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Patchy reception and laziness led to us having no concrete plans or bookings after Bitter Springs, and to further complicate matters we discovered it was a NT public holiday and long weekend. It suddenly made sense why all the national parks were fully booked in a 300km radius. So we converted a planned stay at…

Bitter Springs is one of two natural thermal pools in Mataranka, south of Katherine. It’s noticeably more warm and humid this far north. And I am noticeably happier! One thing I am little less happy about is that we are now in croc country. A week or so before the Springs had been closed to…

Days in transit. We covered 1282 kms to get to the top end of the NT, doing 130km/h along the Stuart Hwy, with a few hairy moments overtaking road trains, and the landscape transforming from desert into scrubby grassland. The highway is dotted with fuel stops that double as pubs, caravan parks and sometimes as…

Before leaving home, someone said to us: “People will always try to warn you off certain routes. You’ve just got to give them a go for yourself.” And that was certainly the case with the Mereenie Loop Road, the unsealed track most directly connecting Watarrka National Park and Tjoritja (Macdonnell Ranges). The staff at Kings…

After our longest stint in the same place (four nights, with one internal move) it was time to make tracks for our next destination, Kings Canyon in Watarrka National Park, 256km northeast of Uluṟu. Watarrka is the Luritja word for a local acacia bush. We are staying at Kings Creek Station, a working cattle station…

A slow and sleepy start, but once it got going this day was very special. Kata Tjuṯa is one of the two major rock formations in this national park. Some parts of it are actually 200m taller than Uluṟu, and from a distance it has a hazy blue sheen. It’s made up of a conglomerate…

We decided to fang it to Uluṟu, a day early. 428km and around 5 hours all up. We are staying in the overflow area and that way we will be ready to get set up in our proper site early tomorrow. Some Uluṟu facts. It’s arkose sandstone. It’s the biggest monolith in the world, at…

We’ve been lucky with the weather, a big blue sky desert day. Today was a momentous day as on his return from the glass repairers, Mitch was able to reunite Lux with her one true love: sushi. We don’t know how she survived this long! (Side note: Lux is particular with food at the best…

We got off to a slow start this morning as we only had to get to Alice Springs, where we were staying in a Big 4 caravan park with a designated site (assuaging the panic you sometimes feel about nabbing a spot and setting up before nightfall). This trip was 376.9km and the kids played…