Australian Road Tripping Inspiration.

Australia is one of those places that beckons to be road tripped. Being longtime lovers of camping, the great outdoors and road tripping; it’s a vast country filled with diversity of landscape, people and wildlife which we just have to see. This is an idea of what our dream road trip would look like in Australia.

We’ve always loved the road less travelled, so we would look to National Geographic’s South Australia’s Adventures of a Lifetime: The Road Less Travelled for road tripping inspiration.

When we would travel

Coupled with the fact that the winter months of May-September are the best times to travel and road trip through the Western Australia, North Queensland and Northern Territory and that Cape Town’s winter months are pretty miserable; this is when we would plan to visit Australia. Trying to brave the rain and humidity with kids does not sound appealing, neither does the super hot climate or fires.

What to travel in

We have always wanted to road trip around Australia with a camper van. Having grown up camping and caravanning, I am an avid lover of sleeping in a tent, staying in remote locations and being able to immerse myself in nature. Caravans are always trickier to drive and tow and more expensive to rent, but provide more mobility than a mobile home/camper van which you can unhitch from.

For campervans or caravans for sale in Australia, have a look here.

The other option I find appealing is the rooftop tent but this would be trickier with two young kids and would be highly dependent on the vehicle we rented once there. A 4×4 with a separate tent is of course the other options but would mean setting up camp with each stop which  could get tiring but allow us to move around independently of our home.

Here’s a few of our tips for camping with a baby.

Navigation

While Vaughan is a huge fan of Google Maps and online navigation systems, I imagine that like many parts of rural and remote South Africa; these would only get us so far. When signal disappears, the phone is not an option; but a Garmin is said to do the trick when going slightly off the grid.

It’s been so long since we’ve used old-school paper maps, but I would definitely keep regional maps on hand if any of our digital maps failed us.

Emergencies

Satellite Phone

This will become a necessity when going off road, especially if you are traveling as a solo vehicle. If we ever found ourselves far from a town with two kids in the middle of nowhere ( a hug possibility), I would want this as a backup to be able to call for assistance. Especially if we are lost of our vehicle has broken down. One thing we always have on hand when road tripping anywhere; is vehicle insurance which includes roadside assistance.  If the sat phone is too expensive, hiring one may be an option for the road tripping time.

A few road tripping routes we would like to choose from:

Gibb River Road, Western Australia

Broome to Perth Western Australia

The 75 Mile Highway, Fraser Island, Queensland

Outback Queensland

Sydney to Jervis Bay, NSW

The Eyre Peninsula, South Australia

The Great Ocean Road, Victoria

Red Centre Way, Northern Territory

The Savannah Way, Queensland

Cairns to Cape Tribulation, Queensland

Sydney to Brisbane Drive, NSW & Qld

Instead of the Sydney to Cairns coastal, we would love to try this alternative East Coast Road Trip suggested by BBC Travel.

Things we would and wouldn’t leave behind

A solid backpack for day trips and exploration is always essential. As well as fitting our camera and tech equipment, it would be helpful to have when leaving the camp site for the day to store extra clothing, water, snacks and other necessities.

Just as travelers underestimate the cold, winters of South Africa, they do the same of Australia. With such diverse landscapes and climates over a vast space, temperatures will differ vastly between regions and also over the days and nights. So we would be sure to include rain macs, warm jackets, and really warm gear for cold days and nights.

National Parks are said to have great facilities in terms of showers, cooking areas and places to bbq, so this would mean we wouldn’t need to travel with portable showers, bbq grids etc and small plated stoves.

Keen to take an entire year off to travel through Australia and New Zealand? Here’s the  ultimate Gap Year Guide on CNtraveller.

Any road tripping inspiration, tips or routes we’ve missed?

Also, For Wine Tours in Australia, visit Godirect Mini Bus