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| South Australian Sunset |
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| Protea - Aussie Native |
Australia is huge. Most international guests really don’t
understand the size of Australia. You know Sydney and Melbourne and maybe Perth.
You’ve probably heard of Adelaide from that one song. And you’ve seen a picture
of Uluru. Bucket list item: road trip through
Australia! Great decision! Australia is huge. Road tripping in Australia is a
must, and something you will remember for your whole life. In general, though, people don’t understand
the outback, or the vast expanses between civilization. Outback Australia is unforgettable. It’s
beautiful. It’s quiet. It’s raw. It’s
magical. It’s a living thing in and of
itself. You will see colours you’ve
literally never seen before. You will
feel heat like no other heat. You will probably eat a fly or two without
meaning to in the course of things. But
you need to arrive with a plan. You need to come prepared. Here are five tips I’ve
come up with to help you get started with planning your trip.
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| Kangaroo at dusk |
1)
Don’t drive at night. While this may seem ridiculous,
and you may think you are losing time on your overall trip, this is really
important. There is a lot of nocturnal wildlife
on the road, which makes it heaps dangerous.
Kangaroos, emus, wombats, koalas, and in WA camels are just some of the
larger animals that often cross the road at night. Smaller animals include; rabbits, foxes, cane
toads, and mice. If you did hit a larger
animal, chances are it will be injured but not die straight away, and your car
will be totaled, leaving you stranded in the middle of nowhere, in the middle
of the night. Not a great place to be if
you’ve seen Wolf Creek or… well pretty much any Aussie film. It can also get really cold at night, even if
it’s hot during the day.
Roadside stall with locally grown fruit and veg... but no fuel
2)
Don’t forget to check the water, oil, and petrol
(gas) situations before you leave, as well as during your trip. Again, this might sound obvious, but this can
be devastating if you did run out. Did I
mention that Australia is a huge place?
You can drive for sometimes hundreds of kilometres between towns, and
even then, there might not be a petrol station to fill up at. All I can say about this is, do your
research, and plan your petrol stops in advance. Don’t count on the next town
having amenities. Some towns don’t even
have a shop (store).
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| Typical country road in rural Victoria |
3)
Don’t hitchhike. Please. Besides being illegal: Ivan Milat. Google that! And anyway, you probably don’t want to get dropped off
in the middle of nowhere with no cars coming by for hours or even days. Plus,
Ivan Milat and backpacker murders. Have you googled that yet?
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| Red earth Blue sky |
4)
Don’t drive on the right. In Australia, we drive on the left hand side
of the road. Bear this in mind when driving around roundabouts, on one way
freeways, and also when crossing the road on foot.
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| Inclement weather - near Melbourne |
5) Don’t
forget to pack snacks but more so, plenty of water. You don’t have to buy
bottled water in most places of Australia because the tap water is generally safe
to drink, unless indicated otherwise. I recommend
keeping a few litres on hand in your car. You never know when you or your car might be
thirsty. Maybe this is just the country
kid in me, but I just think you can’t risk being stuck somewhere without water. Particularly on a road trip. Alternatively, you might come across someone
who’s run out of water and be able to help them out. But this is not about them,
so, safety first!
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| Black Saturday Bush Fires 2009 |
It’s
also worth checking the weather forecast before you leave. Australia is known for its harsh weather conditions.
One day it could be nice and sunny, but the
next week could be forecast for an extreme heat wave. Likewise, flash floods are common in some
areas, and bush fires are rife in summer. It’s worth knowing what you are up against and keeping up with emergency
warnings could save your life, or at the very least, save you missing your
flight home.
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| Crossing the Vic boarder into SA. |
I
hope you enjoy your road trip in Australia! You'll love it! If you have any other tips or ideas
that have worked for you, please leave a comment. Thanks for reading!
Bonus
info: road signs can be hilarious, and if you stop for a wee in the bushes,
watch out for snakes and insects!
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| I grew up with this sign! |
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