Travelling through Central Aust with kids

Hi Fiona,

Check out the articles on this website in regards to travelling with kids. The link (found in the Topics menu above) to the articles is here ==> Site Link

Good reading for first time travellers :-)

BTW, we had no troubles travelling with our 3 week old son and 2 year old son earlier this year in our camper trailer for 3-4 months. It all comes down to how flexible your itinerary is and how well your kids travel.

Enjoy your trip.

Andrew

The travelling through this area can be long boring stretches with areas with plenty to see.
e.g. getting to Alice, then all the gorges and other attractions around Alice.

So we tended to make sure that we only did one long day, then a couple of shorter days to keep their interest up. Wear them out with plenty to do on the shorter days and they travel better on the longer day, hopefully sleep. :o). I know - obvious, but we tried to make it into a game.

And then there is all the usual things to do in the car. Besides stoppinjg every couple of hours for a good play.

For the long transit stages we use a DVD player. Can be turned off when you get somewhere but for those long stretches of "nothing" can make it a lot easier to cover large distances with little complaint.

We have never had trouble with our kids travelling but I think that is because they are always doing it. (twin 4 1/2 year old boys and 18month old daughter)

Not many weekends go by without us clocking up at least 300km

We'll be in Alice on our way back up to Darwin around June. Make sure you have warm clothes for at night/early morning but pack the bathers!

I agree only do one big haul and leave a couple of smaller ones until you do the next one.
We have a portable DVD player but we still we stop few hours for a drink or something.
Our children have also been travelling since they were 6 months old.
We've just come back from back packing around Cambodia and Vietnam and they are already talking about where we are going at Easter.

Did that trip last year in 5 weeks, but not with kids (though I do have grandkids in that age group). 8 weeks is plenty of time to get quality from the venture IMO, but some of the driving legs can be all day jobs. Only snag I could forsee is that it will easily get to 35C in the West Kimberley, and mostly be at least 30C after you move up from the Alice. With standard heat stress avoidance measures in place, the kids can have a great time..... might just have to worry about yourselves !

Fiona,

Oldplodder and Malcolm make good points about adjusting your travelling tempo to suit kids. A longer day is OK, but try not to plan too many in a row.

Water is the other important thing we found with our kids when travelling through that area. If you stop (for a break or overnight), try to plan to be near a creek or swimming hole, our kids would amuse themselves for hours if water is around. Although yours will require greater supervision of course.

Eight weeks sounds OK, no length of time is ever enough.

Matt.

Gday Fiona

We've camped quite a bit with similar age kids....My daughter recently turned 4 and son is 2 in a couple of months. We haven't done any long trips that didn't involve a plane, but have done plenty of 2 - 5 nighters and had a good time.

Don't by shy to post again when your in the Kimberley and we may be able to show you around a couple of places

Cheers Andrew

Hi Fiona, we did the central Australia trip 2 years ago with 3 kids and also had a portable DVD player that sits on the head rests and magnetic board games. We spent 4 weeks in C. Aust. We are also heading up to the Kimberley in June/July this year.
cheers,
Lance

Have a great trip guys - don't let young kids turn you off travelling Oz, kids always entertain themselves and you'll find that they gravitate towards each other in the camp grounds and caravan parks - eight weeks should be long enough to leave most toys at home - bring the bikes, dvd player and few books , Check out op shops and spend a few dollars on toys if you have to. Heaps to see and do around Alice. We have been on the road 2 and half years now with 3 yr old and newborn in a few weeks. We stayed in Alice for 4mnths which was a great experience and an eye opener. We had a ball around Alice and surrounds - Boggy Hole, Palm valley - the Rock and Olgas. Gorges, Merrenie Loop, East Mc Donalds, Chambers Pillar, Gemtree, Finke desert race etc,

chuck em in behind the cargo barrier and put the headphones on.

nah, it depends on how you bring em up dunnit? If you keep supplying em with a constant stream of drink they'll be wanting to wee when their little tank is full or when they get bored. We started ours at an early age and have never had any problems. Maybe take turns in occasionally sitting in the back with them and do some colouring in (accuracy suffers over corrugations) it's surprising how they get used to it. There's good indulgence and bad indulgence. We've gone away with other couples who have to stop every 50kms cos little Kylie/Jaxxson (yep, seriously) wanted a wee but when you actually stop, they don't want a wee, just a bit of attention. Don't ignore their needs but don't over indulge. Commonsense really.