Has anyone ever travelled across Australia?

[StripeyKnickersSpottySocks]

I'm contemplating a long road trip around Australia. Probably about 3 months in total, via campervan/van. Have been looking up the costs of hiring a vehical versus buying one from the Kings Cross place.

Anyway just wondering if anyone has done anything similar and have either any itinary advice or more general advice.

Would probably just be me and dd (7).

Yes I did but it was in 1991 so not much help to you with costs etc.

We bought a VW campervan in Melbourne and sold it there on our return. Then it cost us $2500 to buy and sold it for $2100. We used to pay a small fee to park at backpacker hostels and use their facilities and then sleep in the van. Also used campsites, which are very well equiped and nice palces to stay.

Itinery - I have some suggestions of place which were good then but they may have changed...

I went for 10 months at the age of 19. Worked for a fair bit of it though.

With regards to buying a vehicle, there are a lot on offer, loads of people buy them and sell them on so at the main start/stop places (eg Sydney, Cairns) there are good deals to be had. BUT, you would want to know a fair bit about them and check them over before you buy.

Saying that, if you are driving yourselves you will want to know a fair bit anyway. You should be able to change oil, top up radiator, change a tyre and possibly a bit more tinkering too (I know some of that sounds obvious but dp doesn't know and I spent some time trying to convince BIL that it was quicker to change a tyre yourself rather than call out the AA)

The East coast is well travelled and populated but outside of that there are some vary remote areas. As in so remote that you MUST carry a can of fuel and one of water with you. MUST. And 2 spare tyres not one. The Great Ocean road is also fairly well travelled but I would apply that advice to that too. We ended up going through 3 tyres in 2 days there and had to stay overnight near a roadhouse and organise for a lorry coming our way to bring us a tyre.

As for where to go, I would say that the best experience would be starting in Sydney, going down through Melbourne and Adelaide. Then you can do a few days up to the Flinders ranges. Bace to Adelaide and across to Perth (some wonderful beaches in the SW). Then up the West Coast to Darwin. The West is less populated than the East and very beautiful. Try to be at Ningaloo reef (more beautiful and unspoiled than the Great Barrier reef) when the whale sharks are around. At Darwin abandon your car and get an organised tour to Alice Springs/Uluru. Worth the tour rather than a flight but don't drive yourself. Then fly to Sydney. From Darwin I would also do an organised tour of Litchfield and Kakadu national parks. They are amazing. You want to time it so that the wet season is over and the waters have retreated a bit so there is plenty of safe swimming (as in the crocs have also gone!) but not yet in the full swing of the dry season as many of the best waterfalls dry up.

Hope that helps

bought a van from kings cross (gina, sigh,s he was lovely) bought her for 5,000 and sold her for 4,900

spent 2 months travelling but tbh we only ever got up to noosa heads and back down to sydney as we took it slow and its a BIG country

3 Months will be a lot of travelling in a short amount of time.

My mil has just travelled Perth to Rockhampton (Central Qld) and it has taken 12 days so far. That is travelling 700kms a day without much sight seeing.

Australia is a huge place. Would plan your itinerary very carefully as there are some very remote areas without mobile phone coverage or petrol stations etc.

We have cattle/sheep properties as big as England .

Oh, and come in Winter. Too many stories of foreign tourists getting lost and dehydrated in the middle of outback Australia mid-Summer.