Alice Springs, at the centre

The depot at Ciccone

The Alice Springs depot is at 30 Stokes Street, Ciccone, a light-industrial suburb on the south-eastern edge of town. Office hours are 09:00 to 15:00 Monday to Friday. The office is closed on Saturday and Sunday.

Ciccone is not the town centre. It is the service edge of it: warehouses, workshops, and the roads that lead out. That is the right place for a depot and the wrong place for a first night, so plan to shop in the town grid before you head out. That isolation is why the hours matter, and campervan hire Alice Springs covers the depot at Ciccone and the town around it.

The depot lists after-hours collection and return as available. Confirm the arrangement when you book. This is the only depot on the list with no Saturday hours, which matters more here than anywhere else, because there is no other town for a long way in any direction.

What this depot is for

This is a collection and return point for trips that start in Central Australia. The two obvious trips are west into the MacDonnell Ranges and north up the Stuart Highway towards Tennant Creek and Darwin. The third is the long diagonal south-west, which is how a Central Australian start reaches the west coast.

That diagonal is the reason this page exists on this site. Alice Springs to the North West Cape is a crossing of the interior and then the Pilbara, and it is not a route you improvise. The vehicle is part of that, and on the unsealed sections, campervan hire locations within reach is the category rather than a campervan. The call is made at the depot, not at the turn-off.

Five things within an hour

Anzac Hill. The lookout above the town, with the range on one side and the town on the other. It is a five-minute drive from the middle of Alice and the best orientation you will get.

The Telegraph Station. A few kilometres north of town, on the site of the original 1872 overland telegraph station, and the reason Alice Springs exists. The stone buildings are intact and the walk along the Todd River starts here.

The Desert Park. A conservation park at the base of the MacDonnells that keeps the animals in large natural enclosures rather than cages. The nocturnal house is the part that makes it worth an afternoon rather than an hour.

Simpsons Gap. Seventeen kilometres west of town on Larapinta Drive, a gap in the range with a permanent waterhole and a short walking trail from the car park. It is the closest gorge to Alice and the easiest introduction to the West MacDonnells.

Standley Chasm. A narrow slot in the range that catches the sun around midday, when the walls go from shadow to orange in a few minutes. It is privately managed and charges an entry fee, which is worth knowing before you arrive.

Where the seal ends

The road west through the MacDonnells is sealed as far as Standley Chasm and beyond, which covers Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm and the Ellery Creek turn-off. Further west, the unsealed roads begin.

The Mereenie Loop is the one that decides the vehicle. It links Hermannsburg and the West MacDonnells to Kings Canyon through unsealed country, and it is the shortest line between the two rather than the easiest. Check its current status with the NT road report before committing, because a grader schedule or a wet week changes the answer. The chasm is a half-day from town, which leaves the rest of the week open, and 4WD rental for the Mereenie Loop shows which depots are within reach if the trip keeps going.

Two other things belong in Alice rather than later. Water: the gaps between supplies west and south are long, and the vehicle should carry its own. Fuel: the Stuart Highway has roadhouses, but the opening hours are not reliable, so fill at every opportunity rather than at the last one.