Sydney > Darwin Return in 19 Days. Madness?

If you do the trip then I reckon you'll need a holiday to get over your holiday ;)

Cheers Kev

Have you been to any of those places? Others would take months to do what you propose. Even if you stopped at Alice Springs (is that what you meant by Birdsville?) you could spend a couple of weeks exploring that area alone - east and west Macdonnells, Mereenie Loop etc. Why spend all that fuel going as far as Darwin when you wont really get much value from it, at least not in terms of really seeing what the country has to offer.

Cheers

To be honest, that would be a complete waste of time, effort,fuel and money.

9000 km at the very least 9 days driving.

A minimum of 5 days to do Ayers Rock-Kings Canyon etc properly .

A minimum of 5 days to do Kakadu properly.

Now what else were you going to do???????

Cheers Steve

Frank, I guess I often go for the drive, not the destination and so 9000km in 19 days isn't a lot espically when the journey could be mostly on good roads.

There is certainly many many places you could spend a lot of at on your journey , but we also like the snapshot of a changing enviroment when you put down 1000 + kms a day, espically if it helps one decide on where you might spend more time next time around.

I think it will be a great adventure, and you will create memories that can last a lifetime.

Mate, if that is all the time you have then it's better to see some of the country than not at all.

Very possible and easily achieved but of course you will not be able to spend too much time in one spot.

I was once in a similar predicament - 3 weeks to drive from Adelaide to Adelaide...with Ayres Rock, Alice, Katherine, Broome, Tom Price, Exmouth, Monkey Mia, Perth, Margaret River, Albany, Esperence, Kalgoorlie and Pt Augusta in between. On my own.

Sure it was a long way in a short time but I saw much more of this country than I would have if I had stayed at home. It served its purpose as a recce for future trips and dont regret it one bit.

G'day Frankie

With the leave that you have, have a ball.
Mate before you do anything, get the Paj serviced and make sure that the timing belt is ok, they are a good vehicle.

All the best
Lotzi

Drove from Broome to Sydney in 5 days and was buggered. Saw very liitle of the country, just long days of driving. Getting to Broome was a different story. Drove to Broken Hill, Adelaide and put the car on the Ghan. Had a relaxing trip to Darwin while someone else drove then took 2.5 weeks to get to Broome.
Taking time is a luxury that we dont all have, but I think in the end you will have covered a lot of Klm's that will be a blurr both in sight and mind.

Two things. 1/ Often it is the journey that is enjoyable/memorable not the destination. 2/ Road trip with mates, do it while you all can.

Went from Sydney to Perth and back in 8 days back in 1990. Spent 2 days there. Only went as friends had come from overseas but couldnt make it to Sydney so I went there to see them. It was cheaper at that time to drive then fly but I would never do it again. Saw nothing except tar as I didnt have time to stop anywhere during the days and see anything (except servo's). I have been back since and stoped at some of the places I took note of and did it over 4 weeks. These days though there is so much info available from websites like this one and others that you can plan what you want to see before you leave home. Would save you a big rushed trip and then having to backtrack there again so you can see it properly next time. I love driving myself but would not do the klms you are saying in the time you have allowed but thats me... All the best either way and if you do go I hope you have a safe and enjoyable trip......WHG

If you really push it you can do Sydney - Darwin in 3.5 days (1.5 to Port Augusta, 1 to AS, 1 to Darwin so return trip is 7 days leaves 12 days for site seeing - Time to do Ayers Rock and Kakadu. Go for it.

Pretty much all been said. To me there are few experiences that match a road trip that commences pre-dawn each day and allows you the privilege of watching the dawn break over a new landscape for days on end. These moments are precious and get stored in our knowledge bank for future reference, that's when we return to smell those special roses that are there for us. Plan it well, get your fuel stops mapped ( check open times) and your vehicle A1 and enjoy, enjoy. enjoy...envy you

Road Trip..!!!! ;-)

Just did a trip to Darwin last August in the 96 TD paj.
Based in Brisbane, and did 9500k in 5 weeks.

19 days might be pushing it, even for a paj.

We did Mt Isa in 2 days, then eased off.
Had a week around Kakadu (short time version), a bit of Litchfield, few days in Darwin, and a couple of weeks to get home via Savannah Way.

Did have a trip to central Oz a few years ago, via the plenty.
7800k in 5 weeks.

Why not just central Oz?

Gday,
Why dont you just shorten your trip?
Sydney to Kakadu?
Sydney to Central Australia?
But not both......


You could do what you suggested...but like everyone has said...youll be knackered when you get home, and youll want to do it all again because you wont have time to see half of it.

Good luck
Cheers

Thanks to everyone for your replies! I'm leaning towards still doing a road-trip with quite a few kilometers but may start to turn the Paj around once I hit the middle. Kakadu might have to wait until I'm in between jobs. (I only have 9 more years until long service.;) )

You have all given me a lot to ponder!

Frankie

While the kids were still in school we used to take them away a week either side of the school holidays...so total four weeks.

The first big trip we did was home (Northern Victoria) to Longreach, Mt Isa, Kakadu, Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Coober Pedy, Oodnadatta Track, Wilpena Pound and home. We thought we had a marvellous time. We didn't feel rushed, we saw heaps of great things and enjoyed the lot.

Now, listening to all the advice on the forum, it seems that we didn't have a good time at all. It seems we were too rushed, sat in the car all day, didn't stop to smell the roses and would've arrived home exhausted.

Strange, that's not how I remember it at all and neither do my kids.

Nowadays, its just the two of us travelling and we have a lot more time. We have been back to many places several times, spent time in places that weren't accessible to travellers on our first trips and now we can spend more time just "being there" not travelling through.

I think travelling is something that only you can decide what you can handle. If you've got four weeks and want to do a big trip, then go, do it. You'll see more than if you sat at home and wondered. You'll be there with your kids when they see all these amazing sights and the bonding that you do as a family will be invaluable.

Sure, we'd all like more time to "smell the roses" but if all we've got is four weeks we shouldn't limit ourselves nor be deterred by others. We should decide what we want and have a go.
If we don't like it, then we won't do it again...if we do then it will be the beginning of many great adventures.

Viv

Umm, just interested in the exact route you intend taking to go from Coober Pedy - Birdsville - Kings canyon ? and if it along a road called "the french line" then do you have any idea of the terrain you will be travelling over ?

IMO, if this is going to be a 'holiday' then go to Alice via Coober Pedy, spend a week in the MacDonall Ranges and The Rock with a leisurely trip home.
Then next time you can go straight to Alice and start 'holidaying' from there as you will have seen ALL of it to there.

Cheers
Pezza