First real road trip

Hi Shane and Sharon

Lots of info on the routes you will take here on ExplorOz. We returned to WA from Alice in September (Blogs not done yet).

It sounds like a lot to fit in over three weeks. You will be mostly driving and not able to enjoy all there is to see. We spent around five weeks in the Alice Springs area alone and didn't see it all. Maybe it would be better to stick to the Nullabor both ways, but take different routes to and from Canberra. We have done this in summer and enjoyed the drive each way.

It will be very hot in February on the great central road. Make sure you have adequate spares (tyres and mechanical). We didn't need any of our four spare tyres on the entire trip, but travellers camped next to us at Palm Valley did in three tyres on their Landcruiser tray back camper within a short distance near Warburton. Also take lots of drinking water.

Did you go camping before you had the caravan? I had a camping list, and just used that to pack to caravan. Gradually added things to the list that we found useful on each subsequent trip. We also take our regular camping gear as so we can leave the caravan for a couple of days to visit places where caravans aren't permitted.

Motherhen

Perth - Canberra - Alice Springs - Perth in 3 weeks with a 'van' in February is a totally innapropriate "first real road trip".
If you actually did it, your partner may never wish to go anywhere by road ever again.
It would not be enjoyable.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

S and S

If you are thinking of taking a normal road caravan along the Great Central Road from Alice Springs to Leonora, then think again.Your van may shake to bits on the GCR.

February is the hottest month anywhere in Australia. You may be sorry you decided to drive. Flying to reach your objectives would be a better alternative.


Cheers

Lots of other things to see without squeezing Alice Springs in a 3 week trip. It is a big detour. Plan to travel in daylight - work out where you will be each day and have sunrise and sunset times and time zones worked out.
A few big days travelling sunrise to sunset, changing drivers every 2 hours will give you more time to look around between travels.

Everyone,

Once again, thanks for the fantastic responses. I first need to explain a little bit about us, we are a 27 year old couple, My wife works full time and I work in a Family Dealership that requires all of my time, so the reason we try and squeeze a lot into our short holiday's is that we can't take them very often and we like to get the taste of different area's that we can later visit again later as hopefully where have a lot of time to travel around our gorgeous country.

I am open to a plan that gets us to Canberra from Perth in 7 days then to Perth in 14 days. We have a 4wd Rodeo but not a off-road van.

Thanks again for your valued input and look forward to some great idea's.

Thanks Heaps Shane

May I suggest that you drive basically straight here to Canberra via Mildura and Wagga. Leave the touring to the return trip.

Also; Alice Springs - Maybe too much to keep in the trip. If the van isn't 4X4 it will not make the dirt roads in one piece. Way too hot in Jan-Feb.

Stick to the bitumen and coastal areas. Heaps to stop and see. Any summer storm wont stop you as it would on the dirt etc.

On the way home follow the Kings Hwy from Canberra to Batemans Bay and then the coast including the Great Ocean Road all the way home via Esperance and Albany (or Kalgoolie).

Thats a long drive for the first real road trip. Best of luck. Also keep the tank filled. On our return from Perth we stopped to get fuel at Mundrabilla. The computer was down and no fuel was avaliable. Luckily we could make it to the next easily. No so all those people waiting hours for the repair man from Adelaide. Good lesson there. Not a drama - just keep it in mind.

We are also novices at this and hope this helps. We have found this forum excellent and full of good advice.

try to relax, be camped by 1pm and take plenty of water