Thread: First overland trip in Australia - advice please!

Its either hot and sandy or hot and muddy with lots of flies
Seriously you should be able to drive 1200 ks per day quite easily in transport mode . Getting a truck to transport your rig will be very expensive may be better getting a friend or relative to drive it up for you and pay their airfare back.
Mike

1200km/day would be 14hrs + in the seat............**** that, probably did it when i was young but not know, if you are running solo maybe

a had two weeks years ago to do the simpson and was hoping to get to the rock however it was too rush or more so too many k's per day

Bris - birdsville 3 days
Birdsville - Mt Dare 3 days
Mt dare - Finke - chambers pillar 1 day
chamber pillar - a roadhouse 1 day
oodandatta track 1 day
strezleike track 1 day
dig tree 1 day
dig tree - brisbane 3 days

umm, i think i have missed a day or two

anyways we aimed to be on the road around around 7am and camp set up by 4pm

had my dad and oldest son along so it was swags only

i too normally only have 2 weeks to play with each time its tough time wise to get to some places

its possible if you want to get to the rock and back in two week which = 16 days

To be honest, the best way to see the Rock nowadays is to take a bus from Alice, o'nite at the resort, guided tour thrown in, back to Alice. I suggest, return airfare to Alice, Bus tour, back home refreshed, drive the Simpson. Bob

I reckon It'd be doable but would be a bit rushed. We did the simpson via Coober Peedy, Oodnadatta, across to popells corner and up the Hay river track returning to Alice and home in two weeks. If you trimmed our Itinerary a bit I reckon it's doable but might be a bit rushed. It's about an 8 hour drive from Coober Peedy to the rock and one night there with a few hours in the afternoon and the next morning would be enough for a visit assuming that you didnt want o do the Olgas.
If time is tight it's probably worth considering a fly in - out trip to the rock at another time, acommodation would be the killer there if you weren't camping though.

Regards,
Tote

Originally Posted by bob10

To be honest, the best way to see the Rock nowadays is to take a bus from Alice, o'nite at the resort, guided tour thrown in, back to Alice. I suggest, return airfare to Alice, Bus tour, back home refreshed, drive the Simpson. Bob

i would agree with this having been there in april this year.

Originally Posted by Tote

assuming that you didnt want o do the Olgas.

if your just looking, the olgas are better than uluru.
otherwise climbing ayres rock is lots of fun, if your capable.

Fabulous advice already, thank you all. Please keep the suggestions coming as to the route ideas as I'm sure threre'll be others who search the threads for similar suggestions.

I've been to Uluru before and I preferred the Olgas and Kings Canyon too....so perhaps we should do that on another trip...a weekend from Sydney maybe. G/F's birthday perhaps.

So, that begs the question, if I don't do the Rock and I'm going to drive the Simpson from Sydney, what are the favourable routes in, across and out? Happy to come back the same way or do a 'round trip' route.

I do plan on researching this myself but AULRO is my first place to come for sage advice from experienced explorers who seem to appreciate the same things as me in life....such as scenery, wildlife, historical interests and leaky but awesome vehicles.

Bobby

I , personally, wouldn't attempt that trip in a two week period, simply because you have so much distance to cover. I go into the Central South Australian areas twice a year from Brisbane so go either via Birdsville, Tibooburra or Innamincka, depending on how I feel. If you do want to press it, I suggest you run the bitumen all the way up the Mitchell Hwy from Dubbo to Bourke to Cunnamulla then to Quilpie/Windorah and from there you have good dirt/bitumen combination to Birdsville. That, too me would be your fastest way to the Simpson Desert , then you can spend more time on your crossing, obviously an EWester. There is plenty of reststops, plenty of fuel, plenty of water, plenty of help if necessary on the route I've described. Once you're near Cunnamulla ...if you choose to go that way....be very very aware of livestock both native and domestic, especially mornings and evenings. Good luck, hope you really enjoy the trip you choose. I will be travelling across from Brisbane the week before easter and coming back out of William Ck area probably via Birdsville running into easter weekend....Cheers Dennis