Route and Temperature Weather

Travelling through The Kimberley in November may pose some challenges –

http://www.kimberleyaustralia.com/kimberley_weather.html

The Bungle Bungles may not be open –

http://www.australiasnorthwest.com/Destinations/The_Kimberley/Purnululu_National_Park_and_the_Bungle_Bungles

Similarly with Kakadu in December. The main road through Kakadu is all weather sealed bitumen however some of the specific sites may not be accessible.

I'm not sure what the attraction is of Kangaroo Island (although I haven't been there for many years). I'd consider more time in the Flinders Ranges (the section north of Port Augusta). A great outback experience with fabulous scenery. September would be a great time to visit.

My suggestion is to go from Cairns to Darwin and down the west coast and come back to Adelaide then Melbourne and Tassie. Then head up the middle to Alice springs and Uluru on the way to Darwin. The Kimberley and Darwin are best in the dry season so do those after Cairns, also the centre while also best in thedry season, will still be able to be visited in November, where as the Kimberley and Kakadu depending on the weather will not be. Worst case it will be unbearably humid then.

really depends on how the OP handles the heat, some people don't mind 40 degree days, constantly, day in day out, along with 98% humidity, with very little overnight respite from the heat ..

this is why i listed as many swimming holes as i could in the other threads, if your up there that time of year you'll be really taking to swimming in swimming holes, believe me, there's no better luxury on a 44 degree day than lounging around in the water surrounded by tropical foliage..

the benefits are that all the tourists pretty much disappear by the end of september, so you'll have all the sights to yourself,

ideally, you'd do this in exact reverse order, but it seems you are constrained by the collection of the SUV.
In short, July is perfect up north, but not as good in Sydney, while November is fine in Sydney, but becoming very hot and wet up north.
Any chance you can go across the south, and then west, knocking off Kimberley and Bungles earlier, then, Darwin, down to Alice and Uluru, across to Cairns, down the coast to Sydney then back across the centre and back up to Darwin?
Fair bit of doubling back, but then there is on your original plan from Adelaide and back.
But, ideally, you'd want to clear those monsoonal areas long before November.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Problem is we want to spend a week in the Alice Springs/Uluru area walking and exploring Uluru, The Olgas, Kings Canyon, etc. If we move this to late Nov. it will be about 34 degrees which is a little warm for long walks. But at the same time we want to walk/explore the west coast and all the way up to Darwin. Another problem, with LP's Australia book in hand there are so many more stops we are discovering along the west coast, etc. I am thinking within the next month or so we will change our itinerary to do the east coast, north and then west coast. Australia -- can't wait to get there but 4.5 months just isn't enough time to explore everything Australia has to offer.

I guess you've thought this through but is shipping a vehicle from the States the best way to do a driving holiday? In addition to the cost of transport there and back you've also got the problem of a car configured to drive on the wrong side of the road - I generally find the move over is not too hard but that's with a car designed to be driven on the side of the road of the country concerned and I could imagine without that constant reminder it could be much more difficult. Would buying and selling or a short term lease be other options? And re temperature, it won't be intolerable in the north in November but it's getting hot enough to notice - if you could do it in reverse the temps would suit much better although there a few places in Australia where winter cold is an issue.

We are shipping our SUV to Australia. Next we ship it from Darwin to Singapore in Dec. 2016. Next time we ship is from Greece to Egypt in Jan. 2019. Then in July 2019 we ship from South Africa to Uruguay. And the last ship is from Columbia to Panama. However, we don't always move as fast as we think we will and being we are both in our mid 60's we may move even slower so all ship dates are very tenative. In short, at our age we believe if we are going to drive around the world or at least attempt to now is the time.

driving around the world, that's pretty impressive .

quite good timing seeing that now burma is open to tourist through travel for the first time in decades..

Yes, the Myanmar/India border crossing makes it easier. Still have the "money" problem of driving from the Nepal/China border through China with a required guide. Would much rather drive through Northern Pakistan but this is not an option at this time. Hopefully when the time gets closer I will be able to join a caravan with others across China to significantly reduce the cost.