Lonely Planet Outback Australia Road Trips

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• Publisher: Lonely Planet
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781743609446
• eBook ISBN: 9781743609910

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher Discover the freedom of open roads with Lonely Planet Outback Australia Road Trips, your passport to uniquely encountering Australia's Outback by car. Featuring four amazing road trips, plus up-to-date advice on the destinations you'll visit along the way, experience Australia's iconic wide-open spaces and unforgettable landmarks, all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the Outback, rent a car, and hit the road! Inside Lonely Planet Outback Australia Road Trips: Lavish colour and gorgeous photography throughout Itineraries and planning advice to pick the right tailored routes for your needs and interests Get around easily - easy-to-read, full-colour route maps, detailed directions Insider tips to get around like a local, avoid trouble spots and be safe on the road - local driving rules, parking, toll roads Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Useful features - including Detours, Walking Tours and Link Your Trip Covers Central Australia, New South Wales, Adelaide, Darwin, Alice Springs, Uluru, the Olgas, Kings Canyon, Katherine, Coober Pedy, Bathurst, Broken Hill, Dubbo, Bourke, Cobar and more The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet Outback Australia Road Trips is perfect for exploring Outback Australia via the road and discovering sights that are more accessible by car. Planning an Australian trip sans a car? Lonely Planet Central Australia: Adelaide to Darwin, our most comprehensive guide to the region, is perfect for exploring both top sights and lesser-known gems. There's More in Store for You: See more of Australia's spectacular countryside and have a richer, more authentic experience by exploring Australia by car with Lonely Planet's Australia's Best Trips guide or Tasmania Road Trips or Coastal Victoria Road Trips. Authors: Written and researched by Lonely Planet. About Lonely Planet: Since 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel media company with guidebooks to every destination, an award-winning website, mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet covers must-see spots but also enables curious travelers to get off beaten paths to understand more of the culture of the places in which they find themselves. eBook Features: (Best viewed on tablet devices and smartphones) Downloadable PDF and offline maps prevent roaming and data charges Effortlessly navigate and jump between maps and reviews Add notes to personalise your guidebook experience Seamlessly flip between pages Bookmarks and speedy search capabilities get you to key pages in a flash Embedded links to recommendations' websites Zoom-in maps and images Inbuilt dictionary for quick referencing Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.

Destinations

Uluru, Alice & the Red Centre

Visit stunning Uluru and Kata Tjuta, or explore the awesome gorge of Kings Canyon in Watarrka National Park.

North to Darwin

From the deserts to the tropics, the Northern Territory is a splendid place to be during Australia’s winter months.

South to Adelaide

The road south will take you through Coober Pedy, where opal-crazed locals beat the desert heat in ‘cool’ underground houses.

Outback New South Wales

Explore this remote pocket of New South Wales, full of sleepy towns and dazzling displays of nature.

Ormiston Gorge, West MacDonnell Ranges
AUSTRALIAN SCENICS/GETTY IMAGES ©

Uluru, Alice & the Red Centre

The Red Centre is Australia’s heartland, boasting the iconic attractions of Uluru and Kata Tjuta, plus an enigmatic central desert culture that continues to produce extraordinary abstract art.

ULURU (AYERS ROCK)

The first sight of Uluru on the horizon will astound even the most jaded traveller. Uluru is 3.6km long and rises a towering 348m from the surrounding sandy scrubland (867m above sea level). If that’s not impressive enough, it’s believed that two-thirds of the rock lies beneath the sand. Closer inspection reveals a wondrous contoured surface concealing numerous sacred sites of particular significance to the Anangu. If your first sight of Uluru is during the afternoon, it appears as an ochre-brown colour, scored and pitted by dark shadows. As the sun sets, it illuminates the rock in burnished orange, then a series of deeper reds before it fades into charcoal. A performance in reverse, with marginally fewer spectators, is given at dawn.

2 Activities

There are walking tracks around Uluru, and ranger-led walks explain the area’s plants, wildlife, geology and cultural significance. All the trails are flat and suitable for wheelchairs. Several areas of spiritual significance are off limits to visitors; these are marked with fences and signs. The Anangu ask you not to photograph these sites.

The excellent Visitor Guide & Maps brochure, which can be picked up at the Cultural Centre, gives details on a few self-guided walks.

Base Walk Walking

This track (10.6km, three to four hours) circumnavigates the rock, passing caves, paintings, sandstone folds and geological abrasions along the way.

Liru Walk Walking

Links the Cultural Centre with the start of the Mala Walk and climb, and winds through strands of mulga before opening up near Uluru (4km return, 1½ hours).

Mala Walk Walking

From the base of the climbing point (2km return, one hour), interpretive signs explain the tjukurpa (Aboriginal law, religion and custom) of the Mala (hare-wallaby people), which is significant to the An...

Table of contents

• Cover
• How to Use This eBook
• Contents
• Welcome to Outback Australia
• Outback Australia Map
• Outback Australia Highlights
• City Guide
• Need to Know
• Road Trips
• Destinations
• Driving in Australia
• Behind the Scenes
• Our Writers
• Index
• Back Cover