by MountainMadness » Sat 21 May, 2016 9:35 pm
I've done a lot of camping alongside the road in my life (difference was having a car), literally hundreds of times in the NT (mostly Central Australia). Admittedly this was mostly in the 90s when I was a young lad, and haven't in the last several years.
Not sure your background or your camping/walking/hitchhiking(?) experiences but in Central Australia there is really nothing there except scrub and desert. Near Uluru you have the airport, a small resort 'town' 10ks away from the airport called Yulara, the nearby (20-50ks away) national park facilities and that's about it……….
I've known some of the custodians of the land around there since I was a small kid (on a relatively close level for a white person not inherently familiar with Indigenous culture) - both Pitjantjatjara and Arrernte People. Mother was a teacher and father an arid orchard farmer/provider as catholic lay missionaries for an Indigenous Community there as youngens - I was born and lived in Central Australia from 0-20 years.
NONE of these custodians or their friends/family I have met would have a problem with you sleeping on their land, provided you respect their land (this word 'respect' is a little subjective but generally means leave it how your found it). I also know a large number of the station owners that own the vast majority of southern half of the NT (worked for 2 years installing diesel generators for their farmhouses and cattle water bores) and again all known to me will not have a problem you camping provided you leave the place clean and tidy like you found it.
All above is my personal opinion. I admit it may be a little out of date (having not lived there for 10 years - and noticed the relative recent change in some of the indigenous views pushed by media). I have very little faith in the modern media storm (hugely skewed by non-indigenous people trying to push their agenda and get 'views' up) that flies around the internet these days, that in my fairly well rounded opinion doesn't seem to align with the actual opinion of indigenous folk in the area. However I feel my opinion is inherently the Central Australian Way from my family experience from 1960s-2000s.
On the temperature note - yes it does get very cold in the area so be prepared. In the 48 years my father was in the area he still tells me the coldest actual temp he recorded was -11 degrees in July.
Good luck in the Red Centre - it’s an amazing place with great people and magic scenery so enjoy and respect.