth a look at doing.

Camped at Lamberts Centre as planned on the way to Madigan.
Great spot !!

Didn't see shopping trolley, but then we camped sorta NW of the centre structure, and didn't go up near the (apparently) filthy toilet block, and am unsure of shopping trolley previous location.

Plenty of room though, and a fairly easy drive in with a bit of mud here and there, some can be bypassed with a bit of a maze of interconnecting tracks.