Are my kids too young for a trip to Ayers Rock & back??

Playgrounds at Woomera, Coober Pedy etc.... but.... I'm guessing your kids will make up games as they climb over rocks and build cubbies with sticks?
No need for playgrounds, just get far enough off the road and find some shade if you stop. Keep a good eye on them of course.

They'll love it. I've only got two kids, but travelling with friends the mob added up to four adults and five kids.... and we did a round Oz trip over 6 weeks at similar age ranges.

Meanwhile my sister and her friend and 8 kids travelled completely around Oz from Derby WA to Gippsland Vic. That's two ladies and 8 kids. The youngest just out of nappies. They did the full loop and loved it! But get this.... they travelled by bus and train! [Plane back up to the Kimberley from Perth]

I suspect you will be surprisd at how much the kids will find to do.

If you need a play ground, I can't see a herd of little boys not enjoying Woomera.



My kids were a bit older the first time we headed up there - but as the others said, give yourself time and everyone will have a great time.

Mark

I couldn't agree more than with your closing paragraph.

I was going to say that they could indulge their kids with DVD players & video games & they wouldn't even know that they had been away!

My kids sre 13 and 16 and we still play eye spy. hahahahaha

if you think kids that watch a dvd player in the vehicle don't have a clue about the holidays they have been on, then maybe you should have a word to my 8 yr old daughter. she's been across The Simpson and up through The Gulf in the last 2 years, she can tell you all about Burke and Wills, the overland telegraph line, about crocodiles and dingos and Ayres Riock etc.
it's up to the parents to point out stuff along the way and when you stop somewhere with explain the relevance of the place to them, the fact they watched a dvd whilst plugging 300 - 700klms up a road somewhere doesn't mean the trip is wasted on them.

oh for an edit button to fix my poor spelling from fat fingers...lol

Gday,
I dont think anyone is complete against DVDs and electrical gear.....just how they are used.
Some friends kids get in the car with their Mp3 players crank them up and dont get out of the car, look at anything or talk to anyone unless they are dragged out of the car!
Ive got a DVD player for my car put my kids only use it on long bitumen trips, for limited time and always gets turned off when we get near a town or anything of interest.
It all depends on how you use them.......



Cheers

Ha ha, there will be no girls unfortunately (unless the Dr has buggered up his part of the procedure I've had done!).

Sincerely thanks for the response, we've now booked ouselves in for the trip and to be honest I'm really looking forward to it (my wife was getting cold feet hence the post!).

Nice to know that you've done it well with 4 kids, lets face it we can have nightmares at home sometimes so we shouldn't let it hold us back!

Touché. The hell I've put my wife through dragging everyone all over the place is hard to put into words. The Tanami, Wolfe Creek, Plenty Highway, Boulia, the Isa, Lightning Ridge, Wilpena, Birdsville track- and further afield: Everest Base Camp in Tibet, Laos by boat, overland to Angkor Wat, trekking in Nepal (okay, with porters), Gobi Desert by train- even Komodo Island by bus from Bali to see the dragons. Kids always in tow with bellyaches, sore feet, too hot too cold--and loving it. We all smile when we see the photos afterwards and remember a laugh here, a person there , a sight somewhere else. Penny poor but experiences to vie with Encyclopedia Britannica. And that's with twin girls from when they were six weeks old (went to Bali on the way back to Aus after they were born overseas- and they were unassisted homebirths at that!). And my wife thanks me in the end for managing to get us there and back again in one piece. All this on one teacher's salary. Half the time it's great to get out of the house- that's where I find it really gets a bit much. And a tip- in Australia we never eat in restaurants. For our family it's rarely a fun time. Chips in the park at the playground and a large tub of ice-cream with a spoon each. They like that more than a restaurant and clean up with a bottle of water. Sandwiches, noodles, rice, salads, in-season fruit, cereal. Surely you have a trailer;-) We lashed out on a 50 l Engel fridge last trip and that helped keep a smile on my wife's face. I can only say $1100 well spent. That was half way up the west coast on the way to Alice. Not essential but, really, kids are sometimes secondary. A happy wife helps you sleep at night. Supposed to last a long time and really works.(The fridge and the carving knife:-). We spent so many trips before buying ice every stop for the esky as everyone eats all the ice along the way! Safe travels buddy. Roll with the punches.

hey John,
have a read of my trip report on another forum ( http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=179&t=98425 ) to get a few ideas of what to see along the way to Ayres Rock. basically once we go past Lyndhurst on the start of Day 5 is things you may be interested in seeing along the way. Farina Ruins would be a great stop over point IMHO, i'd have stayed there over Lyndhurst if i knew about it beforehand. we didn't stop off at The Painted Desert between Coober Pedy and Oodnadatta either due to problems encountered along the trip, something i would like to have done but didn't.
cheers

Hi John,

If you are going as far as the rock, go that extra few hundred kms and have a look around Alice Springs and the east and wet Macdonnell Ranges. There is spectacular scenery, gorges, waterholes, meteor craters in abundance to look at. IMHO that area is far more interesting that the rock - but while you are in that vicinity dont forget to go the the Olgas.
Have a look in our blogs - we did trips around and through that gerneral area in 200, 06,07 and 09.

Cheers,

Val