August Holiday WA NT
Submitted: Sunday, May 22, 2005 at 19:24
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Replies:
5
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Member - Eric P (Int)
Hi,
My wife Cathy and I are coming from France to
Darwin on July 29th 2005 to spend 4 weeks in Australia. We rent a troopy with rooftent and intend to travel first on the West Coast to
Broome (
Gibb River and
Cape Leveque), then
Coral Bay where we will stay for a couple of days, then
Shark Bay (possibly), then Uluru (either Great CEntral of Gunbarel), Kings Canyon, Alice, Tanami (until Rabbit Flat Rdh), Top Springs;
Katherine,
Kakadu, then back to
Darwin. We would like very much to share parts of the trip (espescially Gibb,
Cape Leveque, Gunbarel, Tanami and Kakdu) with Aussie travelers.
Is anybody interested ??
Reply By: GOB & denny vic member - Sunday, May 22, 2005 at 19:30
Sunday, May 22, 2005 at 19:30
goodday eric
you are trying to cover a lot of ground in a short time when are you going to stop for a look around unfortunately but not unhappily we will not be up that way this year going to
birdsville instead
steve
AnswerID:
112334
Follow Up By: Member - Eric P (Int) - Sunday, May 22, 2005 at 20:29
Sunday, May 22, 2005 at 20:29
Hi, Steve,
It is true that it is a big trip (9.000 km) but Australia is really huge !!
Cathy does want to dive the
Ningaloo reef, and we have a lot of bitumen to reach it. We think of traveling the uninteresting parts as quickly as possible, so that we have some spare time to look around. If it does not work, we think of alternatives, but it is very difficult (heading back directly from
Coral Bay to
Broome and then travel to
Katherine on the Duncan Highway ??). It is a very difficult choice, we would like to experience some desert and to go to the Red Centre. Unfortunately, we have fewx opportunities to come to Australia (and it is a quite expensive trip for us).
What do you think??
Cheers
Eric
FollowupID:
368620
Follow Up By: Member - Davoe (Widgiemooltha) - Tuesday, May 24, 2005 at 20:35
Tuesday, May 24, 2005 at 20:35
Mayyyte it may look 9,000k on paper but I have done a smaller trip (kalgoorlie - kimberly,top end, red centre and back to kalgoorlie and that was 14,000k and it took 6 weeks with no mucking about or stopping any where for more than a day or 2. I can share the Iteniry if you like as I wrote it all down in a diary
FollowupID:
368845
Reply By: Member - Tim F (NT) - Sunday, May 22, 2005 at 19:56
Sunday, May 22, 2005 at 19:56
G'Day Eric,
I live in
Darwin and would be happy to give you some information from a 'locals' point of view. I also lived in
Alice Springs for 11 years and was a tour guide around central australia. If you want to catch up with me I'm a manager at the Top End Hotel in
Darwin, just come in and ask for me by name, someone will find me.
Kind Regards,
Tim Francis.
AnswerID:
112337
Reply By: outback epicurean - Sunday, May 22, 2005 at 22:00
Sunday, May 22, 2005 at 22:00
Hi
As others have said, you are planning a lot in a short time. We travelled the GRR a couple of years ago and unfortunately had to pick up 2 Brits in a hire $WD who had rolled near Jacks
Waterhole. Just going too fast around a bend on the road that happened to have the wrong camber at that speed. I know you want to pack in a lot but driving on the gravel is hard work. One these roads, you can't assume anything as yo never know whats around the corner.
As a matter of interest, the 2 brits were not badly hurt and very lucky. Every panel on the cruser was mangled and every window broken.
There was a 6 pack of XXXX on the back set and not one broken. I am still trying to get a windscreen made from the same glass.
enjoy yourself and remember less is sometimes more.
AnswerID:
112366
Reply By: fisho64 - Monday, May 23, 2005 at 03:35
Monday, May 23, 2005 at 03:35
Why come from
darwin down, why not start from
perth? From
Coral bay you can go south a bit and across to
Meekatharra. This will probably be a big enough adventure for people who (I assume) have never been here before and in a rented 4WD with no backup or (I assume) experience. Having spent a few years in Europe/France, I can tell you honestly that nothing there will prepare you for what is in store for you on that trip.
AnswerID:
112385
Follow Up By: Member - Eric P (Int) - Monday, May 23, 2005 at 03:49
Monday, May 23, 2005 at 03:49
Hi,
Thanks for your reply
It is not exactly our first trip in the Australian Outback. We've been to the cape last year and know the people from whom we rent the car (Troopy with roof tent). Had some preparation, all possible maps, recovery gear incl. two spares, communication equipment (incl. EPIRB, Satphone, UHF Radi, and navigation stuff (Garmin + Laptop + Digitalmaps).
We don't assume it is an easy trip at all.
Our fist intention was to visit the Kimberleys and then drive from there to the red center, then drive back to experience
Kakadu; that is the reason why we are starting from
Darwin. The "side trip" to
Coral bay is mostly for diving the
ningaloo reef.
Anyway, thanks for your advice. We already softened some parts of our intended trip after we took advice from locals.
Cheers.
FollowupID:
368644
Reply By: Andy C - Tuesday, May 24, 2005 at 17:56
Tuesday, May 24, 2005 at 17:56
Suggest you don't do the Gun Barrel - the
Great Central Road is long and rough enough and you need more preparation for the GB - spares/emergency equip etc.
Have fun!
AnswerID:
112626
Follow Up By: Member - Eric P (Int) - Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 01:39
Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 01:39
Hi, Andy, Thanks for the advice, which I think makes sense. We are fairly
well prepared, but i would not try to drive the GB alone, and I think it needs much more time than the great central !!
FollowupID:
368896