Geocaching Australia

My employer gave me 4 weeks off today - a bit on short notice but it must have something to do with me changing jobs. Anyway - I've never been to the red centre so this is where I'm going. Start will be Saturday morning.

Route is something like this: http://goo.gl/maps/dZsm

Car is a T31 Xtrail and I'll get some ATs next Friday. I'll take the camping gear but haven't figured out where to stay and all that stuff. I guess I have to make it up along the way. So here are some questions you guys might have an answer for.

• What kind of "must do caches" are along the way?
• Is there anything else worth a detour?
• Does anyone want to join for a part of the trip / meet somewhere?
• Are there any recommendable campsites?

Thanks and if you have any other advise or ideas please post them

Cheers
Philipp

Sounds like fun!

Must thank that past employer for the opportunity!

Sorry haven't cached in those areas yet. Look forward to the reply posts for when we do travel through.

I'm not sure when your in SA but if you are around the weekend of 10th-11th June your welcome to drop by the long weekend event in Clare and say hello! We also have another event in Adelaide on the 1st of July....

You lucky thing

I am going insane with jealousy.

Bit of a brain dump:

I haven't cached any of this area but have driven it a couple of times (before caching sigh).
Would recommend stays in Coober Pedy and Woomera, as they are both just mad mad places.
Sometimes you will find that in the "off" season such as this, motels, roadhouse accom may be very cheap - in some cases <$50. Nicer than camping, even if they are a bit 1960s.
There is a caravan park in Woomera that doubles as the pizza shop. The owner is quite mad, but there are quite a few caches in Woomera I recall, and the cabins are very cheap. And there is one cache in sunny downtown Pimba.
There is an earth cache and trad north of Coober Pedy at the Breakaways, those have to be worth a crack.
And then you must stay at William Creek on the track of course (1 cache)
In terms of tyres I recommend BF Goodrich A/Ts - strong sidewalls, and touch wood I've never had a puncture in the Land Rover or the Pajero before that. If you don't have a UHF CB with repeater function in your car, I would recommend one before you go out down the track. If you don't have an air compressor, that runs off the car battery, I have one you can borrow. You will need to drop your tyre pressures when running that distance on dirt, and you will need a method to reinflate them when you hit tarmac.
Last time we attempted the Oodnadatta track (in the Defender) we had to turn back due to very very very thick mud and floods over the road. That wasn't the track itself, but the major connecting road from Coober Pedy. Bearing in mind - I'm in a Land Rover Defender... and I couldn't push through. So you can imagine what it was like !
This is a very remote area, and you are in a lowish clearance car, so it's worth looking closely at road and weather conditions before you set out. Sudden rain can change things from easy to dangerous in seconds.

You are on some of my regular routes here, so going through my my favorites (as in GCA my recommended list) here are some highlights:

The Slot puzzle needs solving before leaving home
Cipher Tin puzzle needs solving before leaving home
Pump it up
Astro La Vista, Baby! Not on your prefered route, but you are much better off going through Clare and Quorn than Pt Wakefield & Port Pirie
The Dutchman a hike but great views. With free camping nearby at Warren Gorge
Riverland Geocache The oldest surviving cache in SA, with not so much a geotrail as a georoad leading to it.
Is it Cow or Kow is a slight detour, but worth it, not for the cache but for the historic location

And a plug for my own cache, Unstated, about the only GCA on the highway from Melbourne to Adelaide, and at a premium rest stop on the border with a couple more GCs to collect there too.

I have tried not to be Adelaide-centric, and avoided too many long hikes and multis.

I am sure others will have their favorites.

And if your really bored on the road don't forget a couple of these below between Melb/Adelaide too from another topic;

Capital to Capital City Cannon(ball) Run - Canberra -> surprise
Ready Aim Cache - Canberra -> surprise
Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 1 - Adelaide(#1) -> Canberra
Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 1.4 - Adelaide -> Melbourne
Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 2 - Brisbane(#2) -> Canberra
Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 3 - Sydney(#3) -> Canberra
Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 4 - Melbourne(#4) -> Canberra
Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 4.1 - Melbourne -> Adelaide
Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 5.1 - Canberra -> Adelaide
Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 5.2 - Canberra -> Brisbane
Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 5.4 - Canberra -> Melbourne
Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 5.6 - Canberra -> Hobart
Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 6 - Hobart -> Canberra
A River Somewhere - Adelaide -> Melbourne
The Fugitive - Melbourne -> Adelaide
Garden to Garden (State) - Sydney -> surprise
State of Frustration (Signal Strength) - Melbourne -> Surprise
DAK's Emu Mob Was Here - Melbourne -> Adelaide
Frequent Flier - Adelaide and (nearly) every capital
State of Mind - Qld, NSW, SA, only 500m walk

You may get some ideas from this thread......... http://forum.geocaching.com.au/viewtopi ... 10&t=14396
........ then again, you may not !

What about http://www.travelnt.com/geocaching?

I can only comment about Uluru having been there recently for work.

It's expensive for accomodation, cheapest motel style room was $260 a night and not that much better than what I normally pay about $80 for. There are also backpacker dorm style ones, not sure what they cost. Camping sites are also available, but I believe about $60 a night. That said it is certainly worth seeing. The National Parks pass is $25 per person for 3 days, so you can go back and explore more of Ayers Rock and the Olgas over the 3 days.

With the X-Trail, it should be fine on those roads in the dry. I have seen a drowned X-Trail before in knee deep water, I gather the air intake is quite low down (at least it was on the one saw) so you might need to be a bit careful if there has been rain and any creek crossings need to be done. But if it is that wet on the dirt the chances are the roads will be closed in any case.

I have also heard Painted Desert near Coober Pedy is worth a trip but I haven't been. Time permitting through the Flinders I wouldn't stick to the main road from Leigh Creek down to Hawker, but detour into Parachilna Gorge etc even if just as a side trip. That countryside is definitely worth seeing and much nicer than the tar.

Thanks everyone for all the ideas - I probably stop by at the event in Clare and I bought a compressor - two things I haven't even considered. Start will be tomorrow morning

I'll turn on my SPOT which you can track via http://track.fuzzel.de

I'll keep you posted

Just got back from there and can say that Yulara isn't cheap, but it is your only option. You can get rooms off the net for much cheaper than what they put as their standard prices. Camping is cheap enough there if you are by yourself at $20pp for an unpowered site. A serviced appartment can be had for around $180 a night. A 3 day park pass is $25pp.

We stayed at Woomera caravan park on the way home and found it to be pretty good, especially when you only have to walk 20m from your tent to get a beer! The owners are friendly and happy to have a drink and a chat with you.

There are plenty of caches along the highway that are a little way off the highway and you can camp there without any issues. We did this twice and never saw another person and could hardly hear the traffic either.