Port Augusta to Coolum

Over to Mildura and then straight up the Darling river run, or come up the Barrier Highway to Broken Hill and Darling run up from Menindee - Bourke, then Hungerford - Eulo then back in. Nice part of the world now they've had some rain.

We went to Coolum in early March and had to hightail it back to the WA border in 36 hours before the border closed. We were lucky, we were in our Zone RV 18.6 OffRoad in both directions! You will only have the Zone in one direction.

We went via Tamworth and along the top of the Great Dividing Range on the way there and obviously the most direct route on the way back. We did the last 2400km to the border in 28 hours, non stop apart from fuel and toilet breaks. It was really nice going through Tamworth and everything was green across the whole of the country after good rains in February/early March.

(Slightly tongue-in-cheek, you can see I've been in lockdown too long ...)

A lot depends on which borders open. If the Qld/NT/WA/SA open among themselves but SA/Qld keep the two "diseased" states (NSW/Vic) shut off, PtA -> Birdsville -> Windorah -> Charleville would be a goer - and shorter than the GRR ;-)

We are planning the reverse journey to Perth from Brisbane when we can leave Queensland without spending 14 days at the border when returning and when the WA folks let us in without 14 days at their gatehouse! I was born in the Kimberley, admittedly long ago, but maybe I can claim I am just returning to my home State ….

Anyway, my answer to your question is the REVERSE of the following route:

Brisbane
Toowoomba
St George
Cunnamulla
Thargomindah
Innamincka
Strzelecki Track
Lyndhurst
Port Augusta
Onwards ever onwards to Perth

If we were coming from Coolum, we would bypass Brisbane and given that we know the area, probably something like

Coolum
Landsborough
Beerwah
Kilcoy
Esk
Toowoomba

Our route is about 4,600 kilometres from our house in Brisbane to the house of our daughter and family in Perth. There are many alternative overall routes including the Darling River Run as has been suggested above – this would be about 4,300 kilometres house to house and is probably the shortest and fastest distance. We already did this during the drought and pre-COVID so we will do something different this time. That said, the Darling River Run is great trip. We stopped for a few days in Bourke, Louth (Trilby Station is recommended) and Broken Hill with just a fuel-and-snack stop in Wilcannia.

The LC200 will not be troubled by any of the roads. You will be able to hold good speeds even on the backroads. Some parts can be rough, especially if you choose Wilcannia northwards along the Darling River Run – but it certainly ain’t “hard-core off-road” stuff. The roads from Broken Hill to Wilcannia, and, beyond Bourke, are fast, sealed roads. From Wilcannia to Louth it does depend when the grader last passed through and what the recent weather has been like – but there is nothing unusual about that. It is a good idea to check out the road condition reports on the Shire Council websites.

The main point if doing long hours is to be VERY wary of the large numbers of kangaroos, emus and wandering unfenced stock in his part of the world, especially early and late in the day, and to be aware that the rough approaches to some grids (some people call them ramps) may even challenge a LC200 – but again there is nothing unusual about that, and it is not different to WA.

General:

• In our case we want to do something different to last time,

• We won’t be towing – just Mr and Mrs Indrocruiser in the trusty turbodiesel LC100 with our usual backroad stuff including two spare tyres, recovery gear, tools, satphone, PLB, UHF, lots of water, just OEM fueltanks as roads are easy and 1,000+ kilometres of range is plenty, including safety margin,

• We want a “minimum days of travel” trip and our selected route is about as direct as we can make it, other than by repeating the Darling River Run. The penalty is about 300 kilometres.

• Plenty of accommodation choices are available all along the way – we will plan it out and book ahead to avoid stressing about when and where to stop,

Even the shorter route along the Darling River Run of 4,465 kilometres (including 135 kilometres to Coolum) in 6 days does mean averaging 716 kilometres per day. This is doable with the whatever hours and speeds are necessary. We are much more lazy and slow – probably at least 8 days for us – reckoning on 6 to 7 hours per day with wheels turning and maintaining 100 to 110 kph wherever possible to achieve a house-to-house overall average of 85 kph.

Go to this link to read the Queensland “Easing Restrictions Road Map”.
Queensland COVID-19 Restrictions Road Map
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has yet to actually commit in writing to opening the Queensland Borders on or before 10th July 2020 but it does seem like a fair bet.

The South Australian position can be found here:
South Australia COVID-19 Border Restrictions

You will know best what is happening in Western Australia with regard to Border Restrictions.

One issue that is important is to check the “Designated Biosecurity Areas” (mainly designated to protect Indigenous communities) in all relevant States/Territories. These internal prohibitions in various States/Territories may remain in place longer than the State Border restrictions and may impede travel.

Go well!!

You’d make BH no worries!

Back in Dec ‘75, I travelled from about an hour south of Coober Pedy, through PA, and was east of Wilcannia as the sun went down. Experienced the densest ‘roo population there I’d ever seen, along both shoulders of the highway, for about 50-60 kms. Never seen roos as thick since either.

Bob