G'day,
Me and my girlfriend have been in Oz now for 3 months and have saved saved and drunk very little beer to buy a campervan which we got yesterday.....
We are in Sydney at the moment and are thinking of staying till September because of work, save more money etc.....then a possible route for a (long distance) roadtrip is across to Perth (Not much to see on way so i'm told??) then heading up the west coast to Darwin, down the red Centre taking in Ayres Rock and back to Sydney.
I have done Darwin to Ayres rock Before and took about 1 month.....think we could do it quicker this time but dont want to rush rush rush.
Has anyone done this before? is it possible in 3 months comfortably? Is this a good time to go weather wise?(we have to be back for Christmas a relatives coming out......) and does anyone have any must see's along the way?
Hi Luke and Sarah,
That sounds like an awesome trip, but it's fairly late in the year to travel up north and through the center. Generally it's very hot and dry in central australia in dec-feb and it's the wet season up north so there is often heavy rain, high humidity, road and national park closures and occasionally cyclones. If you can I'd try to leave in July or at the beginning of August and travel in the opposite direction, Sydney, Port Augusta, Uluru, Katherine, Broome, Perth and back. This way you'll avoid possibly missing out on some of the attractions around Uluru and up north because of heat or weather.
3 months for this trip to me would mean you'll be on the move but not moving too quickly, there's plenty to see on your route and heaps between Sydney and Perth!
Some of the things I'd look out for are:
- Parks to see the giant dish
- Dubbo Zoo
- Sunrise/Sunset at Broken Hill sculptures
- Lake Eyre (If you can get out there)
- Coober Pedy to see the underground homes and hotel
- Ayers Rock and the Olgas, climbing ayers rock is awesome, it's also worth doing part of the base walk and looking at the rock art in the caves, the valley of the winds walk at the olgas is great
- Kings Canyon, the rim walk is awesome!
- Rainbow Valley, 4x4 only a corrugated and sandy road and a couple of sand dunes at the end
- Chambers Pillar, 4x4 only very corrugated sandy road, rocky at the end
- Alice Springs and surrounding gorges my favourites were ormiston and redbank
- Palm valley, 4x4 only, rocky road you could drive 2wd to the picnic area and walk the roughest part at the end
- Wycliffe Well roadhouse to refuel, and the interesting display
- Devils marbles, awesome to walk around the rocks and camp a night
- Mataranka, bitter springs is better than the thermal pool
- Katherine, the thermal springs and canoing in the gorge, don't forget to go up to the lookout for sunset
- Gregory tree, signposted on the highway
- Keep River NP, good rock art and a great sunset walk around Kellys Knob. Don't bother with the walk that follows the river to a "shelter cave"
- Kununurra, there's supposed to be a great lookout over the town
- There are some great roadside stops for camping in between Kununurra and Broome
- Bungle Bungles, awesome but 4x4 only, there were a couple of deepish water crossings
- Geike Gorge, nice in the late afternoon, less crowds
- Tunnel Creek, 4x4 was recommended but it was just a corrugated road and well worth it, if you have time Windjana Gorge
- Up near Derby there is a Boab prison tree that's well worth a look
- Broome, cable beach.... awesome... There are also some interesting history plaques in town.
- Eighty Mile Beach, more camping than you can poke a stick at
- Millstream Chester NP, never been but want to go
- Karijini NP, awesome gorges, never been but want to go
- Exmouth and Ningaloo reef, never been but want to go
- Most westerly point of Australia, never been but want to go
- Kalbarri NP, never been but want to go
- The pinnacles, never been but want to go
- Perth, botanical gardens are interesting, good for a rest
- Rottnest island, nice to hire a bike and ride around to a beach to snorkel
- The pier at Bunbury
- Leeuwin Naturaliste NP, beautiful beaches, surfing, snorkelling, caving
- Pemberton, climbing Gloucester tree and Bicentennial tree
- Stirling Range NP, great hiking, Bluff knoll is amazing
- Fitzgerald NP, Point anne is great for fishing and relaxing
- Esperance, for Cape Le Grande NP
- Camping on the cliffline of the great Australian bight
- Streaky bay and murpheys haystacks
Sorry for the VERY long post, I'm getting a relapse of the travel bug... If you need more info check out my picture gallery or send me a message.
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