First time travel in Oz

How long are you travelling for?? When you get to Sydney it will be summer so it will be pretty hot out back, 50 degrees celsius + , so keep that in mind....

We own a Landcruiser so I suggest one of those cos they are good, but so are patrols (Nissan) so see what others say.....

6 people - what are you going to be sleeping in?? have you thought of hiring a camper trailer as well? Once you are all in the car there wont be much room for your gear so make sure you can put it on the roof (in a dust and water proof rack sack type of bag).

Ayres Rock to Sydney - how adventurous do you want to be?? We got to Alice Springs ( we did this the opposite direction to you) via the PLENTY HWY and the DONOHUE HWY. These are dirt roads - bulldust (talcum powder type dirt) and lots of gibber (shiny horrible rock that is really uncomfy to drive on).From Boulia you head south via Bedourie to BIRDSVILLE, the eastern side of the Simpson Desert (and while your here why not drive up Big Red - largest sand dune in the Simpson).

From Birdsville you can get to Innamincka (home of the Burke and Wills DIG tree - aussie explorers that died out there) by going down the Birdsville track and using the Walkers Crossing Track.....then to get into NSW top left Corner (town called Tibooburra) via CAMERON CORNER ( corners of NSW, QLD, SA meet). From Tibooburra you can just try any old way to get to Sydney.....if your planning on going up to Gold Coast then I suggest trying to stay away from the coat to get down to Sydney cos you will more than likely use it on the way up - no point seeing it twice!!

There are lots of other ways too - just depends on how many km's you want to do and how much time you have.....

Have a look at my photo's...they a re from our trip out that way in Aug/ Sept last year......

Just see what others come up with as well....remember that people die out here on these tracks every year from silly decisions - like if you break down - stay with your car - DO NOT WALK FOR HELP!!!!

If camping out in the middle of nowhere - camp atleast 1km from the track - heaps of dust around.......

$wd in the outback is different from 4wd in the bush...its all about maing the right decisions at the right time....lots of planning for fuel, food and water....especially water for that time of year.....

Im sure others will come up with a heap of other idea's.......

Good luck....this web site will be brilliant for your planning....you can get every little bit of info you need....

also get a map, or quite a few, that have lots of details....probably need to get some that are designed for a specific area not just a state or country....i found that heaps of maps have jack all info that we needed - just had the major roads and that it!!

Laura

You have a great trip planned ...but in the time allowed ...well you wont need a place to sleep cause you wont get any ...at least u have (i guess) 4 drivers ..to make it happen...at a quick reckon ure looking at 8000 kms all up ...u will need to check out fuel sites as at that time of year ..mid summer...' odd '...I mean out of the way places in the 'centre' will be closed ..temps @ 50c send tourists away ..

Reckon u need to rehash your big picture plan ...(been all over those places and would reckon this trip a sign of ..madness...at this time of year ) ...but ...
If u must !!

Site Link

try that web page/ site out....its got the map of around alice for you...plus it should have one of eastern ranges somewhere too....

Laura

Fanie.
The short time you have to cover a huge distance means you won't have time to do any 4wd work or mess about with camper trailers. The roads in Australia are very good compared to Africa, you will be on all 2wd well maintained roads. If you hire a mobile home and rotate drivers you could do it but it would be all driving. Eric.

Fanie,
forget the 4x4. To go to those places hire a mini van style of vehicle and stick to the bitumen. You will be much happier and it will work better.

Think about dropping Ayres Rock, sticking to the coast from Adelaide to Brisbane, flying to the reef from Brisbane.

have fun
Ian

Fanie

Gaan loer na my webtuiste hieronder vir 4x4 stories.

Stuur 'n epos vir my deur my webtuiste en ek sal vir jou heelwat inligting kan gee.

Ek woon nie te ver van Adelaide af nie.

Groete

Hi Fanie:

You may find this website useful to you for planning your driving trip. It will give you routes, distances, estimated travelling times etc etc ..... I find it useful.

Click here to access it.

Jack

Thanks for all the replies so far, really appreciated.

Been reading a lot last night and a road that looks attractive to me from Uluru to Sydney is to turn of the Stuart Hwy at Coober Pedy to the Strzelecki Track and turn east at Innamincka and head for the Mitchel Highway down to Sydney. If I have to spend a bit more time to fit it in I will just have to, I am addicted to wide open space.

Uluru to Coober Pedy - 1day
Coober Pedy to Arkaroola - 1 day
Arkaroola to Innamincka - 1 day
Innamincka to Dubbo - 1 day
Dubbo to Sydney - 1 day

Is the above unrealistic?

Fanie,

The trip you're planning would be great if you had three months to do it in, not the three weeks that you've allocated.

In my opinion you would be better off flying to these places and hiring a 4wd for day trips. This way the SIX of you are not all cooped up in a one hot, dusty car for days on end. With two teenagers and two kids in the back I couldn't think of anything worse then driving for 10 to 12 hours a day then set up camp, sleep, pack, and drive for 10 hours again over and over. That's for 20 days straight.
Actually you'll probably need two cars to fit all those people and equipment.

If I were you I would fly directly to Alice (or broome beforehand), spend 3 days there, seeing the surrounding area and recover from jetlag. Then fly to sydney spend a few days there, then either fly/drive/train/bus your way up the coast to cairns (which is nearly 3000 km away.) (stop at fraser hire a troopy for a few days too.)

If you go with your original plan it may turn out to be the holiday from hell (and not cheap either.)

R.

Thanks all, yes I think I was really trying to do way to much with the time, its supposed to be a family holiday after all. Reminds me of our 10 000 km trek in four weeks to the Serengeti following the muddy track along lake Tanganyika , adventure-yes, holiday-no.

Will rather fly in to main centres of interest and explore from there for a few days before flying out to next stop.

Thanks for all the sensable advice, but for sure I will still want to cross some outback one day by vehicle.

Hi Fanie, we moved from Essex England to Nigel TVL SA many many years ago and thought the distance between places were great then, we were used to going through villages about every 10klm apart, and when we got to SA wow all that distance between places, but now living in OZ, wow again as has been said above the distances are great here and not much between some places, unfortunately we have not seen a great deal of this great country but hope that will soon change as we have our house up for sale and will join the grey nomad fraternity soon, all the best with your trip, I am sure you will have a great time. Pete.