Plans for a trip around Australia

Gonadoit · Member

Plans for a trip around Australia

Ma · Guru

My first idea would be to allow more time. So much to see and do out there. We are taking at least 6 months probably longer to do half a lap.

Welcome to the forum Gonadoit. You'll love it here. Plenty of good information and if you have a question go ahead and ask it and someone will give you an answer.

neilnruth · Guru

Welcome to the forum Gonadoit. That's OK if you can allow more time but if you can't - enjoy what time you have to do it. The next time around you can see more! At least you have made plans to do it! Well done.

Gonadoit · Member

Thanks Ma. We did half a lap about two years ago. We went accross to the west then up to Darwin and down the guts. We were out there for nearly three months and you are right, We had to rush at times because of time restraints. This time it wont be an issue but we are working around four months.

Gonadoit · Member

Thanks Neilnruth. Just over three months to go.

Delta18 · Guru

Ma wrote:
My first idea would be to allow more time.

Maybe he is talking Centipede Legs and will take 100 months, not a bad timeframe...ha ha biggrin

Neil

Ma · Guru

Like Neil and Ruth said no matter how long or how short a time you take as long as you enjoy it.

You never know we might run into each other along the way somewhere as we will be up that way in June

Gonadoit · Member

I had better clarify what I meant by leg. A month up the East coast. A Month across the top. A month down to Perth and a month to get back to Melbourne.

It may take longer but We believed we had to leave with some kind of plan.

Gonadoit · Member

That would be good Ma. What are your travel plans.

Yuglamron · Guru

Yes, Enjoy the trip and have a ball. Hope your timetable is not too tight.

Might be an idea to check out old posts re Red Dust stains on your van.

Safe Travels

Cruising Granny · Guru

To prevent the red dirt staining your van give it a good coat of polish before you start. Otherwise just was it regularly.
Actually the red dirt doesn't stain all that much. Even the station vehicles would wash clean when we washed them.
Welcome Gonadoit. If you keep to your schedule this time you'll take much longer next time. The best plan when setting out is deciding which direction to point the bonnet, and the other plan is to not have a plan.
I set myself 12 months to get from Broome to the Daintree, via the Great Ocean Road. I did it.
Be kind to yourselves. Don't rush it.

Ma · Guru

Gonadoit wrote:
That would be good Ma. What are your travel plans.

Leave South Coast NSW mid April, Darwin for two weeks June sometime, then it's anbodys guess.

I guess we are fortunate in that we don't have any timelines to stick to or "have to be there by" to worry about.

Will be back in SC NSW for Christmas but that could mean leaving the van wherever we are and flying home and then back to pick up the van and continue on.

Half the fun is not knowing where you will end up at any given time.

Firefly · Guru

Gonadoit, welcome.

Have a blast won't you. I am sure you will meet a lot of these guys on your travels.

We leave in July but only for a month. We will play up around Outback Qld, hit Winton again, love it there.

Have a few other favourites but not a lot of time to go back up to Darwin to meet the gang.

Two Strays · Senior Member

We did 26000km last year over five mths. Started from Melb, up the Centre to Darwin, down to Perth and back to Melb. We did not take in the area below Perth and SA because we had covered this area on previous trips.

If I was you, I would rethink you time frame. Once you start you will not want to get back home in a hurry.

We take the laptop and talk to the family in real time via Skype. It makes a difference.

Have a safe and enjoyable trip.

-- Edited by Two Strays on Tuesday 28th of February 2012 02:19:39 PM

Gonadoit · Member

Thanks Yuglamron. This will be the longest we've been away from home . We'll have a house sitter to look after our castle and cats. We'll be making a lot of it up as we go along.

Gonadoit · Member

Hi Cruising Granny Thanks for you tip on polishing the van. I plan to put it in the driveway a couple of weeks before we leave so I'll give it a good clean and polish.

Gonadoit · Member

Hi Firefly. Thanks for your reply. My wife and I have been planning the trip for some time. It's a retirement present that we have giving ourselves. We're not sure how long we'll be out there. I guess we'll make a lot of it up while we're on the road.

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Have a wonderful time Gonadoit! I cant help thinking what a long way in such a short time... we did half a loop in 5 months and it really wasnt long enough, you get tired pushing on all the time, and miss so much of the places you hurry past.

B-T · Veteran Member

Looks like a marathon to me... but each to their own. We like to have time to smell the roses etc. Spent 5 years full time toiuring in WA and there are still more tracks we want to see.

Habve a great time

John and the Dragon

Cupie · Guru

Welcome to the forum.

If it were me, I would go quickly via western NSW into to central Qld & them off to the threeways NT.

Keep NQ for a later trip and spend the time saved going down the west coast. We once spent 3 months from Katherine to Perth & in retrospect, that was too fast, even for us.

I would leave enough time to look at the fantastic SW corner of WA.

The underlying principle for me would be to bypass the stuff that is close enough for future trips and have enough time to really enjoy the more distant places .. in this case WA.

Gonadoit · Member

Thanks for your reply Gerty. I guess we're going to have to rethink the trip. Maybe we'll add a few months .

Gonadoit · Member

Thanks John. I think we'll review the times. We'll both be retired then so it wont be much of an issue. It must be hard travelling with a dragon. I only have to put up with a fruit bat.

Gonadoit · Member

Thanks for your reply Cupie. I have to visit a cousin in Brisbane. We really wanted to see as much as we could on this trip, in case we cant do it again. I might slow down and smell the cacti, and add a bit more time to our trip.

Gonadoit · Member

Thanks Two Strays, Our trip is still in the planning stage so we may make it a bit longer. The last time we had work commitments and rushed it a bit too much. This time we're going to make it up as we go along.