Finally, the "car" for the drive to Uluru, which is fantastic, will definitely have to be a hefty SUV or caravan to handle the roads. We had a Land Cruiser and still had a puncture 100kms from anywhere.
Nonsense, the road from Alice to Uluru is sealed. A normal car will handle it perfectly well.
And here's another tip - if you pre-book a normal sedan from Thrifty in Alice Springs, you will get a 4WD anyway, as that's the only type of vehicle they have.
Apologies, I must have been lost on the road to King's canyon or some such which was not sealed a few years ago. Good tip on the Thrifty 4WD option in case any side trips are planned as suggested.
Cheers.
Many, many thanks.
Now I have even better plan:
To take flight to Alice Springs just after arrival to Australia (alows more flexibibilty later)
Now I must examine closely LP guidebook to figure out how many days should I spend there and what are the highlights not to be missed - Uluru, Katja Tjuta and Kings Canyon seems obvious but is there anything more worth an effort ?
From Alice Springs we would take a flight to Adelaide.
We will visit Kangaroo Island (with a car ?)
Then we will drive GOR , skip Melbourne (!) and continue for Tasmania.
Depending of animals seen in the outback and GOR we would tailor our Tasmania trip.
I've found place called devils@cradle, located in Cradle Mountains - they call themselves "sanctuary" (sounds better than zoo) and have devils in semi-wild state.
In case of dissapointement there we can go further, maybe to Marie Island or Bonorog Wildlife centre.
If we manange to spare few days, we go back to mainland and spend the there.
If not, we go back to Melbourne, drop off the car and take the flight back home.
while in Adelaide visit the animal farm its in the hills a real nice bus ride from city center. roos koalas etc glen elg is a safe beach in Adelaide for the kiddies for bus # to the farm simply check into the transit office or take a guided tour. I simply packed a lunch and enjoyed the bus ride.
coober not quite the place for kiddies as for Alice its much like one shopping mall. as a male I enjoyed walking around . a lot of walking as I wanted pics of road trains. the RSL in alice served great meals etc.then again ? not realy kiddie friendly. if you have own car. at roadhouse MARLA is a pretty decent motel with campground also a swimming pool. marla is midway coober and alice,
Not sure if this thread is still relevant....but 3-4 days in Tasmania with a car seems tremendously rushed, particularly for people who want to get out into the national parks and camp and see wildlife.
If you came to Tasmania for 10 days, you could do a nice loop through the north of the state, starting and finishing at the Bass Strait ferry terminal at Devonport and including Narawntapu NP, Cradle Mountain NP and Mt William NP. There is a 99% chance you will see a variety of wildlife in all of them.
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