Alice Springs to Darwin via Uluru, Borroloola and Kakadu - Mighty

Ten nights and 3,901 kilometres from Alice Springs to Darwin in a campervan, the length of the Northern Territory with a detour to the Gulf.

Uluru comes first, a sandstone monolith standing 348 metres above the plain, then Kings Canyon, where the rim walk runs six kilometres round sandstone walls a hundred metres high, and Gemtree in the Harts Range, where visitors can dig for garnet and zircon.

Tennant Creek and Elliott follow up the Stuart Highway, then the long run east to Borroloola, near the Gulf of Carpentaria, which is about as remote as a sealed road gets in Australia and is known for its barramundi. Daly Waters and Katherine come next, then Kakadu, nearly twenty thousand square kilometres of wetland and stone country with rock art painted over tens of thousands of years, and Litchfield before Darwin.

The camper and the day-by-day plan come from Mighty, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Eleven days for 3,901 kilometres is a hard schedule and the Borroloola detour adds a great deal of driving for one stop, which is either the attraction or the objection depending on the traveller. The dry season from May to October is the window. Several Kakadu side roads need a four-wheel drive, and swimming anywhere in the Top End needs local advice because of the crocodiles. This is a one-way hire the length of a territory, so a relocation fee is worth confirming at booking.