The first leg of our Road Trip. Our route took us from Melbourne -> Mildura -> Broken Hill -> Port Augusta -> Coober Pedy -> Alice Springs -> Uluru -> Kata Tjuta -> Kings Canyon -> Alice Springs -> flight back to Melbourne.

All up we covered about 4,500 kilometres.

We hired a couple of Nissan X-Trails and they worked out perfectly. We carried a spare jerry can of fuel and a couple of water, but thankfully neither were needed.

The cars performed perfectly, were very comfortable for both drivers and passengers (even though Matt & Ernie are a bit lanky!).

Although the final destination of the trip was Uluru which none of us (except Yin Ling) had previously seen, the real purpose of the trip was simply to experience a bit of the great outback as a family.

There was plenty more we could have done - but as usual, time was limited, so all of us were left wanting more.

We stopped at Mildura for the first night. Stayed at a hotel called "The Grand". Clearly it was a grand hotel in the distant past, but no longer.
It is one of those places that was "grand" in the forties and fifites, but basically went down hill from there.
Never mind - the breakfast at this place was terrific (all you can eat), and the kitchen staff were extremely accommodating to the rather strict diet of some of our group (no names mentioned!).

We poked around Mildura taking in some views of the Murray River, and also a rather charming little billabong / camping ground called "Psyche Bend".
In Broken Hill we stayed overnight at a caravan park in a container. Bit small - but comfortable enough.

The next day we took in some views of Broken Hill, bought a great pie, and then continued on to South Australia heading for Port Augusta.