Where to go????
Submitted: Friday, May 17, 2002 at 00:00
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Dave Harrington
I have long service leave due next year and am planning a 6-8 week trip somewhere between May - October 2003. This is such a large country and my 4wd trips so far have been limited to 2 x
Vic high country and a few NSW Sth coast weekend trips. I have a GU 3.0lt and will be taking 3 kids under 6yrs and the ball and chain. The vehicle is reasonably
well set up with 60lt Engel, UHF and GPS as
well as adequate recovery gear. Can anyone help me with a suggested trip that in a 6-8week timeframe I would be able to experience the wonders of this country but also not be driving all day and not seeing the good stuff. I have had a tentative idea about
Sydney to
Port Augusta,
Flinders Ranges,
Oodnadatta track,
Alice Springs, West Macdonnels,
Simpson Desert,
Birdsville and then back to
Sydney. Is this feasible in the timeframe??
Thanks,
Dave
Reply By: Steve - Friday, May 17, 2002 at 00:00
Friday, May 17, 2002 at 00:00
Dave, a good trip and not too rushed. Have been on this myself and my suggested trip would be as follows : Syd,
Cobar, Willandra N.P. for the kids (a must ) Mungo N.P. , Kinchega N.P.The n fill up at Woolies in
Broken Hill for trip to
Hawker, Wilpena, Parachilna ( for a great feed with the ball and chain )
Oodnadatta, Mt Dare,
Andado,and on to
Alice Springs. Have a day or two here to wash, refill the Engel, stack the booze , Cryovac your meat at the Butchers in the mall, then head into West Macdonnels and stay at
Redbank Gorge (
great camp spot ) Kings Canyon, Uluru, Olgas, Mt Connor to
Kulgera. Then over to Finke en route to Mt Dare and then over the Simpson to
Birdsville. When you have had a cleansing ale and the ball and chain has got the gear all washed and the kids bathed again set off down to
Innamincka and then take the
Bore road to
Tibooburra. Now you are nearly
home and a trip east through
Wanaaring to
Bourke and on to Coolabah (sorry about the black top bit ) and over to
Quambone and then on to Coonamble, Coonabarabran, Werris Creek and then all the way back to the big smoke via
Scone and you are
home !!
Promise you you will have the best trip of your life ... If you don't think this is long enough I can add to it without any bother !
Steve
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Ruth - Monday, May 20, 2002 at 00:00
Monday, May 20, 2002 at 00:00
I'm in for two-bits. I think Steve's itinerary for you is excellent - except for the bit about the ball and chain doing the washing etc. - in
Birdsville, that's a job for the men, that goes for cooking as
well. Ho hum. Now, don't forget that you will become very tired of doing long stretches and as you haven't been to most of these
places then you really must think about actually seeing something other than white knuckles on the steering wheel, especially if you are travelling with your 'loved' ones. So, every couple of days you need to do a two nighter (cuts down on the washing also) because I see people arrive in
Birdsville who have been on the road for 10 days and spend the entire two days in
Birdsville washing clothes, cars, themselves (and the fridge etc) when they should be relaxing and enjoying the sights.
About the HF - they take up a lot of room and speaking for the trip into the
Simpson Desert, you can hire a satellite phone from the
Birdsville Police Station (or
Oodnadatta) and drop it off at the other end. I'm sure other
places must be doing the same thing.
Gear - don't get too carried away with the things you feel you must take. It's amazing how much you really don't need. You've done some short trips - if you marked every item in the car you used with a felt marker I'd bet only 1/3 of them were used. These are the only things to take - other than recovery/vehicle things that is. You will have a great trip - just relax and try to enjoy it. Look at things and don't rush to get from A. to B.
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Follow Up By: Royce - Monday, May 20, 2002 at 00:00
Monday, May 20, 2002 at 00:00
I've done a few trips like you describe. Long drives with many good stops of two to three nights make it worthwhile. If you just drive and stop, drive and stop, you see lots of
places that you might get to next long service leave but perhaps won't . Luckily, my travels involve taking a travelling science show around and my itinerary makes me stop for days at a spot AND also say g'day to the locals. I always do the "Caravan and Camping Show" tour of each c'van park. You get great ideas and see plenty of interesting characters. My biggest bit of advice is to 'red-eye' it to the furthest point of your trip and then work your way back with big leaps and nice stops. That way you see stuff you wont see on a week-end away and enjoy the trip back. Another small but worthwhile idea is to
check out all the van parks before you choose the several-night stops. Even go in and try the showers to see if they have good roses and pressure. This is much more important than you might think. Cheers.
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