Hi, I am in Sydney at the moment and plan to leave at the end of August to travel round the country by car with my girlfriend. We plan to go up the east coast and see Cairns/Brisbane etc. Can you carry on round the north of Oz to Darwin by road? Then we would like to go south to Alice Springs and Uluru then Adelaide before driving to Perth via Coober pedy and Kalgoorlie. Will this be possible or does anyone have any better ideas for an itinery and other not to be missed destinations? Also, will the weather be kind to us at this time of year? We hope to do it all in about three months. Would love to hear your thoughts and if you know of any Australian road trip websites.
Thanks for your time
John, Sydney
ozpacker
1
kymmy80
There is a main highway that goes directly from Cairns to the Three Ways (500km from Alice and 1000km from Darwin). August is the peak of the dry season so that is the best time to travel in the top end.
2
rrrjjjmmm
I've done the Townsville-Cairns-Townsville-Mt Isa-Tennant Creek-Darwin-Tennant Creek. Tennant Creek is basicaly smack bang in the middle of NT.
Huuuuuuge amounts of driving though.
3
durk94
It is very drivable - but as spenlevy says - lots of driving to do. I also agree that it is a great experience though. One of those things you might only do once - but if you have the time (and a decent car) I would say go for it - assuming you like driving.
ps. Don't get frustrated trying to pass road trains, there will be an open stretch where it will be safe to pass soon enough.
4
saoghalbeag
My mum just did it on her own with all my wordly goods in the back of the car (she drove from Brissy to Alice). Took her 3 days long hard driving and she had white line fever pretty bad!! Just don't launch yourself into it unprepared. The only reason she felt confident doing the drive on her own was because she's done it about 20 times before in the past couple of decades. She drove it in an old Valiant in the 70s and in a motorhome with a Suzuki 2-stroke attached to the back and 3 kids in the 80s...
It's all pretty much sealed now, but prepare yourself for long, lonely, stretches of road. Wise up on the issues of having enough fuel,having spares and extra fuel, as well as water, oil and all the rest. Check out the distances between places and your trip will probably plan itself around your fuel stops!! Don't forget that even if it says 200kms to the next fuel stop, there might be a detour or other hassles in between. I think it's always good to err on the side of caution travelling the Aussie outback. I'm planning to do the Alice - Brissy trip in July sometime (and have never actually been the driver before so bit nervy!!)
You are better off hitting Coober Pedy en route from Alice to Adelaide (check the map). Albany and Esperance are also nice coastal spots (at least as I remember them from my childhood travels).
I might be wrong but think Cairns is only about an hour north of Townsville (am I way off?? Having a memory blank!) and you could always go up via the coast, then cut across inland - around Charters Towers area? There might also be some less travelled roads you could take to the NT border. The Gulflander train up near Croydon-Normanton is also something of interest up that way.
Best of luck! Remember on some of the more remote roads you're meant to drop off your itinerary and info at the local police station before you head out. I know we had to do this on the Plenty Hwy (down south near Alice), not sure about the north, but like I said, err on the side of caution. It can be a big empty place!
Big Red is somewhere around NT/SA Border. Your car might not make it up tho - 4WDs!
5
living
Yes, it is all doable. In past couple years we've circumnavigated the whole of Australia and gone straight up the middle on the Stuart as well. Some people would call the outback boring, but I never found it so. Loved it in fact. Just get a good map and stick to marked roads. "Developmental Roads" in the Northern Territories are just fine. We drove them in a rented Toyota campervan with poor clearance and never had a problem. The roads can be narrow and the tarmac kind of comes and goes at times ...but the surface is always hard. The road trains are a bit daunting when they barrel down on you ...a tractor unit pulling 3-4 trailers, going 120 kph and bearing down on you on a one-lane road. You KNOW he isn't going to go offroad, so that means you do. You will pee your pants the first time but you get used to it. I've driven over 40,000 km on those roads now and I'm a 56 year old Canadian Mom.
Sept/Oct/Nov are good months for the north. After that the rains start and you don't want to get caught traveling then. That said, it is the one time I really want to go back to the north. Apparently the storms are spectacular.
I've posted quite a bit of info about driving around Australia on my website here.. There are also tons of photos in the photo gallery, just look under Australia.
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