Adelaide to Darwin

Edith Falls is one of a few places we never pass by without stopping a night or two.

At Mataranka our preference is for the Bitter Springs CP - a short walking distance to the springs for a float, & a park layout which affords a reasonable amount of privacy to most sites. We have stayed at both, but preferred the Mataranka Homestead as it used to be, when the thermal pool was still 'natural'.

Daly Waters is 'interesting'. Have stayed there twice. Loved it back in 2009, but after our visit there last year, it is not a place we'll bother with again, at least not until it changes hands. Very busy, very crowded & we didn't appreciate having the owner foist his distasteful (to us) exclusionary political views on us & eveyone else whilst we were customers at his restaraunt.

We were thwarted by a forecast of heavy rain on our way into the Davenport Ranges (from the south). Disappointing, as I was very much looking forward to it, but we had tickets for the Barunga festival, & it looked pretty certain that if we went in to the Davenports we would be trapped in there for a week or longer & risked not getting to the festival. So when we reached the turn off to the Davenports on the Binns Track we considered it prudent to head back to the Stuart hwy via The Ali Curung community, (shortest way back to bitumen) where the local cops confirmed that we would be stuck out at Policemans Waterhole for some time if the forecast amount of rain eventuated. The rain began the following night whilst we were camped at the Devils Marbles & continued throughout the next day. It was pretty certain we would have indeed been stuck for a while had we have continued into the Davenports. We may try again later this year before or after we visit East Arnhem Land.

Oolloo crossing conservation area has some lovely shady camp spots set up high on the banks of theDaly River, and provided the road is dry may well be easily accessible even with the Daly in flood. Last few kms are dirt Rd. We stayed there several days & loved the bird life. Whether fishing is any good with high water I have no idea.

Oolloo Crossing, down low.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

You did well to fit both trucks down that low Peter. We decided after looking down there to camp higher up in among the trees. Sites off to the left just before dropping down to the river were lovely, but sites off to the right less so.

Plenty of room Cuppa, but it would change every year.



You also mentioned Umbrawarra Gorge. One of our favorite spots.


There is also the Gorrie airfield.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA 196 motorhome

Yes looks like a fair bit more room down there than when we were there last year Peter. We found there was really only one suitably flat spot & that would have required a lot of manoeuvring.

I dare say it’ll be under water at present.

Hard to get photos of the airstrips which do the location justice - ours look like yours, but in reality there are lots of spots to camp in which afford greater ‘intimacy’ than the main strip.

We spent a few nights here in 2024.
I am reluctant to show it here, because it is almost certainly private station country, but a very pleasant spot about 2km off the highway east of Kulgera.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

I suggest reading the posts on Cuppa's blog last year about his travels through this region. I followed a number of his tips. Here some more photos of Gorrie Airfield. Most camp at one end or the other. We camped roughly in the middle to get away from other campers, but the drone showed that if you're prepared to drive up and down it's possible to find shady isolated spots.

Another good free camp is Barrow Creek WWII Staging Camp. It's popular, but there is a an abbsolute ton of space. Note that this is south of the roadhouse of the same name, which I am not recommending.

Also worth mentioning that further north, Banka Banka station can be hard to avoid, unless you want to stealth camp somewhere, because there aren't many decent options for some distance in either direction. Banka ia ok for an overnighter.

The Barrow Ck staging camp is actually north of the community of Barrow Ck and only a few kilometers south of the Taylor Ck roadside rest area. Turnoff easily missed.

Thank you PhilD_NT, I stand corrected. It's about 30kms north of the community as I measure it.

Also, there is *much* more room there than my pics show.