Outback to Top End: An 8-Day Alice Springs to Darwin Campervan Itinerary - Britz

Seven nights and 1,496 kilometres from Alice Springs to Darwin in a campervan, up the Stuart Highway from the centre to the Top End.

The West MacDonnell Ranges come first, west of Alice, where the gorges hold permanent water in the middle of a desert, then the Barrow Creek telegraph station, one of the original 1872 repeater stations and still standing, and Wycliffe Well, which markets itself as the UFO capital of Australia with a straight face.

Karlu Karlu, the Devils Marbles, follows, a scatter of split granite boulders that is a sacred site, then Tennant Creek and Daly Waters with its pub. The middle of the trip is thermal water: Mataranka and Bitter Springs both run clear and warm all year, and the Katherine Hot Springs are free and in town. Nitmiluk’s gorges and Leliyn, the Edith Falls, follow, then the Adelaide River war cemetery, where the dead of the 1942 bombing raids on Darwin are buried.

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. Eight days for 1,496 kilometres leaves real time at the springs, which is what distinguishes this from a straight highway run. Winter is the comfortable season for the southern half. This is a one-way hire, so a relocation fee is worth checking at booking. The highway itself is sealed and straightforward, and the detours to the MacDonnell gorges at the start are the part of the route worth an extra morning.