hey chalkie and welcome to the forum, I'll be heading up that way myself in august so looking forward to it as well

     G,DAY

2 Musts if u have a 4/wd  one is  Chambers Pillars,and the second is Glen Helen ,oops make that 3, Palm Valley is a must see   arround Alice  the Telegraph Station is well worth a dayout  go on a tour of it if u can  i dont think there is a cost for the tour, there is a small entrance fee i  think, or u can just walk in. many short trips arround the Alice   enjoy   ive been there 5 times [son used to live there] and i will be there again traverling through   love it   if staying in caravan park stay at the second park at Heavytree Gap [umm safer and quieter]


 happy times

Don't forget King's Canyon and the Standley Chasm

Sorry -I misposted the last reply. Doesn't relate to this topic. Apologies everyone.

well, I seen chambers piller the last time I went up, but didnt see kings canyon or standley chasm so they will be on the list

I also intend to stay underground on the way up as well as the way back, riba's seems to tick all the boxes

I will also drop into the telegraph museum, the main reason for my going back is to catch up with a heap of freinds who are meeting at uluru and stated that if I didnt turn up they would come and get me so I'd better go, a lot of these people have never camped before so new experiences for all awaits

the park just out of alice seems to be the go as I have heard a lot of things about that town

Chalky "anything special on the way up from Adelaide" oh boy!!! dont get me started on my backyard mate, how long have you got, I could keep you busy for a month with stuff left over!!!!!!!!!!!

we're doing the trip from townsville- mt isa-the alice then adelaide in october. check ExploringAustralia.com.au shows all the attractions along the h'way from adelaide -alice-darwin.we found it very helpful.
rocan

yep as Basil states chalky, the temp constantly rises above 50 deg celcius during summer, now opal mining being the main reason for coober pedy's very existance (that and dodging the law) this activity leaves an awful lot of very big holes around, and the whole area resembles some weird moon scape

the local populace found out long ago that the holes were a steady temperature (20 degs I think but that is probably way off) so they enlarged some of the shafts, with horizontal boring machines chasing opal, these machines can drill holes side by side to make a room

these rooms in turn became houses complete with power and water, kitchens and bathrooms (although as Basil states water must be purchased, or stolen from the neighbor), some entrepenaurs thought "hang on theres a buck to be made here" so they advertised themselves as an underground motel

and fools like me pay for the experience of sleeping underground, coober pedy, if travelling from port augusta, is very well positioned as a half way point for uluru, so enjoys a lot of tourists,

one thing to remember, dont wander around at night for two reasons, a lot of big holes will eat you and the locals do things that they may not want you to see, either way you will end up in a hole and never be found again, ever heard of the saying "never smile at a crocodile" well dont grin at the locals either, they are only half civilised

yep a great spot and no doubt has been cleaned up but twenty years ago a good family freind of ours used to cart water around the place, not sure if he was selling it or whether he owned the cart and contracted out to the highways

but anyway he would come back with horrific stories of shots in the night and people waking up dead as well as many people just dropping off the face of the earth, but as I stated that was a long time ago but I do know it is still a place of villains and law dodgers

as for Dave, well never met a bloke named Dave that I didnt like

thanks for all the info on CP i'll defently stop for a couple on the way up , cheers

thanks dave the pub with the locals sounds like fun , so i'll check that out when we get there