We are finally doing it, retired, 20ft caravan, a bit excited and a bit wary, at least I am. Husband seems quietly confident. Are there any of you experienced nomads put there that could help with where to go. Headed for Kalgoorlie, then where to? I want to see Ayers Rock, then ? I was thinking south for summer and then gradually up to Qld for May, and over to Northern winter. Any help with this is much appreciated. See you on the road!
Mux You havn,t said when your leaving or how long you want to be away or if the van is capabale of off road ? If your confident and leaving now north from Kal the great central road to Ayers rock then easy the southern state over summer into North QLD about May home across the top. If not keen on the GCR IMHO it would be the southern states over summer put up with 2 months of cold the North QLD May and again home .Remember WA you can do any time we live here but it,s a big haul to the east so see as much of that part as time allows.
Thanks jrq. Sorry, thought I wrote departure. Yes, leaving November, for however long it takes, around a year, hope to work where we can to help with fuel. Yes, we have an Element 612 S, capable of free camping, so can go off road, can do rural terrain, but not Gibb River Road type roads. Pardon my lack of knowledge but what does IMHO stand for?
By the way, where would be a good place to spend rush of Christmas/ summer holidays, preferring, to be somewhere quiet and peaceful, uncrowded: if that is possible haha.?
Hi MUX 1 I really liked going across the Nullabor last year when we went across to the west. Stop at all the lookouts. We went to some unofficial ones too and free camped but I think I read on the forum that some of that has now been fenced off. In SA have a look at Pildappa Rock near Minnipa. It's a bit like your Wave Rock but smaller. Free camping there too. If heading north from Port Augusta have a look at the Painted Desert and the Breakaways north of Coober Pedy. I haven't been there yet but KenK has posted pictures of the Breakaways under Sharing Photos in this forum. I'm hoping to go through that way next year and really want to have a look. Ayres Rock and the gorges out from Alice Springs. Devils Marbles. Have a scroll through Pick this Place, also on this forum. Many interesting photos are put up there too. Google the places you think you'll go through and look at pictures of attractions. Visit information centres along the way.
If heading across to Melbourne, Go along the Great Ocean Road and stop at all the lookouts. There is so much to see no matter which way you go. I haven't been to North Qld up Highway One for many a year so someone will need to tell you about the coast up north Qld. Visit the town of 1770 (north of Bundaberg Qld) and go on the LARC tour.
I'll leave it at that and others can tell you of their favourite places. We are all different though and enjoy different things. Cheers and enjoy.
IMHO means In my honest opinion. Stay away from the coast over Christmas holidays.
-- Edited by Gaylehere on Thursday 18th of August 2016 04:52:29 PM
How well do you know WA? Have you done Wave Rock and environs? From Perth I would go Merriman, Kalgoorlie, Laverton, Down to Wave Rock, Norseman, Lake King Esperance, Eucla, Nullabor (Stopping at all the tourist spots), Port Augusta, Woomera, Alice Camoweel, Mt Isa, Townsville, Cape York, etc. If time permits go Winton Longreach Cunnamulla then through western NSW, Hebel, Lightning Ridge, Bourke, Dubbo, Tamworth Singleton, Goulburn, Canberra Wagga, Western Victoria Through to Mildura, Riverina, Barrossa, Yorke Peninsular, back across Nullabor to Perth Through Esperance and Albany - Plan 12 to 18 months.
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We are hosting a get together up here at Seabird at the end of Sept so come on up and chat to others who have done or a are doing the lap. Good chance to network with other vanners. Check out Get together thread.
Last year we left Perth end of October, and headed to Kal, where our youngest was working, at beginning of November we headed across the nullabor and down the Eyre peninsular, lovely and fairly quiet that time of year, we then headed along the Murray to a quiet country town to spend the christmas silly season.
Stay away from any popular coastal spots or even the popular murray river spots at any holiday time as it becomes a chaotic nightmare ! country inland towns are your friend.
We then did a return trip back in March, calling into places we enjoyed earlier and also places we missed. For heading North you really need to be looking at maybe April/May before the Mexicans start to invade and fill up all the good spots )
There are so many different roads you can take to do a lap I doubt if anyone has travelled on them all, while doing their first lap
Just dot down some places you would like to see. You have already mentioned Kalgoorlie, Ayers Rock, North Queensland, and across the northern top in the winter.
As long as you know your budget, time frame, and are travelling at your own speed without rushing everywhere, you will enjoy yourself.
You will meet some very nice people on the road, who will tell you of places they recommend you to see. Unfortunately if you went to every place other people recommended, you would be continually travelling in figures of eight
My first lap from Bunbury , (which does not mean that they are places which may interest you), was anti clockwise Across the Nullarbor - around the coast to Sydney - Inland to Emerald in Queensland Through Longreach, Winton (to see the Dinosaur prints, but the road was too rough for me, at that time) Mt Isa - Camooweal - Three Ways - Tennant Creek (because it was nearby) - Katherine - and then across the top, down the east coast, and home.
I have yet to visit the south of Tennant Creek, or the north of Katherine areas, as well as many, many other places, which are on my future list
Hopefully you will have many more laps in front of you, and I hope that every trip you do, is a happy one
the main road from Perth to Kal is bloody terrible. Its very bumpy (not pot holes) and uneven and many nomads use secondary roads to get to Kal. Main Roads are upgrading parts of the road, but it will be a few years before its all done.
Suggest before you leave that you jump on Main Roads web site and see what they have to say about the road. If theres nothing on the site, then phone them - they are extremely helpful and tell you how much old road they have replaced (then you can work out how many kms of rough road you are left with). It wont damage your tow vehicle or rig - just very uncomfortable. But there are plenty of nice tea rooms and cafes on the way through
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
HI Mux1, I believe you will get as many variations of how to do it as there are people out doing or have done it. We have been from Hobart to Darwin, Sydney to Perth, Albany to Cairns and
Lakes Entrance to Alice Springs, still there's places we haven't seen. My advice - mark on a map the places YOU want to visit plan your own way to get there and then enjoy doing it.
We recently did a trip from Adelaide to Perth. I guess our biggest deal was wind, one day strong and in the face the next a nice tail wind. Cant control that one.
The trip itself was great, to be expected expensive fuel and some electricity outages. Eucla had a busted generator when we came back, poor buggers couldnt even hand pump fuel.
We camped at a few free camps such as Baxter, Moodini Bluff, Twiggy which were all fantastic.
I guess the bottom line is just do it and enjoy, we traveled around 300KMs a day, or at least to the next camp so we got in before the crowds. Enjoy the scenery.
Safe travels
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Homebase is Murray Bridge Tourist Park (in a cabin). New Horse.. 2020 Ford Everest Titanium, Jayco swan for touring.
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