Alice Springs Uluru and Adelaide - Britz

Nine nights and 2,884 kilometres from Alice Springs to Adelaide in a campervan, with a detour west before the long run south.

Ormiston Gorge comes first in the West MacDonnells, where a permanent waterhole sits below red quartzite walls, then Erldunda and Curtin Springs on the road to Yulara.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta follow, the rock and the domes, both better at dawn than at any other hour, then Kulgera on the border and Coober Pedy, where much of the town lives underground to escape the heat and the opal fields have supplied most of the world’s supply for decades. Woomera comes next, a rocket range since 1947, then Port Augusta, and the Clare Valley closes the drive, the oldest riesling country in Australia, before Adelaide.

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. Ten days for 2,884 kilometres means some long highway days, with road trains to overtake carefully in a long vehicle. Winter is the comfortable season for the northern half. This is a one-way hire, so a relocation fee is worth checking, and the Clare Valley at the end is a pleasant change of register after a week of desert. The Ormiston detour at the start is worth the extra miles, since the West MacDonnell gorges are the part of the centre that visitors most often leave out.