driving north in January

Just stay on the Bruce Hwy after Proserpine. No need to detour. You can call in and stay at any of the numerous beach parks if you want. Kids will appreciate the water. Be aware of crocs and jellyfish in the waters. Most caravan parks have a pool anyways. It will be hot and very humid...that's why all the tourists get out by the end of September...Southerners cant handle the humidity very much. Its an acquired taste!! The tropical thunderstorms seemed to have died down ! I can remember when they would roll on at 4 pm every afternoon...now rarely. Weather is definately changing. Take your time and you will have no worries. Ensure you stay where there is an air conditioner...otherwise you may well turn around and back South asap..Check the BOM weather site each morning for the latest news on the weather...for peace of mind.

So, because you have never heard of something happening means that it has never happened????? If you go back and read my first post, you will see that there was no mention of 'blowing' a battery as you put it, the term I used was 'cooked'.
Sure, hundreds of thousands of people drive every day up here in the summer, but probably not all day on hot inland roads. A lot of people have problems due to the heat generated off the road and battery failure is just one of those problems along with tyres, cooling systems, auto trans overheating etc. I worked in the automotive repair industry up here for more than 40 years and I certainly know what effect heat has on cars and trucks. Drivers sitting in air conditioned cabins are totally oblivious to what is happening to their vehicle until something goes pear shaped, but please don't change your way of thinking - the industry needs people like you to help put money in the till.
You obviously don't live in the north or had much to do with our summer weather if you believe that storms cannot blow in unexpectedly overnight.
Dusty

Dusty,

This is just normal to people living here and no, there is no such thing as a battery blowing, cooking, or whatever you want to name the failure, as a result of heat on the mentioned roads compared to other roads up here.
And yes I live here, drive here, doing the specific roads mentioned in the original post on a monthly basis ;-)
Storms can certainly blow in but it is not as unexpected as in mountain country, the forecasts are good enough to warn you beforehand. But common sense prevails, we certainly don't avoid the mentioned roads just because a storm MAY blow in ;-)

I have lived and worked in north west Queensland most of my life.Hazard a guess to say the north west is a whole lot hotter than the coast. Minus the humidity.

Never seen or heard of a battery exploding. Tyres are a different thing.

Life goes on in the hot weather. Trucks still carry freight to Darwin. They cart cattle in summer. People still travel. Suckers like me still build steel cattle yards in 45 degree heat.

Dusty is being a little dramatic I think.

Modern cars have no problems on a hot day.

Cheers Greg

CSeaJay, I think you may need a crash course in basic reading and comprehension skills with emphasis on interpretation of the written word. Nowhere have I written that anybody should avoid the mentioned roads just because a storm MAY blow in. How you can interpret my comments as meaning that is beyond me.

Greg J1, I have lived all my life in central Qld working as a diesel mechanic for more than 40 years and the heat we experience here is not much different to the north west and certainly hotter than coastal areas. Sure, as you say, life goes on in the hot weather, trucks still carry freight to Darwin, they cart cattle in summer and people still travel. Nobody is denying any of this, but there is a big difference in the way people handle the extremes of temperature. The OP is from Melbourne and not being climatized to the constant heat of a northern summer would definitely find our weather uncomfortable here in January.

Just for the record, Greg, there was never any mention of an exploding battery in my post, that was entirely the spin put on it by CSeaJay.

To state that modern cars have no problems on a hot day is not entirely true, Greg, but if you believe that than maybe you should give up building cattle yards and go into selling used cars.

Dusty

Dusty. 20 30 years ago when a lot of travelers drove commodores and falcons ( before the 4WD boom of these days ) you would quite often come across these vehicles with their bonnet up and a boiling radiator. I can’t remember the last time I seen a modern sedan or 4WD with the same problems. I suppose there is no reason why it can’t, just nowhere near as common.

As for the degrading used car salesman comment, I ve done well enough for myself working in the heat and flies of the north west not to need that advice thanks. Basically retired now and the younger generation are taking over.

Cheers Greg

No argument from me Greg re the higher rate of overheating of vehicles 20 to 30 years ago compared to the vehicles of today, but I can assure you it does happen in extreme heat.

https://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/news/extreme-heat-fries-car-engines-and-batteries-racq/3132223/

My apologies for the used car salesman comment - just couldn't resist it given the context of the exchange.

Dusty

CSeaJay,

Just to give you a better understanding of my reference to a cooked battery, it has long been established that for every 10 degree increase in temperature, the chemical reaction within a car battery is doubled thus causing a more corrosive action on the metal plates and ultimately this will lead to complete battery failure.

The term 'cooked' is commonly used in my industry to describe vehicle components that have failed due to extreme temperatures and that is it in a nutshell.

Please feel free to ask questions should you fail to understand this explanation.

Dusty

Dusty

Thanks for the apology regarding the car salesman thing. I have a good comparison between a car mechanic and an altar boy but I’m glad I resisted now ;). Probably get banned for writing that one here !!!

All good

Cheers Greg