The way points of this bicycle route:
From airport head into the City. Only 3100 km to Darwin. First day of a ride commemmorating the first cyclist to ride from Adelaide to Darwin , Jerome Murif, in 1897. Press CTRL as well as the nav arrow to get to next comment marker. Website story is at www.users.bigpond.net.au/lbug/addar1.html
Pretty bike friendly. Stock up on any items you may need, like jelly babies, or some Sustagen Hospital Grade, although there is plenty of fresh food at roadhouses along the way.
Head north to Port Wakefield Rd
98 km from Adelaide. There are a few Hotels and Motels here for the first night. Restaurant near water was ok.
Lunch at service station, off the road a bit.
Good downhill run to Port Pirie from here.
Night two. Industrial town. Interesting architecture.
Rejoin the Highway.
Took a detour off highway to have lunch in Port Germaine. Has a long pier.
Night three. 290 km covered from Adelaide. Try the Standpipe Motel out of town to get a good start the next day. 185 KM to Woomera.
Highway crosses the railway line. Water tap handy. Time for lunch.
Salt lakes. Looks like the outback.
A few hills around here.
Big day from Pt Augusta.(185km) Night four. Spuds Roadhouse. A little rough. Head to Woomera instead if not to your taste, but check if accommodation is available. Its 7 km downhill from Pimba to Woomera, and uphill in the morning.
Shimmering salt lakes all around. Great views.
More interesting salt lake country
Road goes over the rail line. Only hill around so good views from top.
Night five. Roadhouse is good. Stock up on food and water here for the long ride to Coober Pedy (250km)- no roadhouses or towns or much at all on the way. Plan to camp out. Sleep under the stars in warmer weather.
Night Five. 144 km from Glendambo, 110 from Coober Pedy. Camped in sand along here somewhere off the road, behind a bush. Get to Coober Pedy the next day. Bring enough food and water to last.
Night six. Opal mining town. Stay two nights and do a tour of the mines and surrounding painted dessert. Take the mail truck to William Creek. Dont fall down one of the mine shafts. Check the satellite photo for the moonscape.
On leaving you see hundreds of mine shafts and tailing dumps.
Welcome roadhouse accommodation after 156 km from Coober Pedy. 1000 km up.
Road House. 80 km from Cadney. Lunch spot.
Camped at off road resting area 168 km from Cadney near Agnes Ck (dry). No water tank.
Crossed the border from SA to NT
Road House. Had lunch here after camping.
Erldunda. Turn off to Yulara (200 km diversion). Good motel here. The Desert Oaks
Road House. Named after Charles Stuart, the first explorer through to Darwin.
Road House. Reasonable accommodation and food.
Some hills at last! First trees in ages.
Start of a long straight section. Views of the Mc Donnell Ranges to the north.
Made it - first half anyway. 1500 km from Adelaide. Time for a rest. Few days looking around and taking a tour or two. Dramatic setting for this famous town in the centre of two mountain ranges.
Many hotels and motels to stay in. Have a few days break and see the sights. Hire a 4wd and go to Palm Springs or the western Mc Donnells.
A decent climb out of Alice Springs up to a tableland. Long straight sections to Aileron.
Stayed at Roadhhouse. 133 km from AS
60 km from Aileron. Shop and water. Had lunch here on way to Barrow Creek.
152 km from Aileron. Stayed in old pub. Walls covered in WW2 memoribilia. Historic buildings nearby from the Overland Telgraph days.
Road House and camping. Biggest bore in the world supplies plenty of water. We kept going to Wauchope after some lunch.
112 km from Barrow Ck. Old pub/roadhouse with newer units out the back. Pronounced "walkup".
Strange huge boulders about 10 km north of Wauchope. Take a short detour to ride through this area.
Mining town. Good shops. We stopped to get supplies then kept going to Three Ways Road House.
Big roadhouse on Barkly Highway junction. 24 km from TC, 541 km from AS.
Reasonable roadhouse with a swimming pool. Great undulating road and 138 km from Three Ways.
91 km from RS. Small town with basic facilities. Stayed at Midlands caravan park with a pool and BBQ. Luxury.
Road crosses Newcastle Creek on a long causeway. Looks good on the sat pic.
Lunch at Dunmara
Stayed at roadhouse. 147 km from Elliott
Daly Waters is off to the left. We didnt investigate, kept going to Larimah.
Lunch here. 91 km from Hi Way Inn
176 km from Hi way Inn. Stayed at Hot Springs Resort, a few km's east of Mataranka. Pandanus-lined natural springs, great for a soak. Town had basic facilities.
Large town. Stay a day or two and visit Nitmiluk NP with Katherine Gorge and Edith Falls.
Small town with a gold rush history. Stayed in caravan park with new cabins.
Past the Roadhouse at Hayes Ck we took the old Stuart Highway to avoid rumoured steep section on new highway. Scenic but old route had some steep bits too. Also bush fires.
Stayed in old WW2 barracks behind the hotel. Worth a visit is the War Graves Cemetery nearby.
This was the town where workers at the Rum Jungle uranium mine lived. Now a college town for indgenous people lesrning law and medicine. Stayed in caravan park. Took a tour to Litchfield NP. Great pools and waterfalls for swimming.
Return to highway and head north to Darwin.
Made it. 3197km. Take a bow. Put the feet up and have a rest. Take in the sights of this cosmopolitan city. Go to NT Library and ask for Jerome Murif's book on his trip by bicycle from Adelaide to Darwin in 1897. "From Southern Ocean to Silver Sea". It was harder in those days but it is still a long way - and there werent any road trains then.
Welcome to Bikely, take a step by step tour of this path:
Press Start Tour - then use the navigation buttons below to move along the path.
Tagged with: Onroad, Scenic
