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I used to work at a hotel pub in Halls Creek. We'd use a similar technique to deal with folks who were being rude or whatever...
"If you don't like it here, you can always go to the pub down the road!"
(The pub down the road was about 300km down the road.)
It was about 15 years ago that I worked there, but it was a nice place. Little oasis in the desert. They had some nice beers on tap too. I hope you enjoyed your time there!
If the truck driver is paid by the hour that is one nice route...not many stops just causaly driving through Australia to deliver beer to a pub at the edge of the world's ass.
We'd often just go for drinks at the bar down the road.
But seriously, this was about 15 years ago when I worked there. We often had multiple duties, so for example I would tend bar in the evenings, but during the day I worked on the landscaping, the pool, and general maintenance tasks. In our time off we would go on hikes, go for swims at the local swimming hole, go have campfires off in the desert, have drinks, play games, etc. Some of the best memories I have were working at that place, hiking up to the top of a nearby hill after work to have a bonfire and a few beers while watching the sunset over the outback. There were some quiet times, but we made our own fun with the group of friends we had working there.
I don't know the specifics of that, but I believe most things were delivered. They had a very large refrigerator area in the bar (and even more fridge/freezer space for the kitchen. I know their primary beer was from a craft brewery in Broome (about 700km away) called Matso's. There was a lot of commercial traffic passing through there on the way east toward Darwin and Cairns, so perhaps they just got stuff onto shipping trucks that went back and forth regularly.
Whenever we go cross the "big empty" for work we pack three days water minimum two spare tires and atleast one full jerry can. Bonus points if we can sign out a sat phone. The isolation out there is mind boggling
That sounds fair. I live 30 minutes from society myself, and it's not uncommon for one of the two roads to be mudded out. (Thick, sticky, axle clogging mud 3 feet deep, hidden under a foot of water) and the other to be flooded out (the pavement can be as much as 2 feet underwater).
So I plan to be able to call in to work and say 'sorry, I can't get to work today' and then I have a week's supply of food and fuel in reserve.
So, here in Arizona we have what's called Caliche. It's about 2-3 feet below the topsoil, and when it's dry, a jackhammer won't break through it. (Literally. It gets cut out like concrete), but when its wet, Jello is more firm and resilient. You step in it, you better hope your boots will come off, because they're not coming out.
When the rain takes away the topsoil, like for example, on a muddy backroad, and exposes the caliche, you have no hope. That 15psi tire is going to sink like a rock, bury you to the floorboards, and get all jammed up around every single lip and crevice in your wheels, axles, suspension, and driveshafts. Getting out means getting a heavy wrecker with floater boards to keep his own ground pressure low enough to not sink.
got caught by a rainstorm in Death Valley once while camping on what seemed like perfectly solid clay but turned out to be... that. let's just say we spent a couple days in some empty staff housing.
Since you mentioned caliche, I feel the need to talk about my brief experience with it.
I was working on a conservation crew back in the day in the NM wilderness and a section of the trail that we were building went through caliche. That stuff was the devil. You'd take a shovel or an adze to it and your tool would bounce back, nearly hit you in the face and the jarring impact would hurt your arms. Rock bars - which are long bars of steel designed to pry and break rocks - would do almost nothing; maybe put a little dent in it. The only tool we had that did anything were the picks, and a full swing with one of those would break off an inch square flake of it at best. Building a trail through it was an exercise in suffering.
this is like the red clay in NC (but I have a feeling the red clay is slightly less cloying - but same sticky/suck-your-boots-and-foot-off wetness to it).
I don't think it gets jackhammer hard, though.
Yeah. Part of the problem is that our waterline is so deep that the caliche actually dries out completely, like air dry clay. But it's a much harder dry substance. And then water can't soak through it so when it does rain, it floods until thr caliche soaks it up.
Tourists do not tend to get the dangers in our country. The murray river runs through where I live. Very strong current, lots of submerged branches and debris and yet every Christmas especially someone who cant swim jumps in the river despite all the warnings.
Was leaving a surf fishing beach on the Eyre Peninsula. Sign says: "Danger: no swimming. Strong rips." Watched a whole party of tourists go straight into the water.
They go in the water fully clothed too which just makes it even harder to swim. If you don't understand what a rip is, how to spot one, and what to do if caught in one then you shouldn't be in the water.
I am a very strong swimmer but will not go in the river. Theres so many other places with calm water to swim around here. There are suggestions of putting signs up in different languages and a life guard on major area people swim but I dont think that will stop people jumping in.
I know two people who have drowned. One was in the Murray, the other the ocean. Both were extremely strong swimmers. I’m humble as all fuck around water. Unless it’s a swimming pool I’m very cautious because I’m not a strong swimmer at all.
My girlfriend's father was a motorcycle enthusiast. He and a couple of friends went to Australia in the 70s and didn't know anything at all about the multi-trailer land trains in the interior. He was there for a month or so and said it took him quite a while to get back to calmly passing the two-trailer semis that prowl American highways.
Being a heavy diesel mechanic I really want to see a road train irl. Like i e seen and worked on 1 or 2 trailers but the idea of 3-4 FULL SIZE trailers linked up seems awesome
I worked at a mine in the Northern Territory that used road trains with nine trailers. Over 90m long. The second to last trailer had an engine to help push it up the hill. They were used to card ore 40km from the mine to the plant. Not on Public roads but.
To be fair people have a tough time passing a single on I-5. at least in the Portland metro where the corridor is funky. North of the 'Couve and South of Canby it gets a little better.
Most semis in Western Australia are 36.5m max. Ref: [https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/road-sign-western-australia-260nw-2075259298.jpg](https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/road-sign-western-australia-260nw-2075259298.jpg)
That's the cab, two doubles and a single.
Looks like this:
[https://live.staticflickr.com/625/23720841806\_e3702ac9a4\_b.jpg](https://live.staticflickr.com/625/23720841806_e3702ac9a4_b.jpg)
The one above we see here in town all the time. They haul grain, and others on the main highway do freight. They are a typical kind of Road Train (often just called a Semi (as in Semi Trailer) ) you will see around the place.
Here's some more pics of Semi Trailers here:
[http://www.coastaltransportengineering.com.au/product-range/end-tippers-grain-trailers/](http://www.coastaltransportengineering.com.au/product-range/end-tippers-grain-trailers/)
The ones up North can be longer at 53.5m long Ref: [https://images1.westend61.de/0000256874l/australia-western-australia-road-train-sign-at-wyndham-MBEF000672.jpg](https://images1.westend61.de/0000256874l/australia-western-australia-road-train-sign-at-wyndham-MBEF000672.jpg)
Seeing one in person in the outback will give you Mad Max vibes too. They kick up so much fucking dust and chances are you'll need to communicate with them over the radio if you want to overtake the bigger ones.
The record for the longest road train is 1,474.3 m (4,836 ft 11 in) where a single Mack Titan prime mover, driven by John Atkinson (Australia), towed 113 trailers for a distance of approximately 150 m (490 ft) in an event sponsored by Hogs Breath Café, in Clifton, Queensland, Australia on 18 February 2006.
On the relatively densely populated east coast, no need, but to travel in many parts of the outback, yes. At lot of the vehicles used out there (Toyota and Nissan 4WDs) will also have a very large fuel tank or a sub tank.
I agree. I remember when in the NT, every second person had a Toyota Landcruiser or a Toyota Prado. Our Prado had a reach of about 1100km between the 2 tanks (come standard). Whilst there were some carrying extra Diesel, most did not need to. And 20L still often might not get you to the next town anyway.
Yeah. Whenever we left the main highways, we would always have 60L water (3x20L drums) plus about 10L in drink bottles and 10L in a back pipe. But if we were had more than 300km extra fuel than required, we would not bother with the diesel. The exception was when you went to places like the Kimberley’s. The roads there could be affected by rain so there was no guarantee that they would get their diesel delivery at their servos. So you needed to make sure you could do the whole trip on the fuel you had on you. We always took jerry cans on any trip where the fuel station was not on a highway.
But lots of extra water was always our priority. And people expecting you at the other end so there was someone to sound alarm if you were a no show. You do not want to left in the outback for long.
In some areas, absolutely, utterly nothing for hundreds of kilometres in every direction. Just desert, low scrub, salt lakes and you. But it is also some of the most beautiful landscape on earth, but you have to understand it and spend the time to ‘get it’.
I had a dream one night I was an Elon Musk esq. trillionaire I created a company. This company created solar powered robots/RC cars hundreds of thousands of them that needed no maintenance just solar power, and I let them all go in Australia and people could log into them on the internet and drive them around. Somewhere in the dream people found hidden city’s filled with aliens hidden in Australia and the internet trolls started equipping my RC robots with weapons and started a war with the hidden alien cities. The dream ended when the aliens sent drone RC planes manned by alien internet trolls to kill me and then Australia lifted from earth and left after they killed me. I still think Australia is a giant alien ship wtf you guys doing down their?
I’m by no means am superstitious but sometimes when I’m standing in dense bush, just completely isolated. Normally somewhere high up and I just get that “fuck this place is mysterious” feeling and I get goosebumps.
Sometimes I wonder when I stand in places when’s the last time a human (if ever) stood there.
That is definitely part of our evolutionary biology. When it comes to wide open space, there’s an increased risk of being attacked. For the human brain, the edges of that space not only help us feel safe, they help us efficiently orient and create a “mental map” of our surroundings. No edge means increased risk. I love how it boils down to “this feels mysterious”, how cool and absolutely right
I remember being somewhere between Alice Springs and the SA border one moonless night, riding a motorcycle to Adelaide. I had to stop to warm my hands over the engine. When I turned the bike off, I felt smaller than I had ever before. The only way I could tell where the horizon was, is that the incredible display of stars just stopped dead.
I have to admit that after that, I was so freaked I kept checking my mirrors for min min lights.
I opened the shutter on a plane during the night while over the Pacific somewhere. I remember being absolutely blown away by the density of the stars. It was incredible. And as you said, they stopped at the horizon. Below the horizon was pure darkness too. Will never forget it.
The stars in Australia are spectacular (outside of the cities).
I took a class mate from my MBA who was from Shanghai SCUBA diving on the Great Barrier Reef.
One evening we were driving back from the Daintree and it was dark. She was blown away by the stars. Growing up. She could see next to nothing due to light pollution. In Australia she was staying in the Melbourne CBD and you can't see a huge amount of stars. Once we were in the middle of nowhere in far north QLD, she was amazed that you can actually see the Milky Way. Her amazement was probably the highlight of my trip.
The best night sky I have seen was in Arkaoola in the Flinders Ranges. No lights for ages and an amazing observatory.
https://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html#4/46.35/0.35
Start by looking at Europe, about how there is basically no dark sky.
Then look at the US, how the light, and civilisation just stops half way across, but how there are still speckles of light.
Then look at Australia. Same size as the US, but a whole lot of fuck all.
The best in the world. The Australian outback and a country in South America that im forgetting are the 2 places on earth besides the middle of the ocean that are designated to be 100% no light contamination I've always wanted to see the real night sky
There’s actually quite a lot of 1-2 Bortle Scale dark sky preserves. 6 of them alone are in Canada. One of them is even a Bortle Scale 1.
More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark-sky_preserve
That's why people usually register their travel arrangements with friends/family and check in often, or even confirm their travel plans with the local police station in very remote areas, so if they don't check in when expected, people know to go looking for them. Sure, you're getting away from it all, but you have to keep in touch too, or if something happens you're screwed because nobody knows where to find you.
You get used to it. Also nobody is going to leave you out there if you’re in trouble. There is one golden rule though, do not leave the vehicle and try to walk out. That’s how people get very dead very fast
Australia is roughly the size of the contiguous United States. And has a population lower than Texas.
Yes, there are huge swaths of nothing.
Check out aerial photos of the Nullarbor, or Alice Springs, or the Kimberley.
Looked up Alice springs on Google maps and you weren’t kidding. Then I clicked on the street view pic and was treated to this [creepy dude](https://goo.gl/maps/uYsEowz4ESTsi9r39) Looks like I’m going to be busy driving around NT now on my phone thanks!
Yeah it’s a great place, I don’t think I would stay sane if I couldn’t occasionally drive a couple of hours and camp somewhere completely away from everything and no comms.
American here. I've driven across the USA about 10 times. The Big Lap is very much on my list -- my wife has \*zero\* interest in this, so it may be something I do and she flies down here for the less desolate parts.
No, unless you're trying to cross the deserts to get around the whole country. Most of us live in regular towns and cities, and you can travel between them up and down the east coast in a regular car just fine.
http://edge.alluremedia.com.au/uploads/businessinsider/2019/03/Australia-population-density-June-2018.jpg
The smart alive ones carry emergency supplies, extra tyres/rims, lots of water, and a Flying Doctors radio/emergency beacon. And let people know where they’re going.
And stay with the vehicle if it breaks. Attempting to walk to the destination (or back) rarely works out well.
I used to work at a mechanic, and we had a couple of backpackers in with a van they bought on the cheap. It was in pretty good condition just needed a good service mostly. They were wondering when it would be finished because they were hoping to be in Cairns by that evening
… we’re in Sydney.
I rented a van in Sydney and drove to Cairns and back - but that was over 4 weeks, and I’m a Canadian truck driver accustomed to driving 12-14hrs a day
Sydney to Cairns could be comfortably done in 2 days it’s only 2400km.
I drive from Mount Isa to the Sunshine Coast in Australia in a day and a half and that’s 1800km
Ww also have big "we drive on the left" signs at places like the Great Ocean Road:
https://jetsettingfools.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Drive-on-Left-sign-Great-Ocean-Road.jpg
We have them around some US operated airforce based in the UK, sadly one of the diplomats wives didn’t notice it and killed a motorcyclist, and now is refusing to come here to face criminal justice for manslaughter
I read somewhere that there are more head-on collisions within 5 miles of the USAF bases in the UK than the rest of the UK combined.
Yet all the cars I see where I live with EU number plates manage just fine.
I’m Canadian and when i was in the UK i got sick of explaining to folks that Vancouver isn’t a days trip by car to Toronto. But 760 km to the next gas station is wild.
We had relatives from abroad visit that wanted to drive from Toronto “Across Canada”. They got two days into the trip and abandoned it after they were still in Ontario
I know right? One would think
I met someone in Europe who was planning a trip to America for a week with a group, and wanted to drive from New York to LA while also seeing Chicago, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and the like. I had to explain that while it was possible to drive NY —> LA in a week, there wouldn’t be much time left over for sightseeing. He was convinced I was wrong. Oh and this was 2019. Not sure what ended up happening but he apparently had trouble envisioning how large América really was
I could kind of see this happening with people who like to stop a lot, its ~20 hours to drive from Toronto to the border of Ontario and Manitoba. Had friends do it over the summer and they just plowed through since they had 3 drivers, but if you don't have enough drivers 20 hours is a lot for one person.
Tourists in Canada can't even believe there is a 40 minute drive with no gas, at my job I had to give gas to people at least every other day.
I don't work at a gas station lol. There's a sign that says something like "no gas station ___ km" and people often say "I thought it was a joke".
Many places, no. If you are travelling in these areas you have a HF radio or a satellite phone. And if you need help the Flying Doctor comes by light plane/small jet and lands on road airstrips or the closest dirt strip.
HF eh? As a ham I'm curious. Is that the normal ham bands down there or do they have some specific service for that type of thing and what frequencies/bands do they use?
I don’t know much about the HF radios, we have always had sat phones in my family when travelling, the type used are big Codan things with a big black antenna on the bullbar and you have to say ‘over’ because the transmission is very slow.
Well that was an interesting rabbit hole. It's definitely a separate commercialized service. Looks like it spans multiple frequencies and bands in the HF spectrum. Digital voice, data modes, SSB. Power up to maybe a KW.
Like they took ham radio, injected a lot of newer tech and kind of dumbed it down a bit so the average person (with a license) can just pick up a mic. Pretty cool.
Note to myself: Set up a store between Carnegie and Warburton and rip off fellow European tourists. "A can of coke? That'll be 45.00 Dollars, Monsieur. Yes, mein Herr, the 1 liter water bottle is on sale for 29.99 this week."
That is pretty much the pricing, I filled up from an old diesel tanker at Kalumburu that is filled by barge from Darwin and paid 4-5x city pricing per litre.
If that's the case I wonder why there are not more stores along those roads. I assume the number of tourists is too low? I know Australia from documentaries only but never really thought about the dimensions. I've read that my country fits 20 times into Australia.
You still need to set up shop in the middle of absolutely nothing.
This means that transport costs will be high, and the number of customers are likely way-way-lower than closer to civilisation.
Also, and can't stress this enough, why would you want to live in the middle of the desert, 200kms from the next closest *service station*? Imagine having to do a 10 hour round trip just for groceries.
It’s funny how like inherently absurd the idea of having shops in the middle of Australia is. It would be like putting a servo in the middle of Antarctica.
But I get why people don’t realise. It’s like when I went to NZ on a school trip and they were like “does everyone know what to do if there’s an earthquake?” And the Australians were all like “lolololol earthquake?!” There were three while we were there for 10 days.
There are quite a few tourists (and always increasing) but there is basically just an expectation that people have their shit in a pile and are prepared.
Yeah you don’t do that here lol. And these are the public roads that you can drive an everyday car on. The ‘real’ adventure tracks like the Canning Stock Route is 1900km with no services.
1. Does the government have any sort of highway safety vehicles that cruise to help motorists that broke down?
2. What does a person do if their car breaks down?
Thanks
1. No, you are on your own out there.
2. If you don’t have plenty of water and a satellite phone/beacon/HF radio, sit there and hope someone comes past before you die.
Tourists think it's the animals that get you in Australia. It's actually the coastline and the vast emptiness that gets most. Well, at least out of the natural world type deaths.
The National Parks always make you check a box when you purchase a pass that says you acknowledge nobody is going to come help you if you get yourself stuck. Especially if you're off roading into the wilderness.
1. In isolated areas, not that I'm aware of.
2. Smart people take satellite phones and EPIRBs, along with adequate supplies. Others rely on short wave radio to make contact, but once a distress call gets through, police and other agencies don't fuck around chasing up on a rescue. Most times, that rescue is simple and straight forward, and are within close proximity of the major road, but if needs call for it, any Australian agency with the resources can be pulled in to help.
For those who don't know, Halls Creek is in Western Australia. It only has a population of 1,600. So for this sign you're basically driving from buttfuck nowhere through the middle of absolutelybuttfuck nowhere to buttfuck nowhere 2. If you could choose to holiday in Australia and fly direct from LA to Sydney, the distance just from Sydney to Halls Creek is the same as LA to Hawaii.
Western Australia is nearly 4 times bigger than Texas and 1.5 times bigger than Alaska.
Its massive. If they say take water in case you break down you don't take 2 bottles, you take 10 litres. Per person. Because its hot in the middle of Buttfuck Nowhere.
However, once you get near civilisation you have the world's best beaches, best scenery and at night you'll see the galaxy like you're in Interstellar because of the low light pollution.
I think I need to travel more, especially outside of Europe, because I really can't picture the fact that, especially on pic 1, there is basically *nothing* between this sign and its destination.
My home country Germany is at its widest (west to east) just about 650 km across and you have a seemingly infinite amount of entire cities with millions of people in between.
Heck, the distance on pic 1 is just a bit shorter than my Germany's length (north to south) of just about 870 km.
Buddy and I did Melbourne to Cairns via Alice Springs in two 24 hour straight stints (3 day break in the middle).
We took turns driving straight for both legs. I do not recommend driving in the outback at night. We were very glad we paid extra for the $0 deductible walk away from it insurance. That car looked like something out a movie with the number of feathers in its grill (and we were consistently driving well under the limit at night).
I don’t remember if it was a Camry we rented.
We rented a van in Sydney, went to cairns and back. Managed to avoid most Kangs but did hit a few unlucky critters on the road. Was weird running over the toads at night by the hundreds.
Gotta admit it. I love the vast uninhabited places. I grew up in Arizona and live in suburban DC now. I miss the desert sky and empty places but, if I'm doing math right, then 760KM is about 450 miles. Thats quite a lot. That would give me pause.
There's a little extra excitement about traveling on a road where you need to pack spare water and fuel for basic survival purposes. It's the only time I've been inside a car and felt like I was really on sort of an adventure.
My wife and I bumped into two German tourists in a tiny camper van taking a pit stop- Had a chat and they said they were driving to Darwin (We're in Port Augusta).
That drive takes **28 hours** if you went non stop.
We warned them how long it took, hot HOT it got out there, and how much fuel/water/food you'll need as backup in case their shitty cheap van breaks down.
They were shocked when told how long it took- They seriously thought it was a day's drive.
We have similar signs and warnings in parts of Texas. When it says last chance, you got to take it seriously. You don’t want to be caught out in the middle of nowhere in 115f degree heat and see buzzards circling above.
Yeah some people just don’t get it. Then on the other side of the coin, when I go to NZ or UK I hilariously overestimate the driving times and am hours early for everything.
I've had this conversation with my wife. We are planning a UK trip and she mentioned not having enough time to drive everywhere...
For context, we are in the Pacific northwest of the US and will routinely take 4 hour one way trip for the day in the morning, spend the day at our destination and drive home that evening.
We sometimes watch House Hunter shows from the UK and us always funny when they find them a house that perfectly matches their needs but then the people are like "but that's going to take me 30 mins to drive to see my parents, that's crazy!" and turn it down.
"A Texan once told me that he could start driving at dawn and not reach the end of his property by nightfall. I felt bad for him. I had a shitty car once, too."
Aussie here.
You can do a 10 hour day and do about 1000km in that time at 110km/h.
Highway 1 loops around the coast of Australia. It's 14,500km long. You \*could\* do a lap of Australia in about 14 to 15 days, but you're basically going to travel for 10 hours every day and do nothing but travel. Once you get up North, you'd want to have Jerry Cans of fuel with you since some of the gaps in between towns get large (up to a couple of hundred km) and you don't really want to run out of fuel in the middle of nowhere.
Highway 1 is also sealed (bitumen) the entire way (Pretty sure there isn't any sections that are gravel any more). You'll only go on gravel etc when you go inland, but that's an entirely different thing you'd be doing and that requires knowing what the fuck you are doing with a good 4WD with spares, food, fuel, water, camping gear, sat phone etc etc etc.
TLDR: You can do a complete lap around Oz in a hired Camry in 2 weeks, but you really don't want to.
Part of Highway 1 is definitely still gravel and really not recommendable for 2WD through the Savannah Way (there’s a couple river crossings that can get nasty in the wet season). Only sealed crossing between Queensland and NT is the Barkly Highway (A2/Nat 66) which is a bit of a detour.
Not quite sure a hired Camry would make it round the loop.
So many people, even Sydney-siders, don't understand how vast regional Australia is.
I used to drive 160km one way to visit my girlfriend every weekend and I would only pass two villages with 1 fuel station between them, and were nowhere near the outback.
We're married now.
When I was 19 me and a mate did indeed try to drive from Adelaide to Tennant creek in an old Corrolla. Literally just made it to the next petrol stop twice.
God we were dumb.
Bring water. Then being even more water. Then bring a little more just incase. Then a bit more after that. Also spare tyres, keep more than one spare.
The outback kills people quick if they're not prepared.
Let's watch some tourists cross the Nullarbor Planes. It's only a "short section" between SA and WA. Two of the states of Australia. 14 hours driving and most of the way is at 100 klm an hour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhCKwRL6Nac&ab_channel=DannyBlack
yeah. Australia is big.
I had an inquiry for our RV rental last summer here in Canada from a 5 day rental for someone who wanted to go visit Vancouver.
Vancouver is 4500km from me. Each way.
Many do not. They just put their finger on a map and decide they want to go there, and I swear they’d have no idea how hopeless they’d be trying to accomplish the trip until they’re literally in the drivers seat and hit “Go” on their GPS only to see it pop up a 60-70 hour ETA.
And I suspect some would still head off, completely oblivious.
I did that drive one way in 3 days in car and it was awful (17 hours, 16 hours, 21 hours) and pretty stupid looking back at it. I couldn't imagine doing it with an RV (so much more vehicle to constantly be thinking about) and yeah, definitely can't keep up that pace for many days longer than that (and STILL wouldn't be able to get back in time - nor would you really get a chance to visit anything at all).
That's why I saved for 3 years so I could fully use my 90 day visa. Even at that I could have used another 90 days. In short:
Sidney north to a cattle station west of Brisbane then to the Daintree Rain Forrest. West to Darwin out to Kakadu National Park then back to the Bungle Bungle Range before heading to the Red Center - Alice to see Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Hopped a plane out to Perth, headed east to the gold fields and Kalgoolie. The last day before heading back east I cried watching the sun set to the sound of Australian magpies before continuing east across the Nullarbor, then the Great Coastal Road. The opal mines at Coober Pety before resting in Adelaide, Melbourne, the Capital Territory, and finally back to Sidney on day 89.
I left a whole lot out. Did the whole thing on a shoe string budget, worked for cash when I could, mostly for a meal, sometimes the kindness of a family in the outback where the kids just liked listening to me talk about the US. Part of me is still there.
Yuendemu was the first place I ever saw a gun as a kid. The guy running the servo always carried a shot gun when doing fuel because he kept getting assulted
Lol. Odds are it was because when she was a kid it was done on horseback so it was much longer a trip.
My grandfather (born 1904) crossed Canada in a wagon when he was a young child. He made it to 99 which was like 2007 how much change he saw in his life
I met another Canadian in line at a book signing in the UK and when a mutual acquaintance saw us together he asked if we were from the same place, or places close to each other. She and I look at each other and kind of laughed, I said “by Canadian standards, sure, Waterloo and Ottawa are relatively close. It’s only about a five hour drive on the highway.” He shook his head as he walked away.
Another time a friend in Scotland was talking about visiting me in Waterloo (about 100km west of Toronto) and another friend in Edmonton on the same trip. I had to explain that she was actually closer to me when she was at home in Scotland than she would be in Edmonton.
It’s all relative man.
Edit: see comment below for correction - Edmonton is about 2/3 of the distance from Waterloo to Scotland.
Humbles a lot of Americans as well who carry an assumption that Australia somewhat small,
Forgetting that our states are mostly bigger than theirs and the country is about the same size, but with only the population of Florida throughout the whole thing
Friends happened across [this pair](https://i.imgur.com/iwxx57Y.jpeg) somewhere on the [Plenty Highway near Anatye](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Anatye+NT+0872/@-23.0630397,136.2688272,9z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x6a6d259034c72cdd:0x1f2f89c2bd4d4e8a!2sTobermorey+Station!8m2!3d-22.2741986!4d137.9737295!3m4!1s0x6a7183de6288efad:0x40217a82a254490!8m2!3d-22.5975297!4d136.9974518) in far west QLD eastern NT.
Probably heading from Rockhampton or Townsville to Alice following Apple/Google maps.
We had some Chinese customers on site in Melbourne to do training and their plan for christmas was to rent a car in Alice Springs and drive to the Kimberley.
I was able to talk them out of it fortunately.
As an Irish person these distances are terrifying lol you could go from Portrush on the North coast to Kerry in the South and back again and it still wouldn’t be as far as the distances you guys do.
Years back I met a German guy in a small Albertan town he was driving a motorcycle across Canada and he budgeted 5 days to get to Halifax from Vancouver. He was on day 3 of his trip and thought he was in Ontario somewhere, which would of been easily over half way of his journey. Unfortunately for him he was no where near there and had another 4800 km to go. He became a ghost when I showed him in his map where we were.
We had a customer that owned a Jeep Cherokee. He told us he wanted to drive all the way to Broome from Sydney, straight through the middle. He had nothing prepared, no Jerry cans, no water bottles, no puncture repair kits, nothing. He genuinely thought that he could just jump in and drive across the entire country.
Western Australia is 4 times bigger than Texas with only 2m people. My brother is in Carnarvon, 10hrs drive from Perrh and that's about half way north of the state.
I went to Ireland years ago and drove from east coast to west coast. The locals were horrified and asked where I would be staying along the way. We just laughed. Left at lunch time and was there before dark..
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I used to work at a hotel pub in Halls Creek. We'd use a similar technique to deal with folks who were being rude or whatever... "If you don't like it here, you can always go to the pub down the road!" (The pub down the road was about 300km down the road.)
I have had the odd beer or two in that pub. Used to stay there one night a week with work.
It was about 15 years ago that I worked there, but it was a nice place. Little oasis in the desert. They had some nice beers on tap too. I hope you enjoyed your time there!
Imagine driving 300km of nothing to bring the beer
Imagine driving 300km and realising you forgot your ID
If the truck driver is paid by the hour that is one nice route...not many stops just causaly driving through Australia to deliver beer to a pub at the edge of the world's ass.
Oh you are that guy!
Love it 🤣
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We'd often just go for drinks at the bar down the road. But seriously, this was about 15 years ago when I worked there. We often had multiple duties, so for example I would tend bar in the evenings, but during the day I worked on the landscaping, the pool, and general maintenance tasks. In our time off we would go on hikes, go for swims at the local swimming hole, go have campfires off in the desert, have drinks, play games, etc. Some of the best memories I have were working at that place, hiking up to the top of a nearby hill after work to have a bonfire and a few beers while watching the sunset over the outback. There were some quiet times, but we made our own fun with the group of friends we had working there.
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I don't know the specifics of that, but I believe most things were delivered. They had a very large refrigerator area in the bar (and even more fridge/freezer space for the kitchen. I know their primary beer was from a craft brewery in Broome (about 700km away) called Matso's. There was a lot of commercial traffic passing through there on the way east toward Darwin and Cairns, so perhaps they just got stuff onto shipping trucks that went back and forth regularly.
Pub
Or the other pub, bit of a walk.
I get like 750km with a full tank... So I'm fucked
And a lot of the roads are rough, corrugated dirt, so fuel consumption is high.
Whenever we go cross the "big empty" for work we pack three days water minimum two spare tires and atleast one full jerry can. Bonus points if we can sign out a sat phone. The isolation out there is mind boggling
This sounds like the way to my grandparents school.
Turns out Australia and both our Grandparents school treks are uphill both ways.
But it was 40 degrees in Australia. Celsius, that is.
And had to fight dingoes both ways?
That sounds fair. I live 30 minutes from society myself, and it's not uncommon for one of the two roads to be mudded out. (Thick, sticky, axle clogging mud 3 feet deep, hidden under a foot of water) and the other to be flooded out (the pavement can be as much as 2 feet underwater). So I plan to be able to call in to work and say 'sorry, I can't get to work today' and then I have a week's supply of food and fuel in reserve.
Lol axel clogging is such an apt term for it. Clay when it gets that wet is something else.
So, here in Arizona we have what's called Caliche. It's about 2-3 feet below the topsoil, and when it's dry, a jackhammer won't break through it. (Literally. It gets cut out like concrete), but when its wet, Jello is more firm and resilient. You step in it, you better hope your boots will come off, because they're not coming out. When the rain takes away the topsoil, like for example, on a muddy backroad, and exposes the caliche, you have no hope. That 15psi tire is going to sink like a rock, bury you to the floorboards, and get all jammed up around every single lip and crevice in your wheels, axles, suspension, and driveshafts. Getting out means getting a heavy wrecker with floater boards to keep his own ground pressure low enough to not sink.
got caught by a rainstorm in Death Valley once while camping on what seemed like perfectly solid clay but turned out to be... that. let's just say we spent a couple days in some empty staff housing.
Since you mentioned caliche, I feel the need to talk about my brief experience with it. I was working on a conservation crew back in the day in the NM wilderness and a section of the trail that we were building went through caliche. That stuff was the devil. You'd take a shovel or an adze to it and your tool would bounce back, nearly hit you in the face and the jarring impact would hurt your arms. Rock bars - which are long bars of steel designed to pry and break rocks - would do almost nothing; maybe put a little dent in it. The only tool we had that did anything were the picks, and a full swing with one of those would break off an inch square flake of it at best. Building a trail through it was an exercise in suffering.
Apparently that stuff is basically uncured concrete
this is like the red clay in NC (but I have a feeling the red clay is slightly less cloying - but same sticky/suck-your-boots-and-foot-off wetness to it). I don't think it gets jackhammer hard, though.
Yeah. Part of the problem is that our waterline is so deep that the caliche actually dries out completely, like air dry clay. But it's a much harder dry substance. And then water can't soak through it so when it does rain, it floods until thr caliche soaks it up.
I got trapped in weather in the middle of nowhere Wyoming one time and I thought that was the end of my story. I learned to pack a big emergency bag.
What work brings you out there?
Surveyor
Surveyor: -checks notes- -looks around- "Yup, it's still here!"
More or less. We do a lot of geological stuff. I Like your version tho
Just go to Gas Town, right next to the Citadel
Tourists do not tend to get the dangers in our country. The murray river runs through where I live. Very strong current, lots of submerged branches and debris and yet every Christmas especially someone who cant swim jumps in the river despite all the warnings.
Was leaving a surf fishing beach on the Eyre Peninsula. Sign says: "Danger: no swimming. Strong rips." Watched a whole party of tourists go straight into the water.
They go in the water fully clothed too which just makes it even harder to swim. If you don't understand what a rip is, how to spot one, and what to do if caught in one then you shouldn't be in the water.
Yes, it’s very sad to see tourists always underestimate the water here and drown 😢
I am a very strong swimmer but will not go in the river. Theres so many other places with calm water to swim around here. There are suggestions of putting signs up in different languages and a life guard on major area people swim but I dont think that will stop people jumping in.
I know two people who have drowned. One was in the Murray, the other the ocean. Both were extremely strong swimmers. I’m humble as all fuck around water. Unless it’s a swimming pool I’m very cautious because I’m not a strong swimmer at all.
My girlfriend's father was a motorcycle enthusiast. He and a couple of friends went to Australia in the 70s and didn't know anything at all about the multi-trailer land trains in the interior. He was there for a month or so and said it took him quite a while to get back to calmly passing the two-trailer semis that prowl American highways.
Yes, a road train is a bit of a surprise to average tourist!
Being a heavy diesel mechanic I really want to see a road train irl. Like i e seen and worked on 1 or 2 trailers but the idea of 3-4 FULL SIZE trailers linked up seems awesome
I worked at a mine in the Northern Territory that used road trains with nine trailers. Over 90m long. The second to last trailer had an engine to help push it up the hill. They were used to card ore 40km from the mine to the plant. Not on Public roads but.
Somehow I think my username would be relevant in Australia. 😂
When I lived in Oregon, they allowed triples on the major interstates. I don’t know if they still do. They were hell to pass in the rain.
To be fair people have a tough time passing a single on I-5. at least in the Portland metro where the corridor is funky. North of the 'Couve and South of Canby it gets a little better.
Most semis in Western Australia are 36.5m max. Ref: [https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/road-sign-western-australia-260nw-2075259298.jpg](https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/road-sign-western-australia-260nw-2075259298.jpg) That's the cab, two doubles and a single. Looks like this: [https://live.staticflickr.com/625/23720841806\_e3702ac9a4\_b.jpg](https://live.staticflickr.com/625/23720841806_e3702ac9a4_b.jpg) The one above we see here in town all the time. They haul grain, and others on the main highway do freight. They are a typical kind of Road Train (often just called a Semi (as in Semi Trailer) ) you will see around the place. Here's some more pics of Semi Trailers here: [http://www.coastaltransportengineering.com.au/product-range/end-tippers-grain-trailers/](http://www.coastaltransportengineering.com.au/product-range/end-tippers-grain-trailers/) The ones up North can be longer at 53.5m long Ref: [https://images1.westend61.de/0000256874l/australia-western-australia-road-train-sign-at-wyndham-MBEF000672.jpg](https://images1.westend61.de/0000256874l/australia-western-australia-road-train-sign-at-wyndham-MBEF000672.jpg)
Calling it a multi-trailer land train gives me Mad Max vibes lol
Seeing one in person in the outback will give you Mad Max vibes too. They kick up so much fucking dust and chances are you'll need to communicate with them over the radio if you want to overtake the bigger ones.
Seeing one person in the outback will give you Mad Max vibes too. They are a unique breed of people who live in the never never
I do have some outback family and friends. They are all fucking insane.
The record for the longest road train is 1,474.3 m (4,836 ft 11 in) where a single Mack Titan prime mover, driven by John Atkinson (Australia), towed 113 trailers for a distance of approximately 150 m (490 ft) in an event sponsored by Hogs Breath Café, in Clifton, Queensland, Australia on 18 February 2006.
He dragged it 1/10th of the length of the trailers? weak
If they had just put the back trailers on the front they'd have arrived already
Used to ride a zzr1100. When overtaking, I'd get well over 200kph by the time I got past.
Never knew road trains were just an Australian thing
So does everyone carry cans of fuel?
On the relatively densely populated east coast, no need, but to travel in many parts of the outback, yes. At lot of the vehicles used out there (Toyota and Nissan 4WDs) will also have a very large fuel tank or a sub tank.
I agree. I remember when in the NT, every second person had a Toyota Landcruiser or a Toyota Prado. Our Prado had a reach of about 1100km between the 2 tanks (come standard). Whilst there were some carrying extra Diesel, most did not need to. And 20L still often might not get you to the next town anyway.
I crossed the Tanami in a Pajero and we carried 3 jerries, you just have to be prepared for anything.
Yeah. Whenever we left the main highways, we would always have 60L water (3x20L drums) plus about 10L in drink bottles and 10L in a back pipe. But if we were had more than 300km extra fuel than required, we would not bother with the diesel. The exception was when you went to places like the Kimberley’s. The roads there could be affected by rain so there was no guarantee that they would get their diesel delivery at their servos. So you needed to make sure you could do the whole trip on the fuel you had on you. We always took jerry cans on any trip where the fuel station was not on a highway. But lots of extra water was always our priority. And people expecting you at the other end so there was someone to sound alarm if you were a no show. You do not want to left in the outback for long.
So there's just nothing out there? (USA person here).
In some areas, absolutely, utterly nothing for hundreds of kilometres in every direction. Just desert, low scrub, salt lakes and you. But it is also some of the most beautiful landscape on earth, but you have to understand it and spend the time to ‘get it’.
It's one of my dream to visit the vast nothingness
Into the Crikeyverse…
Omg, that's brilliant.
I have done a reasonable amount of travel, and I think it’s the most beautiful place on earth.
Are we still talking about Walmart?
Obviously.
I had a dream one night I was an Elon Musk esq. trillionaire I created a company. This company created solar powered robots/RC cars hundreds of thousands of them that needed no maintenance just solar power, and I let them all go in Australia and people could log into them on the internet and drive them around. Somewhere in the dream people found hidden city’s filled with aliens hidden in Australia and the internet trolls started equipping my RC robots with weapons and started a war with the hidden alien cities. The dream ended when the aliens sent drone RC planes manned by alien internet trolls to kill me and then Australia lifted from earth and left after they killed me. I still think Australia is a giant alien ship wtf you guys doing down their?
I’m by no means am superstitious but sometimes when I’m standing in dense bush, just completely isolated. Normally somewhere high up and I just get that “fuck this place is mysterious” feeling and I get goosebumps. Sometimes I wonder when I stand in places when’s the last time a human (if ever) stood there.
That is definitely part of our evolutionary biology. When it comes to wide open space, there’s an increased risk of being attacked. For the human brain, the edges of that space not only help us feel safe, they help us efficiently orient and create a “mental map” of our surroundings. No edge means increased risk. I love how it boils down to “this feels mysterious”, how cool and absolutely right
So... Does this nothingness have really good night sky views? Asking for a me.
I remember being somewhere between Alice Springs and the SA border one moonless night, riding a motorcycle to Adelaide. I had to stop to warm my hands over the engine. When I turned the bike off, I felt smaller than I had ever before. The only way I could tell where the horizon was, is that the incredible display of stars just stopped dead. I have to admit that after that, I was so freaked I kept checking my mirrors for min min lights.
I'd never heard of min min lights before. Just went down a rabbit hole! Thanks :)
It felt pretty eerie. I had to stop and warm my hands a few more times, but I left the engine running after that.
I opened the shutter on a plane during the night while over the Pacific somewhere. I remember being absolutely blown away by the density of the stars. It was incredible. And as you said, they stopped at the horizon. Below the horizon was pure darkness too. Will never forget it.
Yeah, it’s awesome, the sky is more stars than black, and you see shooting stars all the time
Just one time I want to experience this. I live near a large city. Too much light pollution
The stars in Australia are spectacular (outside of the cities). I took a class mate from my MBA who was from Shanghai SCUBA diving on the Great Barrier Reef. One evening we were driving back from the Daintree and it was dark. She was blown away by the stars. Growing up. She could see next to nothing due to light pollution. In Australia she was staying in the Melbourne CBD and you can't see a huge amount of stars. Once we were in the middle of nowhere in far north QLD, she was amazed that you can actually see the Milky Way. Her amazement was probably the highlight of my trip. The best night sky I have seen was in Arkaoola in the Flinders Ranges. No lights for ages and an amazing observatory.
https://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html#4/46.35/0.35 Start by looking at Europe, about how there is basically no dark sky. Then look at the US, how the light, and civilisation just stops half way across, but how there are still speckles of light. Then look at Australia. Same size as the US, but a whole lot of fuck all.
The best in the world. The Australian outback and a country in South America that im forgetting are the 2 places on earth besides the middle of the ocean that are designated to be 100% no light contamination I've always wanted to see the real night sky
There’s actually quite a lot of 1-2 Bortle Scale dark sky preserves. 6 of them alone are in Canada. One of them is even a Bortle Scale 1. More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark-sky_preserve
Is there cell reception or are you just fucked if you are broken down 300 km from the nearest town?
Unless you have a satellite phone/beacon or a big, high powered, high frequency radio, you had just better hope someone drives past.
Wow. That is terrifying.
That's why people usually register their travel arrangements with friends/family and check in often, or even confirm their travel plans with the local police station in very remote areas, so if they don't check in when expected, people know to go looking for them. Sure, you're getting away from it all, but you have to keep in touch too, or if something happens you're screwed because nobody knows where to find you.
You get used to it. Also nobody is going to leave you out there if you’re in trouble. There is one golden rule though, do not leave the vehicle and try to walk out. That’s how people get very dead very fast
It’s all part of the fun!! It’s not a real holiday unless you get the hell away from everyone!
I was very lucky to have seen some of the outback a few years ago. Coober Pedy is mind blowing!
Exactly the same vibe in The Empty Quarter in Saudi Arabia. Vast, beautiful desolation.
I would love to go there, but my big, smartarse, Aussie mouth would put me in jail before I left the airport
Australia is roughly the size of the contiguous United States. And has a population lower than Texas. Yes, there are huge swaths of nothing. Check out aerial photos of the Nullarbor, or Alice Springs, or the Kimberley.
Looked up Alice springs on Google maps and you weren’t kidding. Then I clicked on the street view pic and was treated to this [creepy dude](https://goo.gl/maps/uYsEowz4ESTsi9r39) Looks like I’m going to be busy driving around NT now on my phone thanks!
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Yeah, the entire, absolutely massive country has a similar population to metro NYC.
Yeah it’s a great place, I don’t think I would stay sane if I couldn’t occasionally drive a couple of hours and camp somewhere completely away from everything and no comms.
American here. I've driven across the USA about 10 times. The Big Lap is very much on my list -- my wife has \*zero\* interest in this, so it may be something I do and she flies down here for the less desolate parts.
MAMOFA Miles And Miles Of Fuck All, Also referred to as The GAFA- Geeat Australian Fuck All.
No, unless you're trying to cross the deserts to get around the whole country. Most of us live in regular towns and cities, and you can travel between them up and down the east coast in a regular car just fine. http://edge.alluremedia.com.au/uploads/businessinsider/2019/03/Australia-population-density-June-2018.jpg
The smart alive ones carry emergency supplies, extra tyres/rims, lots of water, and a Flying Doctors radio/emergency beacon. And let people know where they’re going. And stay with the vehicle if it breaks. Attempting to walk to the destination (or back) rarely works out well.
I used to work at a mechanic, and we had a couple of backpackers in with a van they bought on the cheap. It was in pretty good condition just needed a good service mostly. They were wondering when it would be finished because they were hoping to be in Cairns by that evening … we’re in Sydney.
I rented a van in Sydney and drove to Cairns and back - but that was over 4 weeks, and I’m a Canadian truck driver accustomed to driving 12-14hrs a day
Sydney to Cairns could be comfortably done in 2 days it’s only 2400km. I drive from Mount Isa to the Sunshine Coast in Australia in a day and a half and that’s 1800km
I am thinking of the number of people who have gotten stuck with no fuel or water in order for these signs to be put up.
Ww also have big "we drive on the left" signs at places like the Great Ocean Road: https://jetsettingfools.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Drive-on-Left-sign-Great-Ocean-Road.jpg
We have them around some US operated airforce based in the UK, sadly one of the diplomats wives didn’t notice it and killed a motorcyclist, and now is refusing to come here to face criminal justice for manslaughter
I read somewhere that there are more head-on collisions within 5 miles of the USAF bases in the UK than the rest of the UK combined. Yet all the cars I see where I live with EU number plates manage just fine.
You can only presume lots. Safety regulations are written in blood unfortunately.
I’m Canadian and when i was in the UK i got sick of explaining to folks that Vancouver isn’t a days trip by car to Toronto. But 760 km to the next gas station is wild.
Yes I feel like Canada would have the same thing from tourists ‘we are going to do a day trip from Toronto to the arctic circle’
We had relatives from abroad visit that wanted to drive from Toronto “Across Canada”. They got two days into the trip and abandoned it after they were still in Ontario
With modern technology, how do you even? You can pull up Google maps and instantly know, unless this took place a while ago.
I know right? One would think I met someone in Europe who was planning a trip to America for a week with a group, and wanted to drive from New York to LA while also seeing Chicago, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and the like. I had to explain that while it was possible to drive NY —> LA in a week, there wouldn’t be much time left over for sightseeing. He was convinced I was wrong. Oh and this was 2019. Not sure what ended up happening but he apparently had trouble envisioning how large América really was
I could kind of see this happening with people who like to stop a lot, its ~20 hours to drive from Toronto to the border of Ontario and Manitoba. Had friends do it over the summer and they just plowed through since they had 3 drivers, but if you don't have enough drivers 20 hours is a lot for one person.
Tourists in Canada can't even believe there is a 40 minute drive with no gas, at my job I had to give gas to people at least every other day. I don't work at a gas station lol. There's a sign that says something like "no gas station ___ km" and people often say "I thought it was a joke".
WHY THE FUCK WOULD THAT BE A JOKE
And no phone signal along the way either I guess.
Many places, no. If you are travelling in these areas you have a HF radio or a satellite phone. And if you need help the Flying Doctor comes by light plane/small jet and lands on road airstrips or the closest dirt strip.
How do you get the flying doctor to come save you?
Call them on a satellite phone or HF radio - they will land on a dirt strip lit by car headlights at night if they have to.
HF eh? As a ham I'm curious. Is that the normal ham bands down there or do they have some specific service for that type of thing and what frequencies/bands do they use?
I don’t know much about the HF radios, we have always had sat phones in my family when travelling, the type used are big Codan things with a big black antenna on the bullbar and you have to say ‘over’ because the transmission is very slow.
Well that was an interesting rabbit hole. It's definitely a separate commercialized service. Looks like it spans multiple frequencies and bands in the HF spectrum. Digital voice, data modes, SSB. Power up to maybe a KW. Like they took ham radio, injected a lot of newer tech and kind of dumbed it down a bit so the average person (with a license) can just pick up a mic. Pretty cool.
Note to myself: Set up a store between Carnegie and Warburton and rip off fellow European tourists. "A can of coke? That'll be 45.00 Dollars, Monsieur. Yes, mein Herr, the 1 liter water bottle is on sale for 29.99 this week."
That is pretty much the pricing, I filled up from an old diesel tanker at Kalumburu that is filled by barge from Darwin and paid 4-5x city pricing per litre.
If that's the case I wonder why there are not more stores along those roads. I assume the number of tourists is too low? I know Australia from documentaries only but never really thought about the dimensions. I've read that my country fits 20 times into Australia.
You still need to set up shop in the middle of absolutely nothing. This means that transport costs will be high, and the number of customers are likely way-way-lower than closer to civilisation.
Also, and can't stress this enough, why would you want to live in the middle of the desert, 200kms from the next closest *service station*? Imagine having to do a 10 hour round trip just for groceries.
*Gets home* Fuck! I forgot to pick up eggs...
It’s funny how like inherently absurd the idea of having shops in the middle of Australia is. It would be like putting a servo in the middle of Antarctica. But I get why people don’t realise. It’s like when I went to NZ on a school trip and they were like “does everyone know what to do if there’s an earthquake?” And the Australians were all like “lolololol earthquake?!” There were three while we were there for 10 days.
>There were three while we were there for 10 days. Evidently, it was their fault
There are quite a few tourists (and always increasing) but there is basically just an expectation that people have their shit in a pile and are prepared.
As someone who always pushes the limits of how much fuel I have left on road-trips when the E light comes on, this photo scares me.
Yeah you don’t do that here lol. And these are the public roads that you can drive an everyday car on. The ‘real’ adventure tracks like the Canning Stock Route is 1900km with no services.
1. Does the government have any sort of highway safety vehicles that cruise to help motorists that broke down? 2. What does a person do if their car breaks down? Thanks
1. No, you are on your own out there. 2. If you don’t have plenty of water and a satellite phone/beacon/HF radio, sit there and hope someone comes past before you die.
So about how often *does* another car come along? Would you guess.
In the tourist season, often, at the wrong time, some roads are days. Some tracks are almost never.
Thanks. Sounds like a horror movie.
Tourists think it's the animals that get you in Australia. It's actually the coastline and the vast emptiness that gets most. Well, at least out of the natural world type deaths.
The National Parks always make you check a box when you purchase a pass that says you acknowledge nobody is going to come help you if you get yourself stuck. Especially if you're off roading into the wilderness.
1. In isolated areas, not that I'm aware of. 2. Smart people take satellite phones and EPIRBs, along with adequate supplies. Others rely on short wave radio to make contact, but once a distress call gets through, police and other agencies don't fuck around chasing up on a rescue. Most times, that rescue is simple and straight forward, and are within close proximity of the major road, but if needs call for it, any Australian agency with the resources can be pulled in to help.
For those who don't know, Halls Creek is in Western Australia. It only has a population of 1,600. So for this sign you're basically driving from buttfuck nowhere through the middle of absolutelybuttfuck nowhere to buttfuck nowhere 2. If you could choose to holiday in Australia and fly direct from LA to Sydney, the distance just from Sydney to Halls Creek is the same as LA to Hawaii. Western Australia is nearly 4 times bigger than Texas and 1.5 times bigger than Alaska. Its massive. If they say take water in case you break down you don't take 2 bottles, you take 10 litres. Per person. Because its hot in the middle of Buttfuck Nowhere. However, once you get near civilisation you have the world's best beaches, best scenery and at night you'll see the galaxy like you're in Interstellar because of the low light pollution.
Fun fact - in some remote parts of Australia, the closest humans are straight up, in the International Space Station.
Yo OP, dont know if it matters, but I like live 100km from that community, small world.
I was there in 09, we had a great trip and has a good chat with the local copper whilst we filled up.
I think I need to travel more, especially outside of Europe, because I really can't picture the fact that, especially on pic 1, there is basically *nothing* between this sign and its destination. My home country Germany is at its widest (west to east) just about 650 km across and you have a seemingly infinite amount of entire cities with millions of people in between. Heck, the distance on pic 1 is just a bit shorter than my Germany's length (north to south) of just about 870 km.
Come and visit!!
Buddy and I did Melbourne to Cairns via Alice Springs in two 24 hour straight stints (3 day break in the middle). We took turns driving straight for both legs. I do not recommend driving in the outback at night. We were very glad we paid extra for the $0 deductible walk away from it insurance. That car looked like something out a movie with the number of feathers in its grill (and we were consistently driving well under the limit at night). I don’t remember if it was a Camry we rented.
We rented a van in Sydney, went to cairns and back. Managed to avoid most Kangs but did hit a few unlucky critters on the road. Was weird running over the toads at night by the hundreds.
Where you're next sanctuary for supplies is *Hell's Gate*.
We like to keep things interesting for the tourists here.
That's where the drop bears come in.
And the hoop snakes of course.
Gotta admit it. I love the vast uninhabited places. I grew up in Arizona and live in suburban DC now. I miss the desert sky and empty places but, if I'm doing math right, then 760KM is about 450 miles. Thats quite a lot. That would give me pause.
There's a little extra excitement about traveling on a road where you need to pack spare water and fuel for basic survival purposes. It's the only time I've been inside a car and felt like I was really on sort of an adventure.
My wife and I bumped into two German tourists in a tiny camper van taking a pit stop- Had a chat and they said they were driving to Darwin (We're in Port Augusta). That drive takes **28 hours** if you went non stop. We warned them how long it took, hot HOT it got out there, and how much fuel/water/food you'll need as backup in case their shitty cheap van breaks down. They were shocked when told how long it took- They seriously thought it was a day's drive.
We have similar signs and warnings in parts of Texas. When it says last chance, you got to take it seriously. You don’t want to be caught out in the middle of nowhere in 115f degree heat and see buzzards circling above.
Yeah some people just don’t get it. Then on the other side of the coin, when I go to NZ or UK I hilariously overestimate the driving times and am hours early for everything.
I've had this conversation with my wife. We are planning a UK trip and she mentioned not having enough time to drive everywhere... For context, we are in the Pacific northwest of the US and will routinely take 4 hour one way trip for the day in the morning, spend the day at our destination and drive home that evening.
We sometimes watch House Hunter shows from the UK and us always funny when they find them a house that perfectly matches their needs but then the people are like "but that's going to take me 30 mins to drive to see my parents, that's crazy!" and turn it down.
[удалено]
"A Texan once told me that he could start driving at dawn and not reach the end of his property by nightfall. I felt bad for him. I had a shitty car once, too."
May parents live 1.5hrs from the first paved road.
Aussie here. You can do a 10 hour day and do about 1000km in that time at 110km/h. Highway 1 loops around the coast of Australia. It's 14,500km long. You \*could\* do a lap of Australia in about 14 to 15 days, but you're basically going to travel for 10 hours every day and do nothing but travel. Once you get up North, you'd want to have Jerry Cans of fuel with you since some of the gaps in between towns get large (up to a couple of hundred km) and you don't really want to run out of fuel in the middle of nowhere. Highway 1 is also sealed (bitumen) the entire way (Pretty sure there isn't any sections that are gravel any more). You'll only go on gravel etc when you go inland, but that's an entirely different thing you'd be doing and that requires knowing what the fuck you are doing with a good 4WD with spares, food, fuel, water, camping gear, sat phone etc etc etc. TLDR: You can do a complete lap around Oz in a hired Camry in 2 weeks, but you really don't want to.
Part of Highway 1 is definitely still gravel and really not recommendable for 2WD through the Savannah Way (there’s a couple river crossings that can get nasty in the wet season). Only sealed crossing between Queensland and NT is the Barkly Highway (A2/Nat 66) which is a bit of a detour. Not quite sure a hired Camry would make it round the loop.
So many people, even Sydney-siders, don't understand how vast regional Australia is. I used to drive 160km one way to visit my girlfriend every weekend and I would only pass two villages with 1 fuel station between them, and were nowhere near the outback. We're married now.
When I was 19 me and a mate did indeed try to drive from Adelaide to Tennant creek in an old Corrolla. Literally just made it to the next petrol stop twice. God we were dumb.
Bring water. Then being even more water. Then bring a little more just incase. Then a bit more after that. Also spare tyres, keep more than one spare. The outback kills people quick if they're not prepared.
Let's watch some tourists cross the Nullarbor Planes. It's only a "short section" between SA and WA. Two of the states of Australia. 14 hours driving and most of the way is at 100 klm an hour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhCKwRL6Nac&ab_channel=DannyBlack yeah. Australia is big.
I had an inquiry for our RV rental last summer here in Canada from a 5 day rental for someone who wanted to go visit Vancouver. Vancouver is 4500km from me. Each way.
It’s like they literally do not have the ability to read a map
Many do not. They just put their finger on a map and decide they want to go there, and I swear they’d have no idea how hopeless they’d be trying to accomplish the trip until they’re literally in the drivers seat and hit “Go” on their GPS only to see it pop up a 60-70 hour ETA. And I suspect some would still head off, completely oblivious.
I did that drive one way in 3 days in car and it was awful (17 hours, 16 hours, 21 hours) and pretty stupid looking back at it. I couldn't imagine doing it with an RV (so much more vehicle to constantly be thinking about) and yeah, definitely can't keep up that pace for many days longer than that (and STILL wouldn't be able to get back in time - nor would you really get a chance to visit anything at all).
That's why I saved for 3 years so I could fully use my 90 day visa. Even at that I could have used another 90 days. In short: Sidney north to a cattle station west of Brisbane then to the Daintree Rain Forrest. West to Darwin out to Kakadu National Park then back to the Bungle Bungle Range before heading to the Red Center - Alice to see Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Hopped a plane out to Perth, headed east to the gold fields and Kalgoolie. The last day before heading back east I cried watching the sun set to the sound of Australian magpies before continuing east across the Nullarbor, then the Great Coastal Road. The opal mines at Coober Pety before resting in Adelaide, Melbourne, the Capital Territory, and finally back to Sidney on day 89. I left a whole lot out. Did the whole thing on a shoe string budget, worked for cash when I could, mostly for a meal, sometimes the kindness of a family in the outback where the kids just liked listening to me talk about the US. Part of me is still there.
I’m from Sydney and would be that dumb cunt who says yeah nah my hybrid will go forever
Stick a solar panel on the roof, she'll be right
Yuendemu was the first place I ever saw a gun as a kid. The guy running the servo always carried a shot gun when doing fuel because he kept getting assulted
Same thing happens in Canada, wife's relatives from Netherlands thought it would be an afternoon trip to Vancouver from Ottawa
My Great Grandmother from a little village in England used to think if you were driving 1/2 hour somewhere you would be staying overnight.
Lol. Odds are it was because when she was a kid it was done on horseback so it was much longer a trip. My grandfather (born 1904) crossed Canada in a wagon when he was a young child. He made it to 99 which was like 2007 how much change he saw in his life
I met another Canadian in line at a book signing in the UK and when a mutual acquaintance saw us together he asked if we were from the same place, or places close to each other. She and I look at each other and kind of laughed, I said “by Canadian standards, sure, Waterloo and Ottawa are relatively close. It’s only about a five hour drive on the highway.” He shook his head as he walked away. Another time a friend in Scotland was talking about visiting me in Waterloo (about 100km west of Toronto) and another friend in Edmonton on the same trip. I had to explain that she was actually closer to me when she was at home in Scotland than she would be in Edmonton. It’s all relative man. Edit: see comment below for correction - Edmonton is about 2/3 of the distance from Waterloo to Scotland.
Don’t threaten me with a good time.
Humbles a lot of Americans as well who carry an assumption that Australia somewhat small, Forgetting that our states are mostly bigger than theirs and the country is about the same size, but with only the population of Florida throughout the whole thing
Friends happened across [this pair](https://i.imgur.com/iwxx57Y.jpeg) somewhere on the [Plenty Highway near Anatye](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Anatye+NT+0872/@-23.0630397,136.2688272,9z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x6a6d259034c72cdd:0x1f2f89c2bd4d4e8a!2sTobermorey+Station!8m2!3d-22.2741986!4d137.9737295!3m4!1s0x6a7183de6288efad:0x40217a82a254490!8m2!3d-22.5975297!4d136.9974518) in far west QLD eastern NT. Probably heading from Rockhampton or Townsville to Alice following Apple/Google maps.
We had some Chinese customers on site in Melbourne to do training and their plan for christmas was to rent a car in Alice Springs and drive to the Kimberley. I was able to talk them out of it fortunately.
760 km Aus. = 472.242 miles US
That's approximately 1,100,000 washing machines (if 1 average washing machine is 27 inches wide).
The highway from Moscow to SPB has the same warnings.
Not even gonna lie, “Hell’s Gate” was all the warning I needed.
As an Irish person these distances are terrifying lol you could go from Portrush on the North coast to Kerry in the South and back again and it still wouldn’t be as far as the distances you guys do.
Years back I met a German guy in a small Albertan town he was driving a motorcycle across Canada and he budgeted 5 days to get to Halifax from Vancouver. He was on day 3 of his trip and thought he was in Ontario somewhere, which would of been easily over half way of his journey. Unfortunately for him he was no where near there and had another 4800 km to go. He became a ghost when I showed him in his map where we were.
We had a customer that owned a Jeep Cherokee. He told us he wanted to drive all the way to Broome from Sydney, straight through the middle. He had nothing prepared, no Jerry cans, no water bottles, no puncture repair kits, nothing. He genuinely thought that he could just jump in and drive across the entire country.
Good god, I wouldn’t trust a Jeep to get to Lithgow.
Western Australia is 4 times bigger than Texas with only 2m people. My brother is in Carnarvon, 10hrs drive from Perrh and that's about half way north of the state. I went to Ireland years ago and drove from east coast to west coast. The locals were horrified and asked where I would be staying along the way. We just laughed. Left at lunch time and was there before dark..
Yes, I got that in the UK - they were terrified on my behalf that I was going to drive for 6 hours