Offseason travel

G'day Pop,
It is a bit like a trade secret really hahahaha. Our last few trips have been like that but mainly forced on us by circumstances. The result was pleasing in that it wasn't busy but the weather is less pleasant (not bad mind you), some establishments are closed and the roads up north are chopped up by a season of traffic. All in all we now make it a preference where it is possible.

On our last trip we were doing the north in Sept - Nov and the fish were just coming on the bite and you have the place almost to yourself.

Kind regards

More than avoiding the crowds, if you can cope with the extremes of weather, and put up with road closures from time to time (main highways are not closed for long periods), touring out of season can be the best.

In the north, where they can be accessed, the waterfalls are at their best in the wet season. In the Kimberley the locals told us to come back in summer and see the place in its glory.

In the south, the area is mostly drab and dry in summer when people visit, but beautiful and green in winter. Where I live, many mornings start with the sun shining through mists, and I marvel at the beauty year after year.



Motherhen

avoiding school holidays is always a good start

traveling off peak is most definitely the way to go....and that is not only time of year..time of week and time of day can ease the journey.

#1...never travel during school holidays or over long week ends....unless you can some how leverage it....remember holidays drop in different weeks in different states.

You then need to work out how the other peaks lay out from there

A couple of weeks either side school holidays can be big peaks.....as the grey hairs look after kids during the holidays for families with two working parents.......they will either home run before or bugger off after.

The end of the school holidays and the first of the cool weather down south can trigger the wholesale northern turtle migration ( slow and carry their homes on their backs).

Turtle migration season can be not so bad........most turtes are not early risers or late travelers.....ya just need to have an idea when they emerge from their shells and set off.

For example....if traveling in the nort....heading either way..you are wise to be well past the whitsunday turn off before 10 am.

If you get away early from many of the major centres you can have the traffic behind you all day.

when we roll out of brisbane heading north...we recon to be over the gateway bridge before 5am.....we avoid all the Brisbane traffic, we are thru gympie before the shops open, and most of the traveling traffic is behind us all day...it just works all the way to Mackay.....if ya don't muck about ya get thru rocky before the schools come out.

We always try to travel on a Monday if we can, because everything is slow getting started on monday.

Don't forget to account for sacrificial anodes......events that draw lots of people to particular locations.......these sacrificial anode events can suck people out of otherwise busy destinations for quite some distance arround.

Not only do they suck people out of places but out of activities........you may find it easy to get a fishing charter on the day of a big motor race in town for example.

Of course if you can..its worth watching the wind and tide.......not the weather the flow of travelrs and what causes them to move.

If you see a lot of vans heading south...that may be a time to head the other way.

If you hear that the moon phases are favorable for the barra..yeh well probaly not the time to go to one of the popular barra dams.....every mad bugger will be up there making noise and scareing the fish...you will have better chances next week when it is quieter...and you wont pay over the odds for everthing.

Oh yes this off peak thing is a very serious studdy.

cheers

This year will be our first "top of the season" trip. Luckily it's to the Canning. Couldn't go any other time as a grand daughter wanted to come and she didn't want to take time out of school. First year high school so I can understand that.

I hope the Canning isn't going to be crowded!!!!

Can work out - 1st time I went along the GRR was September - I couldn't go earlier as I was meeting up with my Brother who was on a LSL trip around Oz with the wife and kids. The week before I got there, there was a extreme heat wave (2005) which scared all the Grey Nomads south.

By the time I got to Kunnanurra, it was still warm to hot but dry during the day, but the nights were cool. Our 3 weeks along the GRR we basically had most of the attractions and camp-sites to ourselves. Nothing was more than half full. Magic trip.

5 years later I did the same run during the peak season with another group - hated it. El Chequebook-o was a bleep fight, Bell Gorge you couldn't swing a cat sideways, waited 3 days to get into Mornington, Mt Barnett was full .... etc. etc. - so aiming for off-peak can be a better experience.

Mind you - the last night in Fitzroy Crossing was the 1st night of the humidity build up for the wet season - pig of a night - was more than happy to head south in a hurry at that stage.