Outback Trip

[AussieMick]

Hi all, my wife and I left home this morning heading to Central Australia for about 4 weeks. Here is a picture of our first nights free campsite. We are about 400kms north of Adelaide just starting to see the country turn more arid. It rained all the way here and is clearing up now. We are kicking back having a few beers. I will post a few pics as we travel if anyone is interested .Due to Covid19 restrictions we have had to get permits to leave South Australia and enter the Northern Territory. Hoping to do a bit of hiking and cycling. The van has a decent load onboard but we need to be self sufficient as it can be remote.

 

[Pummer67]

Hi all, my wife and I left home this morning heading to Central Australia for about 4 weeks. Here is a picture of our first nights free campsite. We are about 400kms north of Adelaide just starting to see the country turn more arid. It rained all the way here and is clearing up now. We are kicking back having a few beers. I will post a few pics as we travel if anyone is interested .Due to Covid19 restrictions we have had to get permits to leave South Australia and enter the Northern Territory. Hoping to do a bit of hiking and cycling. The van has a decent load onboard but we need to be self sufficient as it can be remote.View attachment 81976View attachment 81978

Post away please. The more pics the better. This is what I love about Australia. Such a great place for travelling around. Enjoy ur trip

 

[IestynD]

I'm following with interest.

Keep the pictures coming please.

 

[Broadside]

I agree, the more pics the better. The outback is a fascinating place to me and I would love to tour through it sometime.

For where you are and what you are doing you look pretty lightly loaded to me

 

[Ayjay]

Just keep 'em coming Mick - looking forward to it. BUT what's all this about 'We are kicking back having a few beers'? That really doesn't sound very Aussie to me!

 

[jimc91]

I want to be there , went round Taz last year, fantastic country, lots of pics needed

 

[AussieMick]

Ok will keep posting, sometimes 4 wheel drive would be better as I only have FWD but I do have a raised suspension so reasonable ground clearance. I have a 150w solar panel permanently mounted on the roof and a 150w solar blanket that I can add when I'm around the van so that is enough to stay off the grid permanently as long as we don't get days of cloudy weather. The blanket may get pinched if I'm not around. We have tea leaves in Aust too.

 

[AussieMick]

Diesel prices are good at the moment $1.18 or 65p a litre.
Traffic busy as always

 

[AussieMick]

The further north we go the more arid its becoming. Towns are about 200 to 300 kms apart. Diesel prices still ok. Staying in free campsites so far using an app called wikicamps, it's great. Currently camped 15kms from Coober Pedy which is an opal mining area where people live underground as its bloody hot in summer.
Once again when the driving is done its beer oclock. Rain has gone and getting warmer each day. We are 900kms north west of home.

 

[Pummer67]

Very nice. I did hear when you travel through central aus you fill up everytime you see a petrol station. And I really wouldn't mind at those prices. I filled up couple of weeks ago and was over £100 again at the moment. Loving your photos.

 

[AussieMick]

Yes I keep filling when I can in case next stops have no fuel, also I have a Jerry can just in case

 

[VanDamMan]

Hi @AussieMick ....did you have to show the fuel price...some of us pay £1.18 for the same
but as said prevoius..loving the pictures ....Enjoy ur travels and stay safe

 

[kurienp]

Subscribed! superb pics. Travel safe and keep sharing.

 

[AussieMick]

There are camping spots all along the road, some are just a layby close to the road but some are huge as in pics.You have them all to yourself. From Port Augusta to Alice Springs there are no traffic lights for 1300 kms and bugger all traffic so its pleasurable driving. Central Australia is called the Red Centre and if you look at the soil color you can see why.Coober Pedy is where people live underground or in homes burrowed out of the hillside. If you have more kids you just dig them a new bedroom. Temperatures in the home stays about the same all year round.

 

[Ayjay]

Brilliant again! Way back in the depths of the last century, I worked with the Australian High Commission in London. The guy that I used to go see there was a RAAF officer and pilot. On his wall was a large photo of an aircraft flying over a very wide expanse of the outback with absolutely nothing else visible. We were having Friday afternoon drinks in his office one day (they were different times!) and my colleague asked what the picture was, he replied something like 'yeah that's me flying over the gafa' - when asked what the 'gafa' was, he said it was 'the Great Australian F*** All'

 

[AussieMick]

We passed through Woomera which was a joint Aus/UK military rocket testing base in the 50s and 60s. It is unrestricted now but is a biggish town that seems deserted. Nobody around a bit weird, like the day of the Triffids.Lots of rockets and early jet planes on display.

 

[Pummer67]

Do you actually see anyone in the towns or does hardly anyone live there?
How far north are you planning to go?

 

[VanDamMan]

Hi @AussieMick ...Wow your pictures take me back.. Camberra aircraft and what looks like a Meteor ( that’s what the RAF called them)
Great pics...keep them coming


Ps Just love the trailer ..Why do you Aussie’s get the good stuff

 

[AussieMick]

Arrived at Alice Springs. This is as far north as we go. Heading east to a gorge for a few days then west to camp near some famous chasms and gorges, then to Uluru Ayers rock. Staying in a quiet caravan park 10km out of Alice. Time to shower and wash clothes and fill up with water and fuel.
Most towns in the last 800kms we have passed are just a service station and a pub with a few locals. Hundreds of kms between towns. We have free camped until today and tomorrow then off into the wilds again.
Alice Springs is the second biggest city in Northern Territory. Pics of Alice caravan park, and a typical town and where we camped out in the desert where a meteorite hit 4000 years ago leaving 4 big craters. Sat around the fire having a few bevies with the other travelers, 11 of us, good night had by all. Temperatures around 25c to 30c up here and this is winter.

 

[AussieMick]

Try passing one of these in a TDI340 pulling a trailer. These trucks are called road trains and pull 4 trailers. They are bl**dy long.