travelling oz

Particularly with children, you would be better to choose a much smaller trip. Spend time letting them soak in the history, geography and biology of where you visit and get plenty of time to run around, rather than spend all the time driving and seeing very little but the road.

Hi motherhen, thanks for the response. We have done a big trip up to the red centre last year and the kids loved it.we think they will learn more on the road by well sset out stops.Thanks motherhen.

Hi David,

You have asked a big question. Short answer is that yes you could travel that distance in 12 weeks. But I doubt that it would be a particularly enjoyable trip and you could be left feeling that you had rushed and just skated over the surface, there is a huge amount to see and experience along that route. Much of it is covered in our blogs from 2008/2009.

I agree with Motherhen - plan a shorter trip and allow your kids (and you) to really enjoy the many special places that you will come across. I know that its hard to shorten a Kimberley trip, but I would drop the Pilbara/west coast/Perth as being far too much in your proposed timeframe. For a 12 week trip I would suggest going north through Alice (noting that you went through that area last year) then Tanami track to Halls Creek, Bungle Bungles, Kununurra (Incl Lake Argyle) GRR to Derby/Broome then back to Halls Creek via the bitumen. Then back to Kununurra to Katherine, up to Darwin and Kakadu. You could either come home via the Stuart Highway or go via Mt Isa and central Qld if you want a change of scenery.

You ask "also what are the absolte necessities on atri like this?" What do you mean - things to take, places to see or something entirely different? My suggestion is to not overplan your itinerary by booking ahead and thereby cutting down on your flexibility. Leave space to take a side road if you learn of interesting places to visit along your route. The kids will enjoy seeing many new places and having the time to explore them, have a swim in as many great swimming spots as possible is more rewarding than trying to "see it all".

Keep the detailed planning for preparing your vehicle and van so that they are in the best condition that they can be for the trip. Plan the stuff that you take so that you have what you need without carrying heaps of stuff that you dont use. eg dont try to take food for the whole trip - there are opportunities to restock along the way, but you will need to be self sufficient for a few days here and there. Also be aware of quarantine restrictions when heading into WA.

And finally, might I suggest ever so gently that if you want others to give you detailed information in reply to your posts, please take the time to express your questions clearly. Your post looked and read as though you dashed it off in 2 minutes flat - hardly an incentive for others to put in maybe 15 or 20 minutes that it takes to do any sort of useful reply.

I hope that you enjoy your trip next year.

Cheers,

Val

Hi David
12 weeks is way too short to do a lap, you would be on the road all day every day, that's no fun at all. I would agree with the suggestion of going to the Kimberly region as I could fill 3 months there alone there is just so much to see & do. You say you want to go to Oodnadatta etc as well. These alone would fill your time. Long distance travel sometimes brings its own problems & the more remote you are the longer the problems take to rectify, nothing happens quickly out in the outback, I know first hand.

Concentrate on a region like the Kimberly and do it well. Someone suggested Broome "stairway to the moon" fine if your there on the right tide & moon phase but forget it if your not.

Enjoy whatever you do.

Ps we are 9 months into our trip round the block & are still in WA going back east across the Nullarbour and back home by Xmas with luck.

Cheers Colin.

Hi Dave
We are planning the similar trip next year from SA to Darwin, Bali the Kimberly and down the West Coast of WA. We are taking our 3 kids out of school for 12 to 16 weeks. I think it is very doable as I have had family do it with their kids when they were younger and they did it in 12 weeks. There boys are all grown and they still talk about it being there best family trip ever. Good Luck may see on the road somewhere.

Hi David, we are not long back from doing a similar tirp in term 3 this year in our 16' expanda. We left Melbourne & went via Bourke, Longreach & Mt Isa and then across into NT as we had already done the middle. We had 4 kids and 14 weeks and had a ball. Many people will say that your time limit is not long enough and no, it isn't, just like ours wasn't however we all have to work with what we have available. You will still be able to see and do lots and will have a ball. We planned a few big days of driving to help us cover the distances we needed to do interspersed with longer stops to refresh ourselves. Necessities are different for everyone - we had a battery pack for power & free camped to save a few dollars but we had no toilet so only stayed where there were toilet facilities. We also took a tent so that we could leave the van and go to places like Bungle Bungles, some of the GRR etc. Enjoy your trip.