This trip is one we have wanted to do for a while, but were really spurred into action by two sets of friends who did it last year and came back raving. (Umm, about the countryside that is, not just babbling off at the mouth!) Peter and Pam did this trip after they left us last year in Ceduna, and Leslie and Lorraine did much the same thing in reverse from Darwin to Adelaide. We're planning on meeting up with Peter and Pam when we get to WA as they're leaving Brisbane a week or so later than us.
This trip is not exactly an 'Around the Block' (circumnavigation of Australia) trip, but only because we're missing out half of the NSW coast and all of Victoria. We're also not doing any of the SA coast we saw (and really enjoyed) last year. That trip is on this site at Apr/May/Jun 2010 - NSW-SA-NT-Qld.
The (very basic) premise is to make for Ceduna on the eastern edge of the Nullarbor Plain without too much dawdling. This will take us about 8 to 10 days and is about 2700kms (about 1700 miles). We explored a lot of this same country last year, so we're not spending too long en route. We plan on making one diversion and that is to the Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo. While we've both been there before, it was quite a number of years ago so we thought we'd like to have another visit. After crossing the Nullarbor, we plan to go north to Kalgoorlie/Coolgardie then back south to the coast and explore the south-eastern tip of Australia. After that, it's off to Perth to catch up with friends and then on northward up the WA coast to the Pilbara and Kimberley regions and then into the Northern Territory. We spent some time last year in the south of the NT so this time it's the north or Top End that we'll be looking at in places like Litchfield Nat Pk, Darwin, Kakadu and Katherine Gorge. We also have a number of different plans/routes for coming home but these will depend very much on what road conditions are like around the NT/Qld border - it's been very wet up there as well and I suspect the roads will be closed well into what laughingly passes for Winter in the tropics.
As you may remember, we had quite a few difficulties in our 'Follow the Darling River' trip last year due to the floods in Qld flowing down the Darling and causing problems with road closures. Well, guess what's happening again this year? You're right - more floods! There has been so much rain in Southern Qld and Northern NSW that we are going to skip a whole section of our original trip through Northern NSW. This is due to quite severe road damage including landslides, potential and actual flooding on the original planned routes and trying to stay away from stretches of road that will be full of road gangs filling in potholes.
Once again, I'm going to try and keep up with posting our adventures as close as possible to when they occur. This is for two reasons - one, it's nice to try and keep the reader involved in what we're currently doing, and two, if I don't do it soon after it happens, I'm likely to forget!
In very rough terms, we'll probably spend a bit over 6 months away and travel somewhere in the vicinity of 20,000kms before we get home. So, as we really don't know exactly where we'll be going, you'll just have to keep coming back here to see where we are, won't you?
All the best from us both,
Sue & Chris
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