Planning a trip along the
Oodnadatta trip in he October School Holidays and just after some advice.
The trip will consist of two vehicles a Nissan Patrol and a 95 series TD Prado towing an off road camper trailer. There will be four adults, three kids aged 10, 8 and 4, and a teenage girl who cant see the point of travelling more than an hour from a shopping centre.
The plan is to drive from
Adelaide to
Marree over two days, taking in various sights along the way.
We would spend two nights at
Marree, taking a day trip out to
Level Post Bay and back (3 hours drive?) on day three of the trip.
From
Marree we would drive to
Coward Springs (2.5 hour drive?) taking in Hermit
Hill,
Curdimurka and the Wabma Kadarbu Mound Springs. Camping at
Coward Springs on day 4.
On day five we would drive from
Coward Springs to
William Creek and either leave the trailer before heading on a side jaunt to
Halligan Bay and back to
William Creek for the night (5.5 hours drive?). Alternately we would take the trailer to
Halligan Bay and
camp there for the night (3.5 hours drive?)
On day six we would drive to
Algebuckina Waterhole detouring via Old Peake Telegraph station (5 hours drive from
Halligan Bay, 3.5 hours from
William Creek?)
From this point we are looking at four options.
Option 1 would see us driving from Algebuckina to
Oodnadatta then Arkaringa on day 7 (3 hours driving?), Arkaringa to
Woomera on day 8 (7 hours driving?) And back to
Adelaide on day 9.
Option 2 would see us driving from Algebuckina to
Oodnadatta then
Marla and
Coober Pedy on day 7 (7.5 hours drive),
Coober Pedy to
Woomera on day 8 (4 hours driving), and back to
Adelaide on day nine.
Option 3 would see us drive from Algebuckina to
Oodnadatta,
Hamilton and
Dalhousie springs via Pedirka on day 7 (5 hours?), Dalhousie to Mount Dare, Charlotte Waters, New Crown, Finke and the
Lambert centre on day 8 (4 hours?), the
Lambert Centre to
Kulgera and then
Coober Pedy on day 9 (6 hours?) and
Coober Pedy to
Adelaide on day 10.
Option 4 (if I can gain SWIMBO’s & SWIMBO jr’s blessing) would see the same route as option 3 on day 7 and 8, but would then drive to
Chambers Pillar on day 9 (4.5 hours drive?),
Chambers Pillar to
Alice Springs on day 10 (2.5 hours drive?),
Alice Springs to
Coober Pedy on day 11 and
Coober Pedy to
Adelaide on day 12.
The times given above are estimated driving times, and extra time would be taken up with sightseeing etc on the way.
Do the above estimates of driving times seem about right?
When allowing time to stop and sight see on the way, am I trying too cram to much into too little time, or am I leaving too much time? (I expect to do several trips into the centre over the coming years so
places like
Alice Springs,
Woomera and
Coober Pedy can be visited on future trips)
Where are the best
places to
camp along that route?
When staying at
places like
William Creek do I need to book in advance or can I just turn up?
Where are the best
places to buy diesel along this route?
This will be the first off road trip that I have undertaken with a trailer (though the trailer has done this trip before judging by the stickers put on by the previous owner), the first real trip I have done in the Prado, and my first trip into the outback (most of my experience has been in the
Flinders Ranges, Brindabella Range or south coast of NSW in a 60 Series Landcruiser, so any other general advice would also be appreciated.
Thanks
Graham