Travelling through Northern Territory

Submitted: Monday, Oct 20, 2014 at 11:11
ThreadID: 109870 Views:1516 Replies:2 FollowUps:4
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Thanks to everyone who responded.
I have never used this (or any other) website like this before.
I was surprised at the response to my query.
After receiving all your most welcomed advice and knowledge we have put off our trip until mid June to give us a chance at better weather.
Thankyou all so much.
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Reply By: Member - John and Val - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2014 at 10:59

Tuesday, Oct 21, 2014 at 10:59
Hi Judith,

I think that you have probably made the right decision - now just be prepared for some cool Alice Springs nights LOL! But you should be well clear of wet weather as you go further north. Anyway I hope that you have a great trip, you will pass through plenty of amazing country. As you continue to plan you can always come back on here to ask more specific questions about things to see etc.
And good on you too for taking the plunge and using this site - and there are plenty of other equally useful and helpful sites out there. There are quite a few other women who post on here, and no doubt many more simply looking. Sometimes (thankfully not often) things get a bit tetchy, best ignore those threads.
There is one protocol though and that is to keep all follow-ups with the original thread. Just makes it easier to keep track.
Hope to see you on here again, and enjoy your planning and trip preparation - after all that is a fair part of the fun and adventure in the trip.

Cheers,

Val.
J and V
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein

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AnswerID: 540635

Follow Up By: Judith C1 - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2014 at 11:36

Tuesday, Oct 21, 2014 at 11:36
Thanks Val.
I am a fairly nervous as we will be travelling by ourselves now that we have changed the date.
We will have to sit down and start planning. I am finding it a bit daunting as we have never been N.T. before, don't know what to see and what not to see. Neither of us has done much travelling before except the odd trip to Brisbane.
I know it will be totally different sought of travel but find it hard to comprehend.
Thanks again for your words of wisdom.
Regards Judee
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Reply By: Sandman - Thursday, Oct 23, 2014 at 23:46

Thursday, Oct 23, 2014 at 23:46
Hi Judith

Welcome to the NT ! We live out here in Alice Springs and just got back from a 5 day trip that took us out to the "Sandy Blight road" that goes between Kintore NT to the great central road in WA. Right now its too hot to be travelling those roads, we had 40c out in the bush, I had hoped the cool spell from last week might have kept the temps down....was not to be.

I would strongly recommend thinking about travel in April-May as thats a very nice time and then think about quitting around September.

Down here in the Alice you dont have to worry too much about rain, tends to be stuff you get in the north :-)

We traveled on our own with a swag, we do it fairly modestly, a little advice if I could

1) Keep a sense of humor no matter how crappy things get. We helped a fellow on the great central road dig under his rear axle to get my jack in to change a tyre because he'd built drawers into the back of his car and forgot the jack was under the floor :-)

2) Take lots of water incase....We had out 20L water container burst within the first 300KM...I had to remember point 1 !!! I managed to save 5L into another container, the other 15L went "somewhere" into the back of the car :-) Take smaller containers, not cheap ones, get something as thick as petrol containers for water, you dont want a lake in the back of your car :-)

3) Take a 2nd spare...If you have odd tyre sizes, take an extra carcass... We were in Warakuna (Giles Weather station) and a guy rocked up with his sexy Land Rover Discovery with 19" tyres...with a dirty big hole in one....guess what, 19" at Giles, I dont think so :-)

There are lots more pearls of wisdom, dont worry we've been doing this for years and had to laugh when our water container burst, the ARB tyre plug kit had dried out plugs (when we tried to help a chap), we left the salt n pepper shaker at home and I burnt the bottoms of my feet when getting out ontop of a sand dune ! without shoes :-)

Remember, its supposed to be fun.....sometimes you need to laugh at yourself :-)
AnswerID: 540760

Follow Up By: Judith C1 - Friday, Oct 24, 2014 at 08:18

Friday, Oct 24, 2014 at 08:18
Good morning Sandman,

thanks for the tips and the laughs. I am sure we will come back with plenty of stories, as this is will be our first trip to N.T., so looking forward to it. The time is going so slow. I am sure we will have a great time with plenty of laughs. Not as worried now as I am sure that if we run into problems there will be plenty of nice people like yourself on the road to help us out.
We will be travelling with a new camper trailer, we pick it up in a few weeks and will be doing a few short trips to get the hang of it and work out what we need to take. I am sure we will take way too much stuff.
I was thinking we would have to pack enough food for our whole trip but going by what we have heard there is plenty of opportunities along the road to stock up.

Kind regards Judee :)
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FollowupID: 826669

Follow Up By: Sandman - Friday, Oct 24, 2014 at 10:26

Friday, Oct 24, 2014 at 10:26
Judee

And there is your first learning, take less than more, trust me it doesnt hurt :-) ....

As you've said, buy food along the way, the locals would love your business. Yes its more expensive but not ridiculous. Some stuff you take from home but fresh stuff, dont stress, you can buy it in most Indigenous communities if you need to...

And thats another point, dont shy away from communities, while some look like war zones, stop and have a look, at least buy an icecream, sit out front and watch the world go buy. Besides Yuendumu out on the Tanami, almost all other remote communities are pretty good places !

Everyone will stop and help, a great sense of community spirit out here.

Pete
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Follow Up By: Judith C1 - Friday, Oct 24, 2014 at 12:00

Friday, Oct 24, 2014 at 12:00
Thanks Pete.
I am blown away by how helpful this site and everyone on it has been. Really appreciate it.
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FollowupID: 826678

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