Sydney to King’s Canyon Alice Springs
The picture below is from our blog on August 2022 when we visted our friends, Andy and Jenny in Scotland. Link to that blog below.
That’s how long this trip has been in the planning. Following on from that epic adventure Andy and Jenny arranged to come visit us in the antipodes. They would spend a month in New Zealand then another month in Australia. We had a video call several months ago and were asked, “What would you recommend us doing if we had a month to spend in Australia?” and we said, leave it with us. Jenni and I had always wanted to visit Uluru and experience the red centre in all its majesty. We also knew that we had unfinished business in the geography between Uluru and the south coast. With them, we planned an epic road trip.
The plan evolved, we’d meet up in Sydney, then fly to Alice Springs and hire a mad, off road Hilux 4×4, equipped to cope with all the extreme outback could throw at us. Then we’d drive to Melbourne via King’s Canyon, Uluru, Coober Pedy, Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges, Adelaide, Barossa Valley, Mount Gambier and Apollo Bay. We’d be stopping at all the interesting stuff we knew about on the trail and left time to stop at anything else we came across during the drives.
Sydney – Day 1
Andy and Jenny had spent a week driving from Brisbane to Sydney. Jenni and I flew up from Hobart to meet them. Graciously and generously our friends Carol and Greg were hosting us. The plan was to meet up then wander over to the Sydney Fish Market and pick up some goodies for dinner. By special request Greg, was making his famous paella.
We stocked up on all seafood we needed for the paella.
Greg’s paella was fantastic. It was so good Jenni’s brother Mark turned up too.
The next day we caught an early flight to Alice Springs to begin our big adventure properly. A heartfelt and many thanks to Carol and Greg for making the start of our epic journey memorable.
Day 2 – King’s Canyon Alice Springs
With a spring in our steps and a song in our hearts and a head full of anticipation we got up early and caught our flight to Alice Springs. The plan was to pick up our off road, fully equipped, 4×4 Toyota Hilux camper, pit stop at Alice Springs to pick up some goodies then drive 3.5 hours to King’s Creek Station, King’s Canyon. From there we’d start big red centre exploration.
The flight went without a hitch and we even caught a glimpse of the infamous Aussie/American spy camp, Pine Gap on our approach to Alice Springs. Andy and I picked up the camper. We were told it could go anywhere but only during the day. We weren’t insured to drive in the dark due to the high risk of hitting kangaroos or camels. The girls went into Alice Springs to get our provisions for the journey. As it was still daylight we drove this indomitable vehicle a total of 6 kms into Alice Springs and parked outside the shopping centre whereupon it immediately died. Wouldn’t start. Dead battery. 6 kms. We had 3500 kms to go.
The vehicle came with roadside assistance. We called the number provided. They had no record of the vehicle. They suggested another number. They had no record either. We called the hire place. They said, “Oh thats the wrong number. Call this one.” That worked. The nice man from the AA eventually arrived and gave us a jump and got us started again. He told us to drive to his workshop and he would give us a new battery. He also said he had a chiroprator appointment to go to first but he’d come and sort us out after that. Welcome to the Northern Territory.
By the time we were back on the road it was too late to drive to Kings Canyon. We wouldn’t get there before dark. After some frantic thinking and replanning we cancelled the Kings Canyon accommodation and booked into a hotel, last minute, in Alice Springs. Not a very promisng start to the adventure.
And so it was we found oursleves, 1,200 kms from the nearest ocean, the the dead centre of Australia, in a hotel restaurant named Barra, after the fish Barramundi. Not the island in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland as we first thought. The food was good, surprisingly. The next day we were up early to start our adventure proper.
Uluru next stop and next blog.
Walligans Travels 
The fish market is fantastic
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