Explorers Way: Alice Springs to Adelaide

The Explorers Way is one of Australia's great overland routes — and this 7-day small-group trip covers it properly, from Alice Springs south through the Red Centre to Adelaide.

You start in the outback's spiritual heart. Sunrise at Uluru is one of those things that photos never quite capture — the rock changes colour minute by minute while the desert wakes up around you. You'll walk the full base track (10km, flat, totally doable) before heading to Kata Tjuta for the Valley of the Winds hike. Kings Canyon comes next, with the Rim Walk delivering cliff-edge views over the Garden of Eden.

From there the route heads south into South Australia. Coober Pedy is genuinely unlike anywhere else — an opal mining town where people live underground to escape the heat. You'll sleep in a dugout bunkhouse carved from the earth. Further south, the Flinders Ranges open up with ancient geological formations, Aboriginal rock art at Arkaroo Rock, and some of the clearest night skies in the southern hemisphere.

The group is small (max 24), the guide is with you the whole way, and the accommodation is a mix of bush camps, station stays and that underground bunkhouse. Meals are included — your guide cooks with the group, which sounds rustic but the food is genuinely good.

This is a real crossing of Australia's interior, not a highlight reel. Seven days gives you time to properly absorb places that most tourists only photograph from a car park. If you want the full Red Centre to coast journey, this is the one.