The Great Australian Road Trip
THE SUNDAY AGE
Sunday March 19, 1995
Melanie Ball quit her job to take the trip of a lifetime.
WE LEFT Melbourne on Boxing Day. We returned 11 months and 49,000 kilometres later, adept at star-gazing and marshmallow toasting, proficient at changing tyres and eating dust. For we had travelled outback highways that keep the ``adventure" in Australian travel.
Our Subaru wagon was outnumbered by large four-wheel-drives and we soon realised the benefits of their clearance. Subarus have survived infamous Australian roads, but ours floundered in deep sand and mud and we eventually exchanged it well, what remained after a run-in with a road train for an adolescent Nissan Patrol.
Here's how we did it.
1. Getting started. For any trip, Bookshops are full of ``must see" images of Australia, but there are several lifetimes of travel in this country. A few hours in a big library will help you narrow down the list and select which (if any) books to buy.
BP's `Explore Australia' contains brief histories and highlights of more than 750 Australian towns.
Lonely Planet's `Travel Survival Kit for Australia' is a comprehensive guide to attractions, food and accommodation.
The RACV's `Accommodation Australia' and `Attractions Australia' contain comprehensive listings on a state-by-state basis.
Tourist bureaus are ever-eager to ply you with pamphlets, but some culling is needed to protect your vehicle's suspension.
Sheet notes on the geology, flora and fauna of national and state parks and their walking tracks and camping facilities, are available from National Parks offices.
2. On the road. RACV members enjoy reciprocal rights with other state and territory automobile associations, including roadside help and free and discounted maps, books and equipment. Automobile associations also provide road-condition reports (essential during wet weather) and information about the availability of petrol and water in remote areas. Outback police can often provide this information too.
For safety reasons it is advisable to carry extra fuel only when absolutely necessary, but you should carry some water at all times, just in case.
3. Taking cover. A tent that one person can pitch easily and quickly is the best for an extended camping holiday. On those days when you drive too far, the heavens open and your partner's broken arm renders him less than helpful, you don't want to be untangling 47 interconnecting poles.
But there are tents and tents: dome or A-line, nylon or canvas?
Size, price and ease of pitching vary dramatically. Staff in specialist camping shops are happy to advise.
4. Now for bed. A recent innovation in portable bedding is the self- inflating mat, which comes in two lengths and thicknesses. These are waterproof, inflate and deflate quickly, fit easily in a car and are ideal for hiking. Ultralite Thermarest weighs 800 grams and costs about $110. Double the weight and the thickness, Camp Rest costs about $140.
Neither was thick enough for me, however. I reluctantly accepted that the inner-spring wouldn't fit the car, so I dusted off the air- bed. We preferred a high-volume, cylindrical hand pump to the noisy, slow, car-powered compressors we had previously encountered, but 105 hand pumps multiplied by 110 camps in a year is 11,550 pumps.
My biceps resembled Schwarzenneger's by the time fellow travellers introduced me to the Coleman Air Pump. This tiny, bright yellow gadget plugs into the car cigarette lighter and inflates a double air-bed in about 70 seconds, and costs a biceps-friendly $30.
5. Sleeping out. Comfortable, warm and easy to unroll and store, swags do away with tents all together. Several companies now make double swags; a single with fly costs about $250. Some Northern Territory camping areas have an added extra: the picnic tables are large and low enough to accommodate two people in warmer and less wildlife-prone comfort than the ground.
Even if you don't plan to sleep out, a mosquito net is a must for Australian travel.
6. Ablutions. Bush toilets can make or break new campers. A folding toilet-seat chair, under which a plastic bag can be hung, is a simple solution, and especially convenient in a tent on a rainy night.
7. Parking spots. Camp sites in Australia range from sites with every mod-con to thousands of square kilometres of desert.
Our most expensive site was at Yulara Resort, the only camping area for kilometres around Uluru, where the overnight fee reflects the monopoly.
8. Illuminating advice. Stars are wonderful to gaze at, count and sup wine beneath, but they are rarely bright enough to cook by.
Fluorescent strips, which draw just one amp per hour through the cigarette lighter (a small car battery has about 35 amps), are available; rechargeable lanterns provide about seven hours of light for each two hours plugged into a car cigarette lighter.
Gas or fuel lamps have a softer, adjustable light but are more fiddly and the mantles are fragile. We replaced mantles every few days until an old-timer told us to reinforce them with hair spray before travelling a simple trick that works.
9. Al fresco dining. Having introduced the subject of food, I'll venture into my partner's area of expertise camp cooking. A frustrated pyromaniac, he loves to cook on open fires (you cannot get wood smoke flavoring in packets), and he rarely lit our portable gas stove.
Camp ovens are essential for fire cooking but these versatile cast iron pots need to be looked after. To prevent rust, scrub the oven clean without soap and dry it immediately by hand or turn it over the fire. The wood smoke seals the surface and can be wiped out before the next meal.
Camp ovens can be used for roasting, frying, stewing, popping corn and baking. Damper yielded to Irish soda bread in our kitchen but the baking method was the same. Next to the fire, dig a hole slightly larger than the oven and line the bottom with glowing coals. Place the oven (with bread inside) on the coals and place a layer of coals on the lid. Fresh bread for breakfast.
To live out of a car you need an organised kitchen. We stored tins, soft packaged foods, and pots and pans in three plastic stacking boxes.
Cutlery can migrate through a vehicle and rattle so much it sounds as if the chassis bolts are loosening. In a disposals store we found a sturdy canvas tool roll that had a pocket at one end (knives and forks) and leather loops along the roll (sharp knives, tongs, scissors etc.).
Wine-cask bladders are useful. Removed from their boxes they fit more easily into portable fridges and ice boxes, and when emptied make excellent water bags for the car or hiking. When they puncture, you just buy more wine.
10. Good housekeeping. One farewell tip. When packing a car for long- term travel have a place for everything and return everything to its place. Pack least-needed items on the bottom and essentials near the top so they can be retrieved without rearranging everything. And make sure your torch is at you fingertips.
The best of the bush.
1. Lamington National Park (Qld-NSW border). Walk through mountain rainforest.
2. Mon Repos Environmental Park (Qld). Watch giant turtles lay eggs and shepherd hatchlings.
3. Carnarvon Gorge National Park (Qld). Gorges, fern gullies and Aboriginal art galleries.
4. Cape Hillsborough National park (Qld). Join wallabies on the beach to watch the sun rise.
5. Undara Lava Tubes (Qld). Walk underground through mysterious tunnels.
6. Kings Canyon (NT). Wander around the rim of a sheer ochre-hued gorge.
7. Yellow Water Dawn Cruise, Kakadu (NT). Crocodiles, brumbies, and hundreds of birds.
8. Mitchell Plateau, Kimberley (WA). Swim among waterlilies at the top of a four-tiered waterfall.
9. Karijini National Park (WA). Marvel at the red gorge country of the Hamersley Range (WA) 10. Kalbarri National Park (WA). Enjoy sculpted coast, deep river gorges, and wildflowers.
11. Valley of the Giants (WA). Karri trees.
12. Stirling ranges National Park (WA). Climb mountains and picnic among spring wildflowers.
The 10 most indispensable items.
1. Reliable torch.
2. Tent that one person can pitch (and extra pegs).
3. Coleman Air Pump (if taking airbed).
4. Books on Australian birds and flora.
5. Car fridge (it is cheaper than buying ice).
6. Camp oven.
7. Wide-based car jack (for mud and sand).
8. Mosquito net.
9. Insect repellant.
10. Shovel.
© 1995 THE SUNDAY AGE