Sitting in one of the common rooms at the Grampians Eco YHA, I was one week away from the date I had told the next hostel in Alice Springs that I would be arriving. I’d been tracking flights, checking Facebook travel groups for any other road trippers, and looking at car relocation sites. But, the time had come to pull the trigger and make a plan.

I pulled up imoova.com and found the perfect deal - a 4 Berth Motorhome from Melbourne to Alice Springs with $350 fuel reimbursement and a $100 travel allowance, due in Alice by April 5. SOLD. It was meant to be.

I announced to the room I was going, immediately got a ride into Melbourne from a friend visiting for the weekend, and began brainstorming who could go with me. Somehow, we convinced Gary, one of the hostel managers, to join!

April 1 - April 5

Thank you to Travel Outback Australia for an awesome road trip guide! We printed out a copy to give us guidance for stops along the way (especially useful when there was no phone service!).

Day 1: Halls Gap to Melbourne to Halls Gap

I’m so thankful to Jo who gave me a ride not just into Melbourne, but directly to the Apollo office by the Melbourne airport. We failed to pull up directions when we had phone service, but after a few GPS struggles and a lucky handwritten address on a post-it, we made it.

The sales rep tried to convince me to add additional insurance, windshield and tire protection, a cleaning package, etc…I’ve heard the spiel before so resisted selling my soul to a rental car company. When he realized I wasn’t going to give him extra money, he dropped any form of niceties, took me outside to examine the car, then handed me the keys with no further instructions. I had no idea how anything inside the motorhome worked or what the 27 various keys unlocked, but I had faith in a google search once I was back in Halls Gap and jumped behind the wheel.

Time to start this adventure - who doesn’t want to drive on the left side of the road with a vehicle 7.7 meters long?! LET’S DO THIS!

Painted Silo Murals | Coonalpyn, SA — Painted Silo Murals | *Coonalpyn, SA*

Day 2: Halls Gap to Port Augusta

With a 6:30am coffee meeting and a 7am departure, we hit the road. We planned this to be our longest day of driving, about 9 hours and 800 km.

Once we crossed from Victoria into South Australia, the time changed by 30 minutes. We’d already been struggling to figure out how to work the bluetooth capability, couldn’t find the USB port, and now needed to discover how to change the clock.

We stopped in Adelaide to officially add Gary as a second driver at the Apollo office there. One of the other girls who had been working at the hostel was now at the YHA in Adelaide, so we had a tea break to say hi to Manon and the hostel managers.

Let me tell you, trying to find parking in a city with this beast of a car was not easy. After circling the central roundabout for 10 minutes or so, we eventually found our way to the YHA parking lot and Gary guided me into a spot.

Our first big day of driving ended in Port Augusta at the Discovery Parks Caravan Park. We didn’t have much time to explore the area as the sun was setting when we arrived and we decided on an early morning departure. As we had failed to turn the fridge on to keep our dinner cold, we walked to Ian’s Western Bistro for dinner and drinks.

Day 3: Port Augusta to Coober Pedy

This leg of the journey was much shorter - only 5.5 hours and about 540 km, but with lots of options for side stops!

About two hours into our drive, we arrived at what we were told was a staple road trip stop - Spud’s Roadhouse. Here we enjoyed a delicious breakfast, surrounded by license plates from around the world (I found Maryland and Nevada!), a small grocery store, and oddly, a gambling section.

We took a detour into Woomera - a small town that was established in 1947 as a cold-war project between the British and Australian governments. The site tested long-range weapons systems as the remote desert distance between Woomera and Broome was about the same as England to Russia. The museum gave a more in-depth look into the displacement of Aboriginal people needed for rocket testing, how the small town was established in the middle of the outback, and of course, tons of rockets and planes.

The rest of the drive was pretty remote - a definite feeling of isolation. There was not much to look at with little to no vegetation and just long stretches of desert. Luckily, I introduced Gary to the world of podcasts and we became engrossed in an unsolved Australian cold case, The Teacher’s Pet.

When we arrived in Coober Pedy, we stopped at the visitor center for advice on caravan parks in town and what to check out. As the climate is incredibly hot and inhospitable, some 70% of the population lives underground. We visited an underground church, hostel, and bar in the few hours we were there. The area is also the highest produce of opal in the world.

Day 4: Coober Pedy to Alice Springs

Last stretch, about 7.25 hours and 690 km. The drive had been surprisingly easy - we both expected to feel more drained with the long distance but there was a lot to see and do along the way, plus the fun of getting to know each other better. And of course, becoming engrossed in the murder of Lyn. Who doesn’t love a good true crime story?

Our stops today were mostly for fuel and a photoshoot at the Welcome to the Northern Territory/South Australia sign. We wanted to get into Alice Springs, plus any of the stops we would have made required 4WD - so our motorhome was not going to cut it.

Arriving in Alice, we stopped for another picture at the Welcome sign. The flies were out FULL FORCE. I immediately began questioning this place. We couldn’t even take a smiling picture without getting flies in our mouth. Where was I? What had I done?!

After checking in to the Alice Springs YHA, we wandered around the downtown area. The hostess at the Red Ochre Grill told us we could put our names down for 7:15pm meal, which was bizarre since our watches and phones said it was already 7:30pm. We realized the time had changed AGAIN, and we had gained an hour. So now we were 1.5 earlier than Melbourne and Halls Gap. Time was on our side but we hadn’t even realized!

Day 5: Explore Alice Springs!

The car was due back at 2:30pm, so we decided to make the most of our access to transportation. We headed out to Standley Chasm and Simpson’s Gap. The flies attacked again but I refused to let them bring me down while exploring.

At Standley Chasm, we walked the 20 minute track, following along paths lined with gum trees and lots of ferns. The best time to go is noon to see the walls reflect sunlight - but alas, we were on a time schedule with the return of the car. We also took a short walk up the hill on the other side of the cafe area, where we saw incredible landscape that despite being dry and fire-damaged, still captured us with the colors.

We intended to have a quick swim at Simpson’s Gap before heading back into town, but a tour bus and low water levels made us rethink the plan. Instead, we just snapped some photos.

Before dropping the car off, we brought my belongings to Alice’s Secret Traveller’s Inn, my home for the next month.

Road Trip: Melbourne to Alice Springs