Alice Springs to Uluru - Britz

Four nights from Alice Springs to Kata Tjuta in a campervan, entirely on sealed road, which makes this the most straightforward way to cover the red centre.

Stuarts Well comes first south of Alice on the Stuart Highway, then Erldunda Roadhouse at the junction with the Lasseter Highway, which is the turn west towards Uluru and about as remote as a crossroads gets.

Kings Creek Station and Kings Canyon follow in Watarrka National Park, where the sandstone walls stand a hundred metres above the creek and the rim walk is the best short walk in central Australia. Mt Connor comes next, a flat-topped mesa visible from the highway that is routinely mistaken for Uluru by people who have not yet seen Uluru.

Yulara is the base for the last two stops. Uluru stands 348 metres above the plain and a good deal more of it lies below, and the colour shifts through the day in a way photographs flatten. Kata Tjuta, thirty kilometres west, is a group of domes that are taller still and in some ways more impressive, with the Valley of the Winds walk running between them. Britz supply the camper and the day-by-day plan; 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. Sealed road throughout means a standard camper rather than a 4WD, which keeps the cost down, and five days is about the minimum that does the three sites justice. Winter is the season for it: summer temperatures in the centre regularly pass forty degrees and the walks close by mid-morning.