Full circumnavigation of Oz - advice?

May help to get a list of school holidays for the next year. These are times to try to avoid being in "holiday destinations". Some areas will be peak hour regardless eg Broome - Kunnunnurra but don't let any of this put you off.

Beware of Border crossings and fruitfly areas - don't shop just before entering or you may loose some of your shopping.

While strong winds can be a problem in say West Australia or the Nullabor an extra day spent somewhere to let the weather pattern pass will help.

Enjoy the trip and accept the weather as you find it. In spite of a year trip you will still miss some places. Australia is a very large place.

Alan

hi
as you don't appear to be a member I think most of the imfo of use to you would be in the blog section and I think you have to be a paid member to read them ?? there is a huge amount of interesting blogs covering all areas of aus
which way you go is your choice and coming from Tassie is upto you as we don't know if you wont to experience the real aussie extreme hot weather or whether you want to experience the wet period rains/floods up north the fact is summer up north is really hot and and can be really wet
some years they don't get much rain and sometimes its extremely wet during the cyclone season thrown in as well
in the n/west and up and down the east coast cyclones and monsoon rains and floods look what they had in the last coulpe of years
so its a complete can of worms all round
trying to plan around the weather in aus is a curly one
know one can tell you that exactly it's all in the lap of the bloke in the top paddock its a wait and see what happens
every year is different its such a huge place
cheers

cunno1974
Captain Cook did a circumnavigate of a big island in a boat. One of the early boat people I believe.
Your route is a figure 8 on the land, more internal circles than circumnavigation.

I think it is a good way to go because you see some of the internal features instead of just coast all the time, well sort of all the time.
It also allows for covering some of the same areas but by taking a different path so you see more of the centre section.

Ross M

Tricky as two of your northern trips (the two tops of the two hoops of your '8') need to be in winter.
Your Darwin-Broom areas on the first lap and the FNQ in the second lap definitely need to be in the winter or the 'dry' - no other option
CJ

We are a pommie couple who have been right around once with a caravan (about 8 years ago) and several long trips since in a tent.
Here is a link to our blog: smithsdownunder.org.uk

Trevor

There is some reasonable information on Cape York & places to visit in this thread:

http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Topic/103179/HONEYMOON_CAPE_YORK_9th_Sept_-_5th_Oct_2013.aspx?ky=cape+york+honeymoon&sn=&p=%2fForum%2fDefault.aspx%3fs%3d1%26ky%3dcape%2byork%2bhoneymoon%26pn%3d1

Chris

Hi Andrew,

we are very excited to hear that you are planning on doing a figure 8 around Oz as we are also thinking about doing the same but hoping all being well we will be heading off in 6 weeks time.
We are also wondering what the weather conditions will be like particularly at the top end as we were thinking it might be interesting to experience the wet season or( are we mad?) We are wondering if we would be stranded there for months or is there a possibility of us being able to leave.

We have an F250 and will be towing a 23ft off road van.

Good luck on your travels and i hope we get to meet you on the road somewhere.

Sue and Shaun

Andrew

Conventional wisdom suggests that travelling the north during winter is the way to go due to the rain and flooding during the summer monsoons.

And this will be true of many places, depending on where you are travelling.
But having grown up in “the north” you see it at its best during the “wet”.

But the rains is what makes northern Australia what it is, colourful, vibrant and alive.

And I understand travelling can be more difficult, but if you can, allow some time to visit parts of the north that are more readily accessible during the wet, you won’t regret it.

During the dry you will more likely encounter parched earth, smoke from fires, and the countryside just isn’t at its best...but yes, travel will be easier, just depends what you want to see.

Just some food for thought, and enjoy your trip!

We travelled last year to the west, up north then down the centre. We stayed at many stations and free camped in WA. Saves you cash and meet great people. Most stations have websites.