Sydney to Alice....

[Yorkshire_Jon]

Hi all,
Weve decided that we are going to take a trip over to Alice and Ularu in the 110, probably in April. Wanting to see the rock and Alice itself, generally do some touristy stuff and a few tracks up that way.

Question's if I may:
1. Are there any problems with going in April? I think we should be OK re road conditions and temperature wise.
2. How long to get there? I know it depends how many hours you drive in a day, but we dont want to bust a gut, but also cant afford 2 weeks to get there! What would be a realistic expectation? drivethere.com.au suggests 1day and 10hrs!

thanks.
Jon

[V8Ian]

Hi all,
Weve decided that we are going to take a trip over to Alice and Ularu in the 110, probably in April. Wanting to see the rock and Alice itself, generally do some touristy stuff and a few tracks up that way.

Question's if I may:
1. Are there any problems with going in April? I think we should be OK re road conditions and temperature wise.
2. How long to get there? I know it depends how many hours you drive in a day, but we dont want to bust a gut, but also cant afford 2 weeks to get there! What would be a realistic expectation? drivethere.com.au suggests 1day and 10hrs!

thanks.
Jon
Drive daylight hours only, aiming for 800 k a day, max 1000 k. It really depends on what you want to see on the way.

[dmdigital]

Jon,

All depends on which way you want to go to get there. Theres a conveniently placed and rather large dessert between Sydney and the Alice;)

Being April and given your time constraints I'd recommend going most of the way by the sealed routes. A good one would be down to Mildura, through the Riverenia and on to Adelaide, Flinders Ranges and up the Oodnadatta track to Mala and on to the Alice.

Bank on a few long days of 600-800km and keep the rest short (<500km).

[lewy]

I knew you couldn't keep away.think about having a look at the Flinders ranges as well

[dmdigital]

Meant to ask...

When are you coming north for a visit Jon?

[Tote]

We did a similar trip Last Year to Darwin, below are the days we achieved:
Day 1 Warren - White Cliffs
Day 2 White Cliffs - Peterborough
Day 3 Peterborough - Leigh Creek
Day 4 Leigh Creek - Coward Springs
Day 5 Coward springs - Oodnadatta
Day 6 Oodnadatta - Alice springs

Allow a day to get from Sydney to Warren and if you want to stay in an underground motel do it at Coober Peedy on the way home, ie avoid White Cliffs and save yourself a few hours.
We Camped between Peterborough and the Alice, had a good look at everything on the track, flew over Lake Eyre and drove through the Flinders Ranges.

On the way back from Darwin we drove from Alice to the Rock, got there mid afternoon set up camp, saw the sunset and had a walk along the base. Next morning we broke camp and had a long drive to Coober Peedy (~800Km ). Another long day saw us to Burra, then Balranald and home to Yass at about 15:30.

We were travelling with two girls 4 and 6 so two up you might make better times by being able to break camp a bit quicker.

Regards,
Tote

[Jim.]

Hi Jon,

April is a great time to visit Alice Springs, it's starting to cool down a bit by then. There are are heaps of fantastic 4wd/bush camping places in the East & West MacDonnell Ranges. Make sure you allow yourself plenty of time to explore our iconic town, dont be put off by negative press.

My job keeps me out bush for most of the week.............we have some truly magnificent country on our doorstep. Will you go to Ayers Rock on way to Alice or on your way back to Sydney?

I guess my question for you is how long do you plan staying?

PM me and I will give you my mobile number........perhaps we can hook up while you are here, I will send you in the right direction to see a few places that won't dissapoint.

Regards to all Jim.

[Yorkshire_Jon]

Thanks guys for all the replies... Will send you a pm Jim.

Now weve made the decision to go, just need to see about time off work and tie that up with when the dog-sitter is available. I cant wait to get back on the 'road' - Looking forward to showing Ellie the black night skies Lewy!!

Im thinking 10 days off work at the moment, giving 14 clear days in total, but its still only a very loose plan.

As for going North Derek... Thats a good question! Its defo a region we'd like to see cos neither of us have been up that way, may need to be a fly in, fly out job though due to available number of holiday days...

...Must go and dig those Hema maps out!

Thanks again
Jon

[Yorkshire_Jon]

ok guys, had a look at the maps and the time we have available... looks like 14 days in total so we'll be heading to Mildura on the bitumen, then Im thinking up to Woomera, then onto the Oodnadatta track to Oodnadatta.

The question is, from Oodnadatta, should I then head back west to the bitumen of the Stuart highway, or continue north to Finke and onto Alice?

Once at Alice we hope to meet up with Jim for a bit of local info and also do a bit of touristy stuff, including the rock & (hopefully Kings Canyon).

Does anyone have any idea how much longer the track would take from Oodnadatta to Alice over Oodnadatta to Marla to Alice?

Thanks,
Jon

[bblaze]

I would head north to finke, lovely bit of country with lots to see
cheers
blaze
I accually did that trip but was going south.

[dmdigital]

Oodnadatta to Finke can be pretty harsh on tyres from the rocks and when we did Finke to Alice there was a lot of bulldust too. You'll need to allow at least 2 days as even if good conditions your speed's not going to be high.

Whilst I don't think it's a potential no go, the other option is to go accross to the hwy as you say and to this end the Painted Dessert is worth a look and this then takes you out at Cadney Park Roadhouse. Bit of a backtrack as the more direct route is on to Marla.