Darwin to Uluru - Central Australia: Adelaide to Darwin - page 441

Stuarts Well

About 90km south of Alice Springs, drivers are urged to 'have a spell' at Stuarts Well.
It's worth stopping in for a burger and a beer at Jim's Place ( 08-8956 0808; 08-8952
2111; unpowered/powered sites $20/25, budget r with own swag/supplied linen $15/30, cabins s/d
$75/95; ) run by well-known outback identity Jim Cotterill, who along with his
father opened up Kings Canyon to tourism. You might also catch a performance by
Dinky the singing and piano-playing dingo.
If you would like to ride a camel, Camels Australia ( 08-8956 0925; www.camels-aus-
tralia.com.au ; 7am-5pm) offers a short spin around the yard for adult/child $6/5, a
30-minute jaunt for $25/20 or a full hour ride for $45/35.

Ernest Giles Road

The Ernest Giles Rd heads off to the west of the Stuart Hwy about 140km south of Alice
and is a shorter but much rougher route to Kings Canyon only recommended for 4WD
vehicles.

HENBURY METEORITE CRATERS
About 11km west of the Stuart Hwy, a corrugated track leads 5km off Ernest Giles Rd to
this cluster of 12 small craters, formed after a meteor fell to Earth 4700 years ago. The
largest of the craters is 180m wide and 15m deep.
There are no longer any fragments of the meteorites at the site, but the Museum of
Central Australia ( Click here ) in Alice Springs has a small chunk that weighs 46.5kg.
There are also some pretty exposed camp sites (adult/child $3.30/1.65) available.

Lasseter Highway

The Lasseter Hwy connects the Stuart Hwy with Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, 244km
to the west from the turn-off at Erldunda. At Erldunda food, fuel and accommodation is
available at the Desert Oaks Resort ( 08-8956 0984; www.desertoaksresort.com ; Stuart
Hwy, Erldunda; unpowered/powered sites $22/32, dm $18, motel s/d from $100/118; ) .
Mt Conner , the large mesa (table-top mountain) that looms 350m out of the desert, is
the outback's most photographed red herring − on first sighting many mistake it for
Uluru. It has great significance to local Aboriginal people, who know it as Atila.
Curtin Springs Wayside Inn ( 08-8956 2906; www.curtinsprings.com ; Lasseter Hwy; un-
powered/powered sites free/$25, s/d $65/95, r with bathroom $150;

) is the last stop before