Curtin Springs is a cattle station with a roadhouse and motel attached. It’s on the Lasseter Highway in the middle of the outback – but it’s only 90km away from Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. Watarrka National Park is around 200km away. We therefore chose it as our base to make three day trips to these two National Parks.

We arrived at the motel with provisions for our whole stay (cereal, milk, and fruit for four breakfasts, three lots of sandwich materials for packed lunches, and three great big tubs of salad for dinners). The motel was a bit run down and the room was only just big enough to fit all our stuff in.

Each day our routine was the same: Get up at 5am. Have breakfast and make a packed lunch. Drive 1-2 hours to a National Park. Have a great day out. Drive back. Drink yerba mate. Eat salad for dinner. Go to bed before 9pm.

The motel was close to Artilla (also known as Mount Conner) – a large rock formation which from a distance can look a bit like Uluru. Sometimes unsuspecting tourists driving down the highway think that they have had their first glimpse of Uluru.