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Alice to Darwin: the best road trip


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Open leg route
1737.3KM / 1079.5MI

Camel racing, bottomless boat competitions and a desert-load of activities make Alice Springs unlike anywhere else in Australia.

Get your bearings at ANZAC Hill, where you can pay your respects to fallen soldiers while getting a 360-degree view of the town below. After, stop by the Alice Springs Telegraph Station to see where Europeans first settled in the town to relay messages between Darwin and Adelaide along Australia’s Overland Telegraph Line. As for the colourful competitions, arrive in August and you can watch the Henley-on-Todd dry river ‘boat’ regatta. Get there in July and you can cheer on the cameleers kicking up dust at the annual Alice Springs Camel Cup. Photojournalist Jennifer Pinkerton describes the competition as “one crazy soup of a race”. Other top attractions include Alice Springs School of the Air, where you can tune into a lesson broadcast to a student in a remote outpost, and Alice Springs Desert Park, where you can learn about traditional Indigenous hunting and gathering techniques.

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Alice Springs
Camel racing, bottomless boat competitions and a desert-load of activities make Alice Springs unlike anywhere else in Australia.


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Wycliffe Well
For the quirk factor alone, road-trippers should call into Wycliffe Well.


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Devils Marbles
The first major stop you should make after leaving Alice is Karlu Karlu, otherwise known as the Devils Marbles.


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Tennant Creek
Tennant Creek makes for an interesting stop on the Stuart Highway.


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Daly Waters Pub
You can’t pass through this part of the NT without calling into iconic Daly Waters Historic Pub.


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Katherine
Katherine: where the outback meets the tropics.


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Mataranka Thermal Pool
After a quick pit-stop in Katherine, check out Mataranka Thermal Pool and the surrounding waterholes.


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Litchfield National Park
Litchfield National Park, about 120 kilometres from Darwin, certainly attracts a lot of visitors and it’s worth spending a few days here.


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Berry Springs Nature Park
Berry Springs is a wonderful morning excursion about 50 minutes from Darwin’s CBD.


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Darwin
Crocs, markets, military history, swimming pools and a tropical climate that rivals Thailand’s – Darwin is a city with wow factor.
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