I decided to YOLO at the end of my last tour and booked a campervan for a solo trip from Melbourne to Darwin. The main highlight of the trip was to visit Uluru but other than that I decided that the rest of the places along the way will not be planned. I roughly had place markers of places where I’ll stop for the night but I didn’t book the campsite till the night before (I wasn’t bold enough to do drive ins yet)
The only thing i pre-booked was
-Uluru campsite
-Field of Light tour
Day 1
[DRIVE] Melbourne – Narracoorte
I collected my campervan from Let’s Go Campervan near Melbourne airport. The good thing about Let’s Go is they’ve teamed up with coles online. You can order your food and items for your journey before you collect your vehicle! Coles will delivery it to their office and the friendly staff at Let’s Go will pack it into your vehicle for you.
I did a silly thing of choosing the wrong timing for delivery (Note the campervan collection office hours!!) and had to cancel my order. I stopped by coles before collecting my vehicle. Luckily for a Melbourne based friend!
Vehicle introduction and handover takes about 30min. After that you’re good to go! I rented the Voyager which comfortable fits 2 person. Because I was travelling solo, it was luxurious with the amount of space! The voyager has an inbuilt reverse camera that is constantly on the whole time in place of a rearview mirror. There wasn’t a time i felt uncomfortable driving it!
My day one aim was to get used to driving and ensure that I arrive at Naracoorte before the sun sets. I set off from Melbourne at approximately 12pm but the inbuilt GPS took me the long way. By the time I realised, I was about 1hour behind time and it was 3pm. I stopped at a rest stop, quickly had lunch and used my phone’s GPS instead.
Another rest stop cause I saw the beautiful Silo. Also had to give my leg a break as I wasn’t used to driving such long distance alone.
I arrived at Narracoorte Campground just as the sun was setting!
It’s important to note that driving after sunset is really dangerous! I slowed down approaching the campground as I was worried animals would start dashing out and sure enough, there were kangaroos hoping across the road.
Day 2
[EXPLORE] Narracoorte Caves
I was the only one in the cave and as I got deeper into the cave it was awe striking to know how much history is contained within.
The lights were motion sensor-ed so there were times where I was walking in half darkness. Quite creepy!
[DRIVE] Narracoorte – Lake Albert
Stopped briefly at a rest stop before Coonalpyn for lunch and then carried on from there!
Day 3
[DRIVE] Lake Albert – Wilpena Pound
The journey to Wilpena Pound Resort was about 549km so I set off early about 830am. By 4pm I was pulling into Wilpena Pound Resort! Hurray! On the way to Flinder’s Range I spotted an emu grazing. If that wasn’t enough, 2 emus dashed across the road infront of my campervan!
Day 4
[EXPLORE] Wilpena Pound
I woke up early today as I wanted to do the walk to see the pound before doing an early drive off to Woomera. I enjoy the feeling of arriving early at a campsite so that I have enough time and light to setup whatever I need.
It was a 3km round walk and after about 1.5hr, I made it in time to see the sun rising above the ranges!
Driving off towards Woomera
[DRIVE] Wilpena Pound – Woomera
Arrived at Woomera at about 3pm and instantly felt the drastic change in temperature. Saying goodbye to SA cool weather as I head closer to the NT border!
Day 5
[DRIVE] Woomera – Coober Pedy
I decided to stop by a salt lake on the way to Coober Pedy
Careless me missed a fuel stop and made it to Coober Pedy with an almost empty tank!
The lady taking care of the house gave me a hand drawn map as I drove on dirt road to find the place. I was starting to feel paranoid as I wasn’t meant to be on dirt road on that campervan and there wasn’t any roadsigns.
I ended the day after feeling some orphan kangaroos!
Day 6
[DRIVE] Coober Pedy – Uluru
I was VERY EXCITED.
The entire drive took me 7hours. I couldn’t stop feeling the adrenaline rush after crossing the border. Also because the speed limit was now brought up to 130km/h. HEH
Day 7
[EXPLORE] Uluru
Mornings in the campsite smells like vegemite. Today was no different. After a good breakfast I drove off to do the base walk!
Photo taking was very restrictive as the rock actually belongs to the traditional land owners. Signs were placed up to remind you not to take pictures. I respected them and eventually kept my camera even at places where I could take pictures. These precious sights will be stored in my memory forever.
Remember to bring enough water on the walk! Even though I did my trip in late August it still gets really hot! Uluru is a desert so it gets really dry as well so its important to stay hydrated!
After my walk, I headed back to the campsite for a cool shower and got ready for my evening Field of Light journey!
I pre-booked this online. Remember to check with the tour provider on what time and where to board your bus.
I let the pictures do the talking
Day 8
[DRIVE] Uluru – King’s Canyon
[EXPLORE] King’s Canyon
King’s Canyon wasn’t in my original plan of place to go. Initially I wanted to drive to Alice Springs straight from Uluru and then spend a day at Katherine. However something was telling me that I should make the stop at King’s Canyon and that I do not regret that decision at all!
Arriving early at about 12pm, I had a relaxing lunch and then drove off for the rim walk!
I made it back to the campsite before the sunset. Not far from the campsite is a lookout to see the sunset onto King Canyon’s rock! Just look at that colour!
Day 9
[DRIVE] King’s Canyon – Alice Springs
I heaved a sigh of relived as I arrived in Alice Springs. I was pretty tired by now. Driving stretches on my own and camping alone was pretty draining. I decided that I will just focus on getting to Darwin and not explore any of the remaining places that I get to. I felt that it wasn’t worth it to overdo it.
Luckily enough I’ve been to Alice Springs the year before so I’ve been to most of the places in Alice. Didn’t feel like as wasted trip while I was watching Netflix in the campsite with the aircon on.
Day 10
[DRIVE] Alice Springs – Tennant Creek
[EXPLORE] Devil’s Marble
Last of the exploring! I really enjoy all these geographical formation. Its also really interesting to read how different cultures can create stories out of nature!
Day 11
[DRIVE] Tennant Creek – Katherine
I was by far too tired to even think of where to stop on this drive that I just went straight towards the Holiday Park, had dinner and fell asleep.
Day 12
[DRIVE] Katherine – Darwin
Packing up in the morning, I was ready for home.
Amidst the wonderful journey, this trip was filled with challenges.
I thought that living alone for the last 4 years would make solo travelling much easier but I was wrong. Everything was done alone, parking, eating, refilling, doing 10km walks. They were tough and many times I wanted to give up on exploring places but I told myself that this would be worth it right till the end.
I can’t wait to do another camping trip but this time, definitely not alone.
Till the next post!
YY Travels 