I'm doing a big (budgeted) trip round Australia with two friends over summer by car. Starting and finishing in Melbourne.
Here's a rough plan of the route
Some tips on where to go and what to see/do (or avoid) would be most welcome. I think some local opinions would be much more valuable than some cheapo travel guide.
Leaving the coast at Townsville?
Magnetic Island is nice, but if you've gone that far, get up to Cape Tribulation!
two at the top end on the abc's covering a lot of that top bit in a decent way.
you can probably watch it all for free on iview.
Wow. So jealous. I'd love to do that trip.
I'd go up the coast road from Melbourne to Sydney. Some lovely spots on the NSW South Coast (like the national parks around Jervis Bay).
Go swimming with whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef in Nth WA!
Go to Airlie Beach, just past Mackay. Beautiful place, also the gateway to the Whitsundays if that tickles your pickle.
turning off at cooktown instead of townsville looks like this
List here
hmmm.. Def go inland from karratha and visit Wittenoom Gorge. Place is a ghost town now.. pretty surreal.
head north from Broome and visit Cape Leveque.. you can camp at an aboriginal community nearby with an amazing old church and the locals are awesome.(need 4wd)
Go have a snoop around Pine Gap while you are in Alice.. you can hike up the mountain range for a good look at possibly some strange goings on..
also the eyre peninsula is not to be overlooked. consider the extra kms.. you can camp out and it's supposed to be some of the oldest land on australia
some for now..
Wow, thanks for the tips everyone. This is all incredibly helpful. I had no idea about most of this stuff...
We're tossing up whether to keep heading further north in QLD....the problem is we only have two months so we thought we mightn't have time to stretch that far. But nothing's concrete as yet.
Also, if you need a lift along that route in Jan/Feb, let me know - we'll have two spare seats most of the way.
My first question would be, why not take the coast road to Sydney? It only adds a few hours to the trip, but the scenery is far more interesting than the Hume highway.
Alternatively, go to about Orbost and head through the mountains to Cooma and Canberra. Amazing highland parks that way.
That would be my lazy fault. You see, my friends are leaving Melbourne then picking me up in Sydney, so I didn't bother really thinking about their leg of the trip. I presume they'd opt for the coast.
Slightly updated route
Oh I'm so jealous! I'd love to do this... I want to take my mate here in the UK around Aus when I (eventually) return... he's never been. Enjoy - and share your tips on here when you go!
I will dig out my log from when we drove the other direction from Townsville to Sydney, there's heaps of detail in that about where we went and how good it was.
Travelling Jan/Feb you will want to find swimming holes in creeks as well, it's stinger and croc season that time of year.
Awesome, thanks Modi.
I should say ''try and dig out my log'', I know it's around here somewhere, but I haven't laid eyes on it in a while.
Off the top of my head, Barrington Tops NP, Eungella NP and Fraser island have good memories attached, but avoid Bundaberg if at all possible. Weirdest town we stopped in. But that may just be an isolated experience.
Bear in mind that Top End roads are prone to flooding at that time of the year. Also, Central Australia has 40 degree plus days for most of summer. Make sure you get your sightseeing or driving done with before 11am. Oh, and if there's more than two of you try advance booking an apartment with an extra bed at Ayers Rock Resort rather than staying in the dorm rooms - last time I visited (2000) the dorm beds, in a massive twenty five bunk room, were about fifty bucks each.
Are you thinking of visiting Kakadu? You can probably do the best bits in two days, although once again road closures can make accessing some parts of the park difficult after Christmas. Alternatively, the gorge at Nitmuluk is worth taking a tour on (or hiring canoes / kayaks if you've done it before), as well as Litchfield NP south of Darwin.
Litchfield is awe inspiring in the wet.
My family did it in 1993, in a 1984 Commodore towing a huge caravan and three children under nine.
I don't know what the fuck my parents were thinking, but I'm sure glad they clearly weren't. It was A. MAZE. ING.
Agreed. Beautiful.
Please make sure you go to Karijini National Park.
That is all.
this is just viral marketing for the new baz luhrmann film isn't it?
Awesome trip! Make sure you get to Kakadu when you're near Darwin....& if you can, get to the Kimberley coastline while you're in the top end of WA. You're missing Cape York which is a shame, it's an amazing place.
There's THOUSANDS of places to visit on that route though...you'll have a ball.
Go to Mattaranka Springs, Katherine Gorge, Kakadu of course, Lorne Hill Gorge, Palm Valley, Kings Canyon, Devils Marbles, Uluru of course.....
Anyone wanna hear my Kings Canyon story?
When we were there, my brother was three, and he was being toilet-trained. The deal was, any time he did a poo in the toilet, he'd get a chocolate frog. So.. one day, he took himself to the loo, did what he was supposed to do, and thought, ''right, Mum and Dad aren't around, but I'm going to go find my chocolate frog anyway!'' So he toddled off in search of Freddo.
The first my parents heard of it was when the helicopter pilot for the Great Outdoors team turned up at our tent with Toby, asking us if we'd lost a small child.
Also, while we were there, the road flooded and we couldn't get out, and our tent blew away.
Maybe you should stay away from Kings Canyon?
Hehe...don't stay away, it's an awesome place!
The first time I was there (1973) I was 2...my older brother was 4. There were no walking tracks or protective barriers, etc. anywhere. Dad took my brother up with him & tied him to a tree by a long piece of rope while he went off exploring..Mum was NOT impressed.
That was the same trip when we drove to Uluru during the night & camped not knowing how close to the rock we were. When we woke up we could see that we'd stopped within 50 metres of it. Can't do that anymore.
Make sure you go to the south-west coast and climb the Gloucester Tree. When we climbed it, it had just been raining, and the rungs were very slippery, and there wasn't much in the way of safety or anything. We were a bit older then but still, I can't believe my parents took us up there.
I'm actually currently trying to organise something similar! I don't have a car though so was just thinking of flying/training it everywhere- that may prove rather difficult, but I haven't really looked into it too much as yet.. My friends are currently being very hard to convince though, so hmmmmm.
When are you thinking of doing this anna?
Thanks for that practical advice, electrichips.
I've been looking a bit closer into what has been recommended in this thread and much of it is going on the giant to-do list. We've got two months...For those of you who have done something similar, do you think that's enough time for the trip to be worthwhile? Advice?
Great stories, Lilo, I hope we end up with some memories like that (maybe not losing a small child though, haha).
Rough dates are 27 Dec - 27 Feb, lozz.
i reckon cut out western oz if you only have 2 months
do east coast, across to darwin and down central oz
more time to relax
if you go to tweed... only get out of your car in the day time.
there's going to be a lot of driving within those 2 months.
time consumed, i meant.
We bought a car for the trip.
Here's Angus, the '98 Falcon in ''mocha foam''.
Awesome! it sounds like a heap of fun. I hope to do it one day
My god this trip is creeping up on us.
Question: How vital would it be to carry a petrol jerry and/or a fire extinguisher with us in the car?
The car's got a 72L petrol tank and we're taking a woollen blanket as a fire precaution...tossing up whether the aforementioned items are necessary as space is very limited. Hmm these could very well be my famous last words, couldn't they?
ALSO: I need a lift between Mudgee (250kms NW of Sydney) to Sydney between Christmas and new years...anyone happen to be passing by?
I wonder how this is going?
my friends have been doing this over summer also
check the website, lots of interesting material
the inland sea
man i wish i was comming! :(
i love WA, tassie but i haven't been to darwin........
have fun drive safe,try not to drive dawn or dusk,roos will rock your world!
Here's my video from a few years ago- round oz by motorbike. It's missing the intro.
Anyway, can't post much- feel free to get in touch.