Sydney - Darwin - Sydney trip - any suggestions

Have confidence in your own convictions and do what you see as the best idea...everyone will have an opinion, but they are like !@#$holes, everyone has one.

One of the first things to do is to buy a map ! The just see the route you are considering in your post.....

"thinking of heading up to Camerons corner, then to Birdsville, accross the Simpson, up the Tanami track, then into Darwin. Nothing too hard"

A fairly straight forward (weather depending) drive to Camerons Cnr. Innaminka and then to Birdsville. It can be lots of fun and you meet mostly friendly people.

If you are heading to Darwin then your map will show you just how out of the way your current route would take you.

If you are not looking for anything too hard then skip the Simpson.. and again refer to your map..just how were you going to get from somewhere on the Simpson to the Tanami Road ?

So how about Birdsville up to the Plenty Highway and across to Alice ?

If you dont want any more dirt roads then just head up the bitumen to Darwin from Alice.

But if you want more dirt, then from Alice along the Tanami to the Lajamanu turn off..up to Kalkaringi, Top Springs, Katherine and then Darwin ?

Just my thoughts, but once again..choose your own ideas and have a great trip

Peter

as you say ..nothing too hard..!!! ure kidding of course, asume you have something more reliable than a 50's land rover ? ...probably then up to Birdsville then to Boulia, then Camooweal via Urandangie, to Barkly Homestead then north , turn left to Elliot ,over Barkly Stock Route, and then tar to Darwin...

Back to Katherine, Roper Bar, Hell's gate, Normanton ..then a cruise into Cairns..then the tar home to the big smoke...no dramas really except the family will be in a fine state to hang out on the line to dry for a fortnight......all in all one hell of a long trip ...or with wife and kid ..maybe simply a hellish trip...

your choice...but you were warned !!

Chump,

That is a lot of driving in just 4 -5 weeks.

Just to give you an idea of times. Sydney to Broken Hill is one very big day, depending on where you are in sydney it is 13 to 14 hours plus stops but don't let the boys in blue see you achieve that. Leaving Broken Hill early you could get to Innamincka via Camerons in a day, but not if it rains, or has been raining in the last few days. Innamincka to Birdsville would be another day. Then, going across the Simpson to Mt Dare is at least 4 days. From there you could make Alice in another big day. Travelling direct to Darwin up the highway is about 1500km. That sounds to me like you have done about 10 days of constant travelling just to get to Darwin.

You could do it, we did WA in 6 weeks, total of 15,000km. It was a great trip but never again.

If I was you I would get to Darwin as quick as possible, Sydney, Broken Hill, Coober Pedy, Alice, one other stop and then Darwin, even that is a lot of driving. Then have a holiday on the way back with the family. I would come through central Queensland, Winton, Longreach sort of thing hit the coast somewhere near Rockhampton and down into the clutches of the theme parks from there. If you must go to theme parks.

If you can find another week it would be much more enjoyable. This is a big country the distances between places are enormous and there is lots to see along the way. Don't scare off the family by trying to do too much in one go. Give them and yourself time to have a holiday along the way.

Just my thoughts, you may be a long distance truck driver or something and love watching the road dissapear under your bonnet.

Duncs