Central Australia: Adelaide to Darwin

Central Australia is flush with iconic natural landscapes. Whether its counting pelicans in the Coorong, ogling the crags of the Flinders Ranges, ticking Uluru and Kata Tjuta off your must-see list, paddling the gorges at Nitmiluk, or marvelling over ancient Aboriginal rock art in Kakadu, the national parks here are nothing short of astonishing. Planning your journey around them is the perfect way to experience the outrageous diversity of this ancient region.

It seems unnecessary to introduce South Australia as one of the worlds key wine producers, but indeed it is! Big-ticket regions such as the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and the Coonawarra have been bottling blockbuster reds for decades, while boutique areas such as the Clare Valley and Adelaide Hills are self-assured viticultural success stories. Hungry? Along the road youll find gourmet cheeses, fabulous organic beef and lamb, multicultural food markets, buzzy eat streets and seafood worth jumping out of the boat for. Dont miss trying some classic outback game (emu, crocodile, kangaroo or camel, anyone?) and Aboriginal bush tucker: traditional native fruits, herbs and meats.

Youll find Aboriginal culture more accessible and mainstream in central Australia than it is in east-coast cities. This isnt just by virtue of numbers Australia-wide indigenous people comprise around 2.5% of the population; in the Northern Territory its closer to 30% but it also illustrates how indigenous people themselves interact with the tourist market here. Right across SA and the NT you can take an indigenous-run tour, shop for Aboriginal art, catch an indigenous cultural performance or festival, visit galleries, hear Aboriginal Dreaming stories and try some bush tucker.

When you conjure up images of central Australia, Adelaide and Darwin mightnt leap into your consciousness. But they should! All sandstone orderliness, Adelaide remains at Australias cultural high-water mark, unleashing a torrent of creative energy through its amazing festivals, arts scene, pubs and foodie culture. Darwin is an anything-goes northern upstart, fuelled by a current natural-gas boom: like the apartment towers going up, this is a city on the rise. In between are kooky outback outposts, hip wine towns and vacant desert pit-stops.

Uluru ()
CHRIS MELLOR / GETTY IMAGES

Why We Love Central Australia

By Charles Rawlings-Way & Meg Worby, Coordinating Authors

Meg first saw Uluru when she was three, but Charles didnt visit the outback until he was 30-something, on a trip with Meg. Climbing down off the Ghan train in Alice Springs, we exchanged looks that said, respectively, See what I mean? and, Ohh, now I get it!. The air out here is charged with desert ions; the night sky is milky with stars outback camping is an unmissable experience. And then theres our ongoing love affair with South Australias wineries, pubs, beaches, festivalsand our home among the Adelaide Hills stringybarks.

See for much more.

Central Australias Top 12

Jim Jim Falls ()
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Kakadu () is more than a nature reserve: its an adventure into a natural and cultural landscape like no other. Weathered by successive seasons of Wet and Dry, the sandstone ramparts of Kakadu, and neighbouring Arnhem Land, have sheltered humans for eons, and an extraordinary legacy of rock art remains. Represented are mysterious figures of the Dreaming, hunting stories, zoological diagrams, and contact art records of visitors from Indonesia and more recent European colonists. Kakadus Ubirr and Nourlangie galleries are of World Heritage significance and accessible to all.