Best route - Alice Springs to Brisbane

[MarkVS]

As part of the 2018 Kimberly's trip, I have been thinking about the best way to get home to Brisbane...at the moment the plan is to get to Alice Springs....and then I am looking at the best way to get from there to Brisbane.

For the section Alice - Brisbane....
I don't want to travel the highway up to Mt Isa etc..but also don't way to be dragging through desert dunes etc.

I have read about 2 possible routes.
A) Taking the Plenty Hwy north of Alice Springs which turns into the Donohue Hwy in Qld, and leads to Boulia. Go south to Bedourie, Windorah and Charleville and then back to Brisbane.

or
B)Drive south from Alice along the Stuart Hwy to Cooper Pedy, take the unsealed William Creek Rd to the Oodnadatta Track and Marree. Then either drive along the Birdsville Track to Birdsville & Windorah, or along the Strzelecki Track to Innamincka. Then the Adventure Way to Thargomindah and Cunnamulla to Brisbane.

On the basis that we MAY be on our own, I don't want anything that is hugely risky, but then again I don't want to do Hwy either.

Any suggestions or other options ?

Thanks

MarkVS

[GeoffA]

.......
B)Drive south from Alice along the Stuart Hwy to Cooper Pedy, take the unsealed William Creek Rd to the Oodnadatta Track and Marree....

Mark,

Have you considered turning off the Stuart Hwy at Marla, and following the Oodnadatta Track from top to bottom?


Geoff

[MarkVS]

Mark,

Have you considered turning off the Stuart Hwy at Marla, and folling the Oodnadatta Track from top to bottom?


Geoff

Geoff, no I hadn't..mind you going to Cooper Pedy was appealing as Kerry has never been there..would mean I do the Oodnadatta track fully..interesting suggestion. Thanks.

[SimpleSi]

Option B.

Alice, south to Oodnadatta track.
Ood track to Maree and south to Leigh Creek
Leigh creek to Arkaroola (Gammon ranges)
Arkaroola to Strzelecki track via Copley Road (a fun track). (Stay at Montecollina bore)
Strz trk to Innamincka, then as you say home.

Option A is pretty much black top once you hit the Donohue highway. 

[GeoffA]

Alice, south to Oodnadatta track.
Ood track to Maree and south to Leigh Creek
Leigh creek to Arkaroola (Gammon ranges)
Arkaroola to Strzelecki track via Copley Road (a fun track). (Stay at Montecollina bore)
Strz trk to Innamincka, then as you say home.

Looks like an interesting run....

[Spada]

big question is how much time do you have to get from Alice to Brisbane. The answer to that will most likely determine the route.

If you don't have much time, then using the Plenty would be the quickest, and take 4 to 5 reasonable days of driving (without sight seeing)

If you've got time on your side, then I'd choose the Oodnadatta option and take about 2 weeks to sniff around a bit, ore about 3 weeks if you wanted to slip into the Flinders Ranges on your way past. If you choose the Oodnadatta / Strzelecki option, another variant could be Merty Merty to Cameron Corner, Cunnamulla and then East-ish towards Brisbane. Or from Flinders, you could head towards Broken Hill, Mungo National Park and home via the Darling River area ?

I'm gunna stop thinking about the options now as it is upsetting me that I wont get to do a trip anywhere this year

[McGirr]

Mark, depending on where we will be working at that stage we may join you at Alice Springs.

Mark

[KingBilly]

Alice to Boulia via the Plenty is an easy two day drive. Then all bitumen to home if you choose.

KB

[MarkVS]

big question is how much time do you have to get from Alice to Brisbane. The answer to that will most likely determine the route.

If you don't have much time, then using the Plenty would be the quickest, and take 4 to 5 reasonable days of driving (without sight seeing)

If you've got time on your side, then I'd choose the Oodnadatta option and take about 2 weeks to sniff around a bit, ore about 3 weeks if you wanted to slip into the Flinders Ranges on your way past. If you choose the Oodnadatta / Strzelecki option, another variant could be Merty Merty to Cameron Corner, Cunnamulla and then East-ish towards Brisbane. Or from Flinders, you could head towards Broken Hill, Mungo National Park and home via the Darling River area ?

I'm gunna stop thinking about the options now as it is upsetting me that I wont get to do a trip anywhere this year

Spada,
at the moment it will probably be 1-2 weeks to get back..but that all depends on how the planning goes with the rest of the trip.  And the Plenty Hwy option might be our Plan B if we've had enough by then and just want to get home.

MarkVS

[richo36]

Hi MarkVS

Greg n I will need to get back quick to work commitments so we are gonna fast track from Alice via Plenty into Qld to Brisy.
In saying that we did an Uluru road trip from the Hunter Valley back in 2008 and did the Oodnadatta via Maree, Arkaroola and Marla and it was fine in our Santa Fe towing nothing. Cheers.

The Richos