Summary of Lake Eyre Trip
Summary of Lake Eyre Trip
Adelaide-Marree-Birdsville Trip Map
Commentary: This was a great trip to see a very rare event of Lake Eyre being at near full capacity. The last occurence was in 1970.
Pros:
- Flight to Adelaide and car rental was relatively inexpensive. The petrol prices were up since the 2026 middle east war started. Interesting that petrol is about the same price as 2014 when I did a trip through this are on a motorcycle.
- Marree is a great hub for taking the scenic flight and also for experiencing the outback and its history around the Ghan Railway. The main north/south bitumen roads ends there, so that is northern limit for driving our rental car.
- Flinders Range is fantastic for hiking and we could have easily spent another night there. The Wilpena Pound Resort accomodation and restuarents standards were better then expected for such a remote location.
- The Clare Valley historic towns are beautiful, historically interesting and worth more time
- All the accomodation was well priced compared to our most recent USA road trips (Feb 2026).
- Pub Food is great in both price, variety and quality. Gone are the days of only pie, chips and gravy.
- Wifi is everyone at small towns and Wilpena Pound Resort. (see cons re cell data)
- The Toyota Hybrid is a very economical car, especially below 110km/hr (our best tank was 4.1ltr/100km, and overall 4.8ltr/100km)
Cons:
- Not enough preparation research done on the Clare and Barossa Valley. I have learnt a lot since visiting and researching, and wished I had know it before the trip.
- Be aware of animals, especially early in the morning (even 9am) and before dusk(4:30pm in May). If caught out, have time contingency to drive slowly. We had a very close encounter with two kangaroo early one morning whilst driving south. Having hit kangaroos a number of time, it is very important to plan not to be in that situation. The car damage is usually a lot and they appear in an instance, so can cause you to lose control if travelling above 70-80km/hr.
- It was colder then we expected and we wore most of our clothing layers most of the time.
- Outback flies are persistently annoying. Like many folk, we should have taken face nets, which can be purchased at a lot of stores. Insect repellant hardly makes a difference and quickly destroys sunglasses frame plastic. I wouldn’t recommend stronger insect repellent as a trip to the Amazon River taught us how quickly you will be reaching for your spare pair of glasses.
- There is no cell data for hundreds of kilometers. Prepare by downloading music and podcasts. For emergencies, stay on the bitumen and you will eventually see other travellers.
- Wilpena Pound bushwalking has limited cellular phone coverage. Stay on the tracks. Understand if your smart phone (like iphone 14 and up) has emergency or texting messaging via satellites and read up and how to use it before you leave. Its very useful for informing friends/family where you are by “Find a Friend” or by imessage. I’m not sure of what non apple features are available for remote locations so best to do some research before you need a helicopter.
- Keep your fuel tank filled enough to get to the next town and the one after. Not all towns have fuel retailers open all of the time.
- Not every village/town has your favourite Smarties flavours. Like all outback travel, carry some food/water.
Road Trips Numbers
| Day | Date | From | To | drive kms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-05-07 | Adelaide | Flinders Ranges | 439 |
| 2 | 2026-05-08 | Flinders Ranges | Flinders Ranges | 128 |
| 3 | 2026-05-09 | Flinders Ranges | Marree | 330 |
| 4 | 2026-05-10 | Marree | Marree | 0 |
| 5 | 2026-05-11 | Marree | Birdsville | 5 |
| 6 | 2026-05-12 | Marree | Clare | 513 |
| 7 | 2026-05-13 | Clare | Tanunda | 143 |
| 8 | 2026-05-14 | Tanunda | Sydney | 81 |
| Total km | 1,638 |
Total trip petrol(ltrs) : 30.16 + 36.35 + 12.31 = 78.82ltrs
Total trip fuel cost(AU$): $63.00 + $70.48 + $21.23 = $154.71
Trip fuel consumption. : (78.82ltrs/(1,638km))*100 = 4.812ltrs/100km
Last petrol tank consumption over 300km: 4.1ltrs/100km
Total Costs for 7 Days
| Category | AU$Cost | % |
|---|---|---|
| Accomodation | $1,347 | 20 |
| Apex Car Rental | $451 | 6.7 |
| Petrol | $155 | 2.3 |
| Arid Air 1 Day Flight ($3160) + Virgin($602) Flights | $3,786 | 56 |
| Cafes | $336 | 5 |
| Groceries | $84 | 1 |
| National Park Entry | $14 | 1 |
| Restaurant | $583 | 8.6 |
| Grand Total | $6,757 | 100 |