The Stuart Highway between Adelaide and Darwin is called The Explorers’ Way and it largely follows the route of John McDouall Stuart, the first man to successfully cross Australia from the South to the North. He appears to have been blessed with more common sense than Burke and Wills.
When you’re heading for the centre of the centre of Australia, even if it is on a very good sealed road, it’s a little nerve-wracking. There’s a whole lot of nothing, phone reception if you’re lucky, a handful of roadhouses selling fuel, very little drinking water, dingoes, oh yes … and billions of flies. Here’s a little guide to the places we stopped at after Coober Pedy.
Marla Roadhouse (220km)
Fuel and a well stocked supermarket with reasonable prices. Camping – $10 per person and an extra $10 for power. Bore water which isn’t drinkable. Good amenities. Most of the grass is nice, some three corner jacks (see Peterborough post) to watch out for.
110km further on is the Northern Territory border.
Erldunda Roadhouse (200km)
At the junction of the Lasseter Highway which takes you to Uluru.
A popular stopping off point for tour buses and travellers and this might explain the exorbitant prices for fuel and groceries. It does have probably the best grass we’ll see in the Outback and Winston took every opportunity to have a roll. A powered site was $32. Good amenities. No drinking water. Winston saw his first emu at their emu farm.
Curtin Springs Station
Halfway between Erldunda and Uluru. $40 for power, very basic amenities, showers cost $3. We decided to camp unpowered which was free. They have a restaurant and small bar and also run paper making workshops. From what I can gather, the paper is made out of spinifex and poo. This cattle station is over a million acres and has sitting on its land, a mountain that’s bigger than Uluru, called Mt Conner. The only way you can get close to it is on a very expensive tour.
