Booking accomodation en route

Thanks for that info, my main concern was that I might end up unable to find any sort of accommodation or site at the end of the day, and have to sleep at the side of the track.

Silly me. I thought that's what those things were for :))
Seriously, if you get into most places early there should be something, but as you say booking even a few days or even hours ahead lets you drive and arrive in comfort.

Your'e right of course, I could park up anywhere and kip overnight, but if I were parked up on the side of a track miles from anywhere I wouldn't want people stopping to check up on me, to make sure I'm okay. Not fair on them.

DB, you mean like the night many years ago when my dad and I slept in a parking area in a country town.
We were awoken about 2 am by the police...we had inadvertently parked behind the local bank !
Not fair on any of us :)))

Ha! LOL Some B....anker must have spotted you. :o)
A missed opportunity if ever there was one :o)

Or the night when we just rolled out our swags on the ground at the side of a country town shrouded in mist at 2am ?
I awoke too embarrassed to get up the next morning, my Dad had parked us all in the main street...pretty traumatic experience when you're a teen and people are staring at you as they pass by. The post office was just across the street...and it was a busy morning for them.
So, never bush camp where you can't see the ants nest. Or in a town after dark. Or after dark at all unless you have to.
But if you do, and are awoken by a vehicle pulling into the same pull off along the highway..it's probably just me, not taking my own advice :))))

You should have carried on as normal, built a good fire, brewed a cuppa and had breakfast before carrying on your way as though nothing had happened :o)
As for ants, I came across some really good ones at Wilpena Pound. Plenty were stamped on, and powder encircled every swag, as well as the around and in the ants nests.
Are there designated "Pull Offs" on these roads and tracks then? I didn't notice any. Mind you I was in a troop carrier with 10 others and couldn't see much unless we stopped and got out.
One reason I want to go back onto the Oodnadatta Track is the fact that I missed seeing much of it, except for the faces of the people sitting opposite. :o)
I think I lost something of the beauty and remotness of the place being crammed in with so many other people. I did enjoy the trip, but I was looking for remote, but didn't really find it except at Lake Eyre South, and then only when I went off on my own, out on the salt.

On some roads there are truck pull offs etc every 200K or so I think. There are other areas where ypu can pull off, some with loos etc. They are usually mini cities by the time I pull over. Up oin the Oodnadatta track you more or less have to pick your spots.
Remote isn't remote when you're with a few others I guess. I took my bro on a trip, and it was really only when he got back that he realized where we had been. Of course then he started with the "me heap explorer bwana" routine LOL

Hi Footy!
The server went down last night, I've tried to reply to you twice before, so I hope you don't get 3 replies to your last post.
I saw the pull offs on the Sturt Highway, there were more vehicles in them than there was on the road.
I caught the Greyhound Bus from Coober Pedy to Alice Springs, about a ten hour trip. I saw more on that trip than I did in the four days I was on the 4x4 troop carrier. At least I could see out of the windows, and not just look at the person sitting opposite. It was great fun, there were only seven other passengers, four aboriginals, and three backpackers. We passed one vehicle in the first hour of the trip, then two or three every hour after that, I couldn't believe how clear the road was, and how huge the country is.
The focal point for my last trip down there was Oodnadatta, and I never made it there, having come off the 4x4 trip in Coober Pedy, so I really must get and see the place.
I can see your Bro now, Pith helmet on his head, binoculars around his kneck, following in the footsteps of Sturt and Burke? & Wells? Intrepid explorers all :o)

Ten hours eh? When you think that you were only about 1/2 way across Oz...you're right ! It's a huge country full of mostly very little and very few.
We went to Alice from the Gold Coast and my bro thought that we were just about across...I couldn't convince him that we had another week of travelling to go until we hit the other side....and that in places we would be the only humans for nearly 700K.
I think that's when he finally started to lose it. And I always thought bush happy was a myth! Mind you, a decent meal and the sight of a few female backpackers and he was soon back to his former painful self.
I know it sounds funny, but I was quite fearful for his mental state. So fearful in fact that I broke all my rules and drove a lot of the Kidson Track at night...not exactly what I advise people to do.
Let's just say...
You want remote ?
We got remote.
You want a big sky?
We got the biggest sky you can handle.
You want a big country ?
We've got a bloody huge country.
Of course you'll have to save your pennies to actually enjoy these things :((

I reckon that that Greyhound trip was about 25% of the Sturt Highway. Coober Pedy being about halfway between Adelaide and Alice Springs. It's a road I'd like to travel the full length of.
I didn't get bored with the very little and very few. It was amazing! A very good place to forget the rat race.
I found it great to be so far away from the sea, in the UK one can never be more than about 100k from it, and as I work on it, and also live on a small Island, to be in Alice so far from the Oggin was an amazing feeling.
I took a photo of the Big Sky at Lake Eyre South, the deepest blue, and not a cloud in it, and that was remote as well, as we didn't camp at a regular camp site but well away from the tourist sites. About 90k from the nearest town, Marree I think. The only light we could see were from a road workers camp about 20k away, and that was just one little light. Just millions of stars, spoiled by the brightest moon I've ever seen after 11pm when it rose.
Pennies, or lack of them, are always a problem aren't they? That's why I have to wait a few years, I could go down there now, have a few weeks then go home skint, but I'd prefer to wait a while, and do the whole thing without any concerns about money.
What I did and saw last time in five weeks was pretty amazing, with several months down there I can do and see a whole lot more. Trouble is that I hate having to wait. :o(

Thanks Craig
It's not just those routes, though those are two that I do plan to drive. So generally speaking, I should be able to find accommodation or a site without pre booking, that's good to know. :o)
11am seems early to book in to a camp site though, but there again, I probably wouldn't need power, not just for myself, and that is where a hotel room might come in useful. A couple of nights in a hotel now and again for R&R might be a good idea.

Initally I planned to go Off Track, but have decided not to do that. Travelling alone, it might not be such a good idea.
I recently travelled part of the Oodnadatta Track, as far as William Creek, with a 4X4 outfit, 10 of us in a troop carrier, but left at Coober Pedy due to ill health, so I have some idea of the conditions in March.

Yeah, but I still wouldn't want people to pull over to check on me because I was parked up in an unusual place. I could make a "Do not disturb" sign I suppose :o)
I'm just finding out about protocols etc as well as camp sites, hotels and so on. I can't really start making real plans until I know what's what.

If you get caught up in the detail, you may never leave!

I'm inclined to do two or three different trips, with breaks in between for R&R, and I can't see much point in paying for a vehicle if I'm off the road and in a hotel for any length of time.
That's another detail I have to work out I guess.
But you're right, and I could easily get caught up in the detail and complicate things. I'm quite good at doing that :o)

Hi Stevesub,
Sounds like you, and everyone else, knows what you're talking about. Seems I don't need to fret about much as far as camping or any other sort of accommodation is concerned. As for food and cooking, camping gas will do me, I don't envisage eating much cooked food that I have to prepare myself. So I don't think that powered sites would be essential.
It's some years until I can do a trip like this, and I'm not actually planning the trip yet. Just finding out the basics of what I can and can't do. I haven't even decided how long I'm going down there for yet, though I reckon a minimum 3 months and a maximum 12.

Don't put too much time into planning the trip. Just decide your start and end points and what you want to do in between - then just go day by day and see where you end up. Some places you plan to be at for a week, you are out of there in a day. Likewise other places you plan for a day and 2 weeks later, you are still there.

This is what we have found when we have travelled Australia

Also, cooking your own food is the best option and gas stoves are perfect.

Buying meals is not really an option as restaurants / take aways are not that common in the outback - even people are not that common, let alone food places.

Stevesub

Don't put too much time into planning the trip. Just decide your start and end points and what you want to do in between - then just go day by day and see where you end up. Some places you plan to be at for a week, you are out of there in a day. Likewise other places you plan for a day and 2 weeks later, you are still there.

This is what we have found when we have travelled Australia

Also, cooking your own food is the best option and gas stoves are perfect.

Buying meals is not really an option as restaurants / take aways are not that common in the outback - even people are not that common, let alone food places.

Stevesub

Start Perth----End Perth.
That's it! planning done :o)

Actually, being down there on my own and 15,000k from home I think I might need to do some planning and take some precautions, but I don't want to stick rigidly to an itinary.
Fortunately I can cook, but the odd pub meal or takeaway, when the opportunity arises will be good.

I can cook also , but so far I'm the only one to survive my cooking.
Don't worry, Perth is full of ex poms so you're not really that far from home :) I know..I am one.
Start and finish in Perth? But...but...but...that's only the tip of the country. It's almost a different county in Perth...and it's at the other end of the beach! *for the humour impaired I'm not being serious here, sandgropers*
Hopefully you'll have a good look around the Pilbera, the south, the Kimberly, the Top end...?
Bugger it...just immigrate :)))))

Buy all food in tins, It's allready cooked and can be eaten directly from the tin without any cooking if needed :o) Can you buy tinned damper? :o)
I meant start in Perth and return to Perth via Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Cairns, Darwin, Alice Springs etc etc. As for meeting Poms, I can meet plenty of those over here :o) The Top End dosn't really appeal, too tropical for me, I don't like humid.
I would emmegrate if I were allowed to, not enough capital to do that. One has to buy government bonds or something, plus one is reviewed every three years with a medical, and when one becomes old and wrinkley and dribbles, one can be sent home to the UK again. If I could just move down there and just live on my pensions I'd do that like a shot. More than that to it though. Working down there isn't an option either, not at my age.
The best I can hope for is a few months down there, as a tourist every year or two.
I travelled on the "Indian Pacific" from Perth to Adelaide, Perth is a bit remote for a capital city isn't it! Within an hour of departing we were out in the sticks :o) Lovely little city though, nice and clean and tidy. Unlike our cities.

" old and wrinkley and dribbles"....Ah, I see we've met ? :)))

At least I haven't got there just yet. :o)) God forbid! :o)

It's far better than the alternative :))
Didn't think we'd deport anyone for that...I'd better be careful because in my case I rekkon that "deportation" would mean an open door on the plane about half way there !

Ha! Yes :o) you're a long time dead. :o)
As far as I can see, in my case, being 61, the only way I could live semi permanently in Oz is to put a large amount of cash into Bonds, fully cover myself with health insurance, be totally self sufficient financially. Which is all fair enough. I would be examined medically every three years, and if I was declared unfit, broke etc I would be sent back to the UK. On arrival back in the UK I would find myself homeless, and be at the mercy of the local government, depending on them to house me and so on. Bearing in mind that this could happen when I was in my 70s or 80s. Probably better/safer for me to live over here and commute yearly to Oz.
Not a good idea for you to get deported then, I was surprised to find that most of the flight to and from the UK are over the ground, not the sea. Not that it makes much difference when stepping out at 40,000 ft :o)

While I was working they couldn't deport me, as my taxes were about the size of the budget surplus. But now I'm not so sure.

I remember reading that during the war someone's daughter was told her father was an enemy alien and they were going to put him in a detention centre.
She showed his naturalization papers to which the attending policeman said, "they're not worth the paper they're printed on". Or words to that effect. Makes you wonder.

Not much chance of it really. I mean my wife's rellies were criminals from the UK and they kept them here. Of course it was during the 18th century :)))
Think on the bright side.When you're too old to drive, you'll have public transport.
Most of Oz won't :((

Having a mountain of money would help a lot no doubt.
I wonder if the "Enemy Alien" retained his naturalization after the war.
Naturalization wouldn't be an option for me anyway, too old. Mind you, I don't mind being a Pommy Bastard :o)
Perhaps my three drink driving offences and my one ABH offence would count in my favour. I hasten to add that I'm squeaky clean these days though, I don't even drink! :o)
As I type It's raining, blowing half a gale and the temprature is around 15c. It's a pretty standard Summer for us here. Plus everyone seems miserable all the time. That's pretty standard as well. :o)
I'm entitled to free bus travel now.........What's a bus?