The Outback: Stuart Highway Stops

Our strategy with the camper van was to drive to the Northern Territory as quickly as possible at the beginning of our two weeks and then slowly make our way back to Melbourne. That meant a few really long drive days with lots of podcasts and playlists on the endless Stuart Highway. It definitely worked out though. We made the drive from Melbourne to Alice Springs in three days.

After exploring the red center, we had eight days to cover that same distance on our way back. This part of the country may be overshadowed by Uluru, but it’s equally as beautiful and you will find a lot less people and a lot of beautiful free camping.

The Stuart Highway that takes you to Alice Springs from the south is just one straight shot, but we took a few detours along our way back. These aren’t in any real order – just mark them on your map if you are tripping your way through. You may only go one way and stop to see everything or you’ll do a round trip like us and need stops both directions to break up the trip.

There is really nothing like the scenery here. You forget that this country has some of the world’s best beaches when you are exploring the Outback. But I have yet to see sunsets like these anywhere.

Stuart Highway Favorites

Glendambo

This “town” has a gas station and the famous welcome sign you can see in the photo below. The highlight for us was the multitude of free camping sites near here. We stopped at one just north of the roadside stop on our wedding anniversary. We enjoyed some cold drinks while watching the sunset and there was not another human in sight. Iceman, the drone, got in some flight time and then we made an amazing dinner and enjoyed our first night boondocking

Coober Pedy

This is one of the biggest towns you will encounter on your drive. Justin found out about this weird place while watching Ripley’s Believe It or Not in the year 2000. It is the home to the world’s best opal mining and much of the town is underground. We camped here for a night and visited an underground bar, an underground Church and did a full mine tour complete with the house of the family that owned the land. By being underground, they were able to escape the heat and the sun. You can still rent land there and dig for opals.

It is very much an active mining town still and the proof is everywhere. When they dug out the stairs for the museum we visited, they found an opal worth $80,000 that had been just feet from their home for years. It’s a strange and crazy place, but one of the best to stop at if you are making the drive and needing water, a dump station or a campground with all the amenities.

You can also stay in an underground hotel – check out this one. It would have been cool to try it, but we had the van. Maybe if there’s a next time…

If you want to learn more about Coober Pedy’s history and see the underground house, make sure to check out the Old Timer’s Mine & Museum. Here is their website. We met one of the owners and he was awesome. The first half of the self guided tour teaches you about mining and the history. Once you’ve gone through the tunnels, you are able to see tons of information about the town and the house that the previous residents lived in.

Another cool thing to check out is one of the largest Aboriginal dot paintings that can be found behind the counter at the main gas station/restaurant in town. Odds are that you’ll be stopping there for one reason or another, so make sure to check it out.

Lochiel

This magical little turn off was a bit of a mind trick at first. We had been driving with the hot sun in front of us for a few hours and all of sudden, we could see a giant lake in front of us that looked pink. On top of that, we spotted what looked like the Lochness monster. We realized that it wasn’t our minds playing jokes and we pulled over and enjoyed snack time while staring at this beautiful spot. It fills up more during certain times of the year, but even with the shallow waters – it was an amazing site.

Wirrabarra & Coonalpyn

These two towns are a few hours apart on the road, but both feature some incredible silo art. With some of the bad farming years, towns have been struggling with weak economies. One of the ideas was to invite artists to complete giant art installations to draw in visitors. It worked because we made stops in both towns. There are great cafes in the towns with coffee and pastries and made for excellent pit stops.

Stuart Highway Pull Offs

While driving the long Stuart Highway, there are many places to pull off to enjoy lunch or just some views. If you stop at them all, this trip could take you months. That said, there are some views that you just can’t help but take in for a few minutes. It’s the beauty of having no timeline and no real destinations mapped out.