UK Overlanders planning 10 day trip in hired 4x4 looking for advice.

What sort of scenery do you like/want to look at etc?

You could spend several days just in the state forests & National Parks behind Port Macquarie, up to Walcha, across to Armidale , Grafton, Coffs Harbour and back to Port Macquarie alone. Probably only 800km round trip, but speak to "local Aussies", not fellow tourists & European backpackers.
Alternatively you could spend that 11 days basically driving 10 hours each day with 3 days at Uluru/ Ayres Rock-Olgas (no time for Alice Springs) all on bitumen and not speak to any locals
You could head to beautiful Fraser Island and spend a few days there, or head towards the Simpson desert (that & Uluru in March depends on your tolerance for continual 35-40C days)

As stated above you need to state what you want to do/ see. Desert scenery, sub tropical and temperate rainforests, savannah type plains with roos & emus and large sheep/cattle stations, the sand driving at Fraser, or to the Barrier Reef further north.
Or do you just want to get some serious four wheel driving.

You need to decide what you want to see, if you want any local resident interaction and how much you want to drive each day.
You are obviously accustomed to a lot of driving, but that still doesn't tell us how long you want to spend behind the wheel each day or what you want to see.

Give those details and you will get some really good answers on this web site

If you are looking for a uniquely Australian desert experience, start in Adelaide and go north via the Flinders Ranges, Oodnadatta Track, Coober Pedy..........
10 days is a bit too short though.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

Hi I-10 mins, if you start from Sydney all the decent 4WD is locked up for a 150 km radius - and rightly so as its drinking water catchment and NP's. Of the few remaining tracks little would need any low range at all. Try camping at Old Ford Reserve in the Blue Mountains - its 15 km from Blackheath. Do day trips to the Lost City and Glow worm Tunnel, Jenolan Caves, Kanangra Walls, low range into Dingo Dell. And you have the fabulous Blue Mtns NP at your doorstep. There's even the Dryridge winery a few km from the reserve.....W

Pick up Brisbane> Fraser island 3days (reduce tyre press.contrary to any hirers advice) Carnarvon NP, Barcaldine / Longreach / Lark quarry, (Diamantina NP? haven't actually been there yet) Bedourie Pub, Birdsville out and back to big red, Windorah, Charleville (night sky observatory) Roma, Brisbane (10days abit rushed but 2 weeks?). Great outback driving and experience.

I think some of these outback suggestions are a bit ambitious - even though you are clearly no stranger to long distances it would be a bit frenzied.

I reckon if you started from Brissie and spent 5 days on Fraser Island and 5 days around Condamine Gorge (Brissie/Gold Coast hinterland) would be perfect. Fraser is magnificent as are those mountains with clear riverside camps.

A shame you are a month or so early; you could've got a cheap flight to Cairns or Darwin and done the Cape or Top End.

If you are starting from Pt MacQ. you have Point Plomer and Kylie's Beach on your doorstep as I'm sure your hosts will verify. Depends on your interests

Hi
there is one very important thing to know if you hire any off-road vehicle (4WD).
You must know where exactly you want go, as not many hire company's let you go with their vehicles everywhere! Ask, before hiring ..... it is about type of vehicle and it's reliability , equipment. Do not forget it is also about insurance. Well set-up vehicle can be very easily worth AU$ 100.000 or more. But if you after serious 4WD travel, you will need serious vehicle.
It is very well documented, that even vehicle you traveled from UK to Mongolia and what ever else, will not have suspension suited to Australia's tough off-road 4Wdrinvig.
It really depends where you exactly want to go.
The suggestions I read up to now, do not really take you out of civilization. Some of them are even on bitumen or just common dirt roads (Flinders Ranges, Oodnadatta Track, Coober Pedy and other places).
Also 10days in Australia is like 5days in UK .... like I have been there, but I wish .....

Anyway coast of Kimberly is where you really, really want to go! You can fly there from almost any bigger airport.
Check highest tide of a particular month to see Stairs to moon from Roebuck Bay caravan park order beforehand flight-land- speedboat travel on The Horizontal Waterfalls, Hire vehicle or go with tour to Bungle Bungle (Purnululu NP), Cape Leveque, Wolfe Creek Crate and lot, lot more. There in Kimberly region is so much to see, and to Australian distances things are "close by"....sot-of...
One thing is must if you are in Broome, and that is Pearl Luggers museum and show. It is real eye opener.
Link to what I mean:

Kimberley

Cheers Dana

Clearly, Sydney is your most convenient hire point and there are many option from there without long boring bitumen travel. Google "4WD from Sydney" for a host of references.

A good book on this subject is "4WD Treks Close to Sydney" available from the Bookshop on this ExplorOz site.

I would also suggest that early March can still pretty be hot in our Outback and can also still be wet and impassable in some northern areas. Also, to fly somewhere to start and finish your trek will consume two of your available 10 days apart from the additional costs.

I agree with those saying avoid central Australia at that time of the year. Not many travel those areas at that time. The distances are huge, the areas isolated and the temperatures can still be extreme at that time. I might do it but only in a vehicle that I really knew well, not a hire vehicle. And I would want lots of extra gear and communications stuff and water.
Sticking closer to the coast or the southern high country looks much wiser and you will enjoy it better.

OK I found this by accident it it a 3 part series short video from ray mears look at it and listen well it is a sad tale of a number of mistakes by a couple of tourists in the out back and one pay dearly for the mistake

it tell you that many hire companies do not tell you any thing about what sort of problems you may get into traveling in the Australian out back and the lack of equipment provided by many companies for a trip in to the out backout back help
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGUba9xnaDo


Now I live in Broken Hill on the edge of the outback Australia and we are already into our 2 session of over 5 days over 110 in your terms it is a dry dry heat now it will not be like that when you come here but many towns out this way are having water problems and you will have to carry double what you may normally need

there is also a huge increase of wild life after a several good wet seasons but again we are in drought

have a look at the video and see what it is really like out this way


the out back has a way of just when you think all is well it will turn around and bite you on the bum and things will turn pear shape and go down hill quick

so please do come out this way we need tourists but we want you to go home as well enjoying a good trip so you can tell your friends so they will come

March will be much too hot to venture very far west from Port Macquarie, and the distances are too great to really see any of the more remote areas in your timeframe. However March is a perfect time to see the beautiful coast and ranges and a bit of the country west from the tablelands. You could hire a 4WD from Port Macquarie and spend 10 days using the following route as a guide.

Port Macquarie to Walcha (taking in national parks with big waterfalls and rainforest), Bendemeer, Manilla, Boggabri, Narrabri (Mt Kaputar NP), Bingara, Inverell (Copeton Dam) Glen Innes to Grafton via the Old Glen Innes road (wonderful campsite at the Mann River Reserve), detour from Grafton along the lower Clarence R to Maclean and Brooms Head,
then from Grafton down the coast to Port M. via the beautiful beaches around Coffs Harbour and Nambucca Heads.

That route would include some gravel road at least (and you can probably find a few tracks to explore as well) but will give you a variety of things to see.

Cheers,

Val

Howdy


Looks like a bit of bad planning on your behalf !

You should have got here a few months ago when the Ashes were on - you could have travelled from cricket ground to cricket ground all over the country !! LOL

Enjoy your stay

Happy and safe travelling

Gazz

Thanks to all for the replies, and the replies to replies. I suppose I have limited experience of 4x4 tracks as such, a few trips to North Waes and a more recent trip to Portugal, each time with a group of experienced off roaders.

But my wife and I (62 qnd 60) have travelled 000's of miles on our own on 'normal' roads of dirt, sand, rock and mud, with a few river crossings thrown in. The difference is that all these roads are travelled by overloaded trucks and cars, willing to help when things go wrong. In our case it was more us helping others (except once when we sunk to the axles in Mongolia and had to wait 2 hours for another cruiser to pull us out). Some of the best roads were in Kyrgyzstan and TaJikistan, good quality dirt roads over the mountains, with amazing views, (a little narrow in some places, with no guard rails and huge drops and then odd dodgy bridge) in fact the tarmac roads were worst as most were riddled with pot holes. We also crossed the Gobi Dessert (up to 50c in places) with another vehicle.
It is difficult to know exactly what I will get when I hire a 4x4, but TCC say that all vehicles have a winch, plus a kit including high lift jack, snatch strap etc. but I have no wish to undertake any risks to the vehicle or ourselves, at least not on our own. I have no idea what the tracks in Australia are really like, but dirt tracks that are easy to follow (once you are on them), with the odd challenge, is our sort of road, preferably with some mountain scenery thrown in, starting in Sydney or Brisbane.

being you're not going to want to clock up the bigger klms to get outback and back again in 10 days, i'd suggest getting out of Sydney ASAP and head to some of the spots Val mentioned earlier.
head up towards Coffs Harbour, go inland along the Waterfall Way around Dorrigo etc, Copeton Dam is a beaut spot to camp by the water, be sure and drive / camp on the Old Grafton - Glen Innes Rd, and i'd head a touch further North to climb Bald Rock at Bald Rock National Park, and then go to Girraween National Park and climb The Pyramid...the views a top both locations are spectacular and worth the work out to the legs.

As you're visiting in March, I wouldn't rule out spending the entire ten days in Tasmania ; quiet, relaxed, terrific scenery, lots of historical stuff, good fishing if that's your thing, any amount of walking ; it's simply a great place to visit,

Phil

G'day Mate
Have you considered giving the rooftop tent idea away and just staying at B&Bs, cabins, on-site vans etc. Might be cheaper/easier/more comfortable.

For that length of time I'd recommend the New England and Granite Belt areas as suitable. Some really nice stuff up in those areas. Some good 4WDing, lots of National Parks and State Forests. Plenty of waterfalls, mountain scenery, beautiful countryside, bush walking etc.

Weather will be nice during day and nippy at night.

Sorry - can't comment on who to hire from.

Perhaps if you were more specific regarding what you'd like to see we could be more specifc in our advice.