Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
More wine! About an hour north of Adelaide is the old-school
Barossa Valley
(
Click
here
; big reds); and about two hours north is the boutiquey
Clare Valley
(
Click here
)
with its world-class riesling, cottagey B&Bs and old stone mining towns.
Continuing north, raggedy
Flinders Ranges National Park
(
Click here
) jags up from
the semi-desert like a rust-coloured mirage. Rich in indigenous culture, the Flinders - the
heart of which is the amazing Ikara (Wilpena Pound) - will etch itself into your memory.
Hit the Stuart Hwy and journey north to the mildly spooky rocket-testing town
Woomera
(
Click here
) and the opal-tinged dugouts of
Coober Pedy
(
Click here
).
Trucking north, you'll enter the Simpson Desert and cross into the NT. The Lasseter
Hwy turn-off takes you to weighty, eye-popping
Uluru
(
Click here
) and the mesmer-
ising
Kata Tjuta
(
Click here
) rock formations. You've seen the photos and the TV
shows, but there's nothing quite like seeing an Uluru sunset firsthand.
About 300km north of Uluru, the spectacular, vertigo-inducing
Watarrka (Kings
Canyon) National Park
(
Click here
) rewards intrepid travellers with scenic walks into
and around the rim of this gaping desert chasm. Finish up in the desert oasis of
Alice
Springs
(
Click here
), in the heart of the steep-sided MacDonnell Ranges. Alice has
plenty to keep you busy for a few days: the excellent Alice Springs Desert Park, some
classy restaurants or just a soak in a swimming pool as you gear-up for the next leg of
your journey (the Stuart Hwy drive or
Ghan
train ride to Darwin, or an internal flight if
you're time-poor).
