Trip Planning

philrowe · Member

Trip Planning

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Dropping off back in Melbourne? Forget it.
Fly to Alice, hire the camper for a week, drive to Uluru and around Alice, fly back to Melbourne.
You might actually enjoy that and live to talk about it.....

Cheers,
Peter

Landfall · Guru

By my calculation the distance from Melbourne to Uluru is 2,320km return that would equal 4,640km over a period of ten days you are going to have to average 464kms. All you will get to se is the white line down the middle of the road.

Hope you prove me wrong.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

And it will almost be the same 2,320km twice and much of it not particularly interesting.
There is a huge amount of stunning country both just east and just west of Alice.
Uluru is 300km from Alice, so allow a full day each way just for that, 2 days minimum at Uluru, 3 days west of Alice, 2 days east of Alice 2 days mostly flying, ........ and you are already 1 day short.

Cheers,
Peter

philrowe · Member

Thanks for your advice Peter.....looks like a pretty impossible trip from Melbourne!

We have already booked flights into Melbourne from NZ and Solomon's so I think the expense of flying to AS is not going to work. Maybe shelf that plan and look at a shorter Mel-Mel trip up to Adelaide along the coast and Port Augusta and then back.

Landfall · Guru

philrowe wrote:
Thanks for your advice Peter.....looks like a pretty impossible trip from Melbourne!
We have already booked flights into Melbourne from NZ and Solomon's so I think the expense of flying to AS is not going to work. Maybe shelf that plan and look at a shorter Mel-Mel trip up to Adelaide along the coast and Port Augusta and then back.

Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide then Port Augusta area return via inland would be a great trip. Lots to see and do.

Mike Harding · Guru

Good advice here given by others.

To be honest... The Rock is worth seeing certainly but it's not worth driving 4500km through pretty boring desert to see.

Also the cost? A motorhome uses (not sure) 18lt/100km which is 810lt x $1.50 = $1215 for fuel plus $50 park entry at Ayers Rock plus campground fees $45 per night = $1355. That's more than I'd pay to see it.

I reckon Landfall's suggested route is a good one. Don't rush the Great Ocean Road. *BUT* remember to drive on the left - there is a high incidence of overseas tourists involved in accidents on that road - the scenery is so lovely they forget they're in a country which drives on the correct side of the road :)

Edit: get Wiki Camps for your mobile phone in order to locate camp grounds:

http://www.wikicamps.com.au/

-- Edited by Mike Harding on Thursday 30th of March 2017 06:58:01 PM

philrowe · Member

Thanks Mike for the advice. Being a PomKiwi I have no issues driving on the leftðð we certainly have the same issues in NZ with overseas drivers!

philrowe · Member

Thanks Landfall for the suggestion. We start planning a trip along the coast.

Gaylehere · Guru

Yes, the Great Ocean Road is a great drive to see a craggy coast line. I've seen it in beautiful sunny weather and on a cold, windy and overcast day, a big contrast. Just a suggestion - to stick to the coast roads all the way to Adelaide. Great Ocean Road across to Warnambool, over to Mt. Gambier in SE South Australia. You've got the grape/wines area around Penola, The Blue Lake in Mt. Gambier and a few sink hole type caves to take a quick look at, over to Millicent then stick to the coast road if you have time and go via Beachport, Robe to Kingston SE (see the Big Crayfish), along the Coorong though you don't see much of it from the highway to Murray Bridge and into Adelaide. You have the wine regions of the Barossa Valley or McClaren Vale out of Adelaide if you like to do some wine tasting and didn't do any at Penola, and then there are a few ways to go to Port Augusta before you start heading back to Melbourne. Take a good wind breaker type jacket and rain coat. Enjoy your trip. Cheers, Gaylene.

macka17 · Guru

10 days.
you ain't going to see nuthing but road mate.

For that period of time. I'd pick a BUS tour.
to suit scenery YOU want. and at least you can RELAX.
Enjoy the view and let somebody else have hassles of driving parking and where to stop.

Pick longer next time and do it properly. At least a month in reality.

Regards
and enjoy.