Our red heart is calling
The freedom’s even more potent when you’re on a road trip to the Outback
AUSTRALIANS have always loved road trips, perhaps because our vast continent lends itself to so many epic journeys. The excitement, adventure and raw joy of a road trip holiday to the Australian Outback is unique and compelling.
Whenever I’m cocooned in the office, I feel the pull of the open road, big skies, far horizons, red earth, friendly pubs, colourful characters, enticing road signs and a captivating sense of wonder.
So when my mate and I realised recently we had a week’s window away from our busy family and work lives to indulge our love of road trips and the Outback, we grabbed a map and plotted a boys’ own adventure from Adelaide to Alice – the long way, via the Flinders Ranges, Oodnadatta Track and a big rock called Uluru.
Flying to Adelaide, we began our desert safari with a luxurious stay at the Adina Hotel Adelaide Treasury, which occupies one of the oldest and most historically significant buildings in the city. After living it up in the gym, pool, jacuzzi and wine bar, the next morning we headed to pick up our mobile home for the week, our Apollo Motorhome Trailfinder Camper.
Tailor-made for dirt-road touring, this pop-up 4WD camper with external, slideout kitchen was perfect for our journey, offering comfortable lower and upper beds for two middle-aged blokes.
Just over five hours north of Adelaide, the giant, jagged peaks of the Flinders Ranges rear their rugged heads. We were here to fulfil a lifelong goal of mine to climb St Mary’s Peak, the tallest mountain in the ranges.
After a hearty meal, refreshing ale and overnight camp in our Trailfinder at Wilpena Pound Resort, we set off for the lofty, 1171mhigh summit on a steep, sixhour return trek that challenged our lungs and legs but rewarded us with exhilarating, jaw-dropping vistas over the rocky ranges and beyond to the desert plains.
After a banter over a beer with the locals at the Marree Pub, we pointed the Trailfinder to one of Australia’s iconic dirt highways – the Oodnadatta Track. A warm bore water soak in Coward Springs and the edge of Lake Eyre – Australia’s largest lake and lowest point at 15m below sea level – broke our journey briefly but sometimes we just stopped to walk in silence into the never-never to feel the pure, primal power and overwhelming stillness of the desert.
Our next overnight stop was the remote hamlet of William Creek, South Australia’s
smallest town with a permanent population of just one – Trevor Wright, the owner of the quirky, character-filled pub, which is pretty much the only building in “town’’. He also owns Wrightsair – a fleet of light planes that offer scenic flights over Lake Eyre.
Next on the horizon was the cowboy mining town of Coober Pedy, where we stretched our legs and muscles with a gym workout before rejoining the bitumen and the Stuart Highway for the long leg up to the Northern Territory and the physical and spiritual heart of Australia, Uluru.
Coming face to face with the massive, 348m-high monolith, plonked improbably in the middle of the desert, is a powerful and moving experience that will live with you forever. We circled the base of the rock by bike along a fun and easy 11km circuit that reveals the secret canyons, caves, waterholes, multi-coloured textures and colourful ancestral stories of this amazing rock.
An even better view of Uluru was revealed on a brief but thrilling flight with Ayers Rock Helicopters – a must-do experience that will become more popular now that the climb is closed.
We toasted the last night of our desert journey at Sounds of Silence, a spectacular outdoor dining experience that began with chilled sparkling wine and canapes atop a sand dune as we watched the sun set on Uluru, followed by fine cuisine enlivened by indigenous flavours and a guided, astronomical scan of the night skies above us.
We soaked in the views across the darkened desert, in the middle of nowhere but at the centre of everything, and vowed to feel the freedom of the open road again soon.
WE SOAKED IN THE VIEWS ACROSS THE DARKENED DESERT, IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.