Advise on a taking a long journey

spida · Guru

Advise on a taking a long journey

herbie · Guru

Hello Steve, you asked for thoughts regarding your travelling scedual. Mate believe me trying to all that inside around three months, is not going to give you much time to do any thing that is not in your line of travel. Looking at a map of Oz looks like three months is a hop around the block ,but in reality if you try to do that amount of Oz in your time frame .all you will be doing is waisting a whole lot of money and not having any type of emjoyment, as all you will be doing is sleeping and driving. A lot of the places of interest to call in and see like museums/ and other tourist things are not open say at 7am , one might have to hang around until say 10am for what ever to open. by the time you have a look at what ever that is all morning gone. So in no time at all the hrs turn into days just in one area. Is it worth the deture in to Monkey Mia ,my answer is yes it is worth the deture ,but again the Dolfins only get feed twice a day ,so that may mean a night camped out there. There is a whole lot more to see than Monkey Mia , once you turn off the highway.Shell beach is a must see, 1000s of shells covering the sand and the bluest water in the ocean you will see any place through out Oz. This ****le shell is unique to this area, the species is so prolific in Hamelin Pool that the sheer volume of shells has been compacted into a solid mass able to be extracted into a solis mass able to be cut into blocks. A number of buildings in and around the Shark Bay area were built out of this. The quarry site at Hamelin Pool where they were extracted can still be seen along the BOOLAGOORA walk. In Denham look for the old Pearlers restaurant and St Andrews church made intirely of these shells.These shells appear pure white but if held up into the light they are translucent.I worked over in this area for around a year and just found so many hidden treasures around the area,that most tourists do not get to experiance. If you go into Denham look across the Indian Ocean and you will see what looks like big white sand hills, they are salt mines ,the most purist salt mined in the world comes from out there, but we Ausies never get to taste once ounce of it, as it is mined/ shipped straight off to japan to be used in paint making. I have probably bored you to sleep going on about SHARK BAY but it a not to be missed. Some grate low cost camps along the road into Denham also looking right out onto the Indian Ocean, all for only a few dollars per night. When i was living over that way you payed your money in at the Denham Tourist Office, but do not know if this is still the go . So what i am trying to say do not miss this area. As you may not ever get back to experiance this unique area in WA .

Regards Herbie.

-- Edited by herbie on Tuesday 14th of May 2013 09:16:12 PM

StephenM · Member

Hi All I have recently posted a question on the forum about towing a Tilta Trailer, thanks for the responses now I would like to ask more involved one about a long journey I have planned and would love to get your views. I'm leaving Brisbane on the 6 Jun and will be travelling to Melbourne via Darwin, Broome, Perth, and Adelaide. My itinerary is as follows; Brisbane, St George, Cunnamulla, Bourke, Broken Hill, Port Augusta, Yulara, Alice Springs (by the 19 Jun) for the Beanie Festival. Have I allowed enough time because sight seeing will be involved?

I will then be heading of to Darwin, Kununurra, Broome, the West Coast of WA to Perth, Albany, Norseman, Kalgoorlie, Boarder Village, Adelaide, and then to Melbourne (by the 3 Sep 2013). What I would like to ask is what parts shouldn't I miss and what parts are not really worth turning off the road and travelling an extra 200 or 300 klm for ie Monkey Mia. Any advise would be welcomed. Hopefully Anne and myself will be able to say hello somewhere on the journey just look out for the ex Ambulance Mercedes Benz Sprinter towing a tilta trailer with a little white Nissan Micra on.

Happy and safe travels to all. Steve

justcruisin01 · Guru

Mate, whats the hurry?????????? three mths for a lap around the block.

You will miss more than you will see.

JC.

jules47 · The Happy Helper

My thoughts exactly JC - come on Stephen - take your time, so much to see out there, and if you are in such a hurry, that you miss out on things like Monkey Mia - you will regret it - and it is a bloody long way from Port Augusta to the Rock and Alice - got to stop somewhere along the way - Coober Pedy really is worth a visit and a night. So many places - take your time, enjoy yourself, and come back rested, not exhausted! My thoughts for what they are worth - having, been there, done that!

dazren · Guru

cry cry ''DITTO'' to JC's comment, MATE !! you are already retired and done some trips, If you cover ALL that area, you will only see 10% of it ??, But It's your call as we are all different, Dazren.

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Slow down Stephen!

We allowed 6 months for our trip round the block, and ended up missing half of WA! We have to go back! I cant imagine travelling faster, its really tiring, you don't enjoy it as much because you are always driving. You miss a lot although you often don't realise what you've missed.

I reckon in 3 months you could just about get to Alice Springs, stay there at least 2 weeks, see the Macdonnells and Uluru and Kings Canyon and all the other stuff around town... fossick for garnets,,, then back via Pt Augusta and Melbourne for your deadline on 3rd Sept... even that much is hurrying it!

neilnruth · Guru

I think you have been given very good advice here StephenM. Hope you can extend your time away.

NeilandRaine · Guru

It took us over 3 months to get from Newcastle to Alice. If your in Alice for the Beanie fest you may as well stick round for the camel races and the show. I reckon the Alice Springs show was great, a lot like the shows when I was a kid, even had a boxing tent and lots of giveaways..
I reckon if you only have 3 months you should reconsider your trip. Take 3 months to travel down to Melbourne then head off around the block from there

herbie · Guru

We have been on the road now going into our 13th year and if we are still fit enough to be on the road for another 13 years we wont still see/ do what you want to do in three months. Was just joking about that last part, but like just in one area like Alice you could stay 2/3 weeks and that is not counting the days /time to get there.I posted in another post way back regarding a dear lady i was talking to at this park we are in at the moment ,they were on their way back to Vic after doing the big lap. Iasked her what she had done/ seen,,,her answer supprised me when she not a lot all we did was drive /park/ sleep/eat and drive some more. They just did not allow enough time to go and see any thing of interest that was not on the highway 1.

Zoomtopz · Guru

G'Day Steve . What ya miss on th herdie gerdie , you can pick up on th merry go round .

I was involved with interstate simi's for over 40yrs , saw heaps of places -- NO .

went through heaps of places . did not get to see much . so when I got 'old Inter' &

started to travel & have a look around . my Mrs is a Yank , so she wants to see

everthing . so I had been to these towns & did not know my way around them ,

only through em . Like Balranald , ampol truckstop one end , left hander after th

bridge , coupla hundred yards through town , terrific parking bay 15k west of town .

I am heading home to Riverland in my old J1 Beddy , pulled up at parking bay for a couple

or hrs sleep , woke up , wound old Beddy over ... nothing . got out lifted th bonnet ,

smell petrol , ok , plug leads ok , took rotor cap off dizzy . aha ! arm broken on points .

Called up a bloke on uhf , he give me a lift into town , organised a towie , he towed it to

'bridge garage' , he lent me ute for night , as we can't get new points till morning .

si I drives aroud Balranald a bit . It's much bigger than I ever thought it was . Why

so much to get to th point . Steve , why don't you poke around , do Your thing , at

your pace , what you miss this trip , at least you will see some turnoffs & other signs

to jog your memory , like Erldunda , you will see th fingersign for th turnoff to Uluru/

Ayres rock , it sort of gives you a conception of things , 2hrs to Alice , 2hrs to th Rock.

You will get th hang of it .

here endith th lesson.

jules47 · The Happy Helper

Stephen - we had four months in Tassy - and still didn't see all of it!!!! Did 6500k's!

Mike C · Senior Member

in 2010 we did Melbourne to Darwin then followed the coast to Geraldton thru the centre to Aires rock then back to melb via broken hill which took us 5 months and we totally rushed it. 5 years would have been a better time frame.

JayDee · Guru

My view is that a trip like you are planning would involved about 20000klm's. Now divide that by say 12 weeks and you would be driving something like from Brisbane to Cairns on average each week.. I would suggest that you would only have time to wave to country towns like Mackay,Rocky Townsville Mt Isa for example, but then againl you would be able to say is that you visited these towns.

Not enough time to do the trip and your pocket justice.

Anyway good luck and let's have a report from you when you return at the end of the 3 months.

Jay&Dee

-- Edited by JayDee on Saturday 18th of May 2013 05:19:13 PM

EllenajoeL · Senior Member

@StephenM.....lots of good advice here already (of course)

so may I add that, in my opinion, the best travels always include LOTS of random events and experiences; that is, stuff that wasn't 'part of the plans'....

and the best way to be open to such experiences is to have a flexible, open and 'relaxed' itinerary..... wink

Anyway, whereever you choose to go, I hope you enjoy your travels.

herbie · Guru

JayDee wrote:
My view is that a trip like you are planning would involved about 20000klm's. Now divide that by say 12 weeks and you would be driving something like from Brisbane to Cairns on average each week.. I would suggest that you would only have time to wave to country towns like Mackay,Rocky Townsville Mt Isa for example, but then againl you would be able to say is that you visited these towns.
Not enough time to do the trip and your pocket justice.
Anyway good luck and let's have a report from you when you return at the end of the 3 months.
Jay&Dee

-- Edited by JayDee on Saturday 18th of May 2013 05:19:13 PM
The poor bloke will be so buggard after travelling all those ks ,when he get's back he will need another holiday to get over the one he just got back from.