Round trip of Aust in the Commo

[Shounak]

My parents wanna have a family trip around Australia, from Melbourne, to Adelaide, NT (Ayres Rock, etc), Cairns, (possibly) Brissie, Canberra and back down to Melbourne..

Do any of the NT members have any advice about NT? We're might be going about November, what's the best time to go there and is there anything memorable we should see?

Also wondering about my car. We're going to take my beast, but I'm wondering how appropriate it is to take. It's pretty low, but should I prepare the car for the trip in anyway? I was thinking a good coolant flush and carry a few spares. But any other advice about that?

Anyone else done a huge road trip like this?

Cheers

edit: I'm thinking of a car bra and cruise control definitely.. Don't wanna spoil my pretty paintwork... I've seen what highway driving can do to a front bar..

[stylin_vr2]

hey ive done melb 2 ayers rok.. n melb 2 cairns MILLIONS of times.. little tip.. if u love ur paintwork dont do it!! even car bras dont fix damage that can happen.. n carry more than spares! every annoyin little thing will go wrong on a long trip out bush!! lol.. otha than that thou their fun as hell with rite company!!!

[Boonz]

ive done adelaide to darwin in september 2 years ago with my olds, i would recommend around the start of spring cos you miss the heavy rain season in the NT and its not too hot thru queensland....i also advise you NOT to stop in tennant creek for more than 5 minutes it gets scary lol...get fuel and get out of there!

[Tasmaniak]

always carry PLENTY of water. two for you and two for the car.

Keepa check on your tyres. Remember to have your best tread on the rear and if you think any tyre is a bit low, then get it replaced and it's axle brother.

Also, get an oil change before you leave. Doesn't matter if you need it or not. Don't use a synthetic. Just something like Mobil 5000 or one of those middle of the road brands. When you get back I can guarantee that you will need another one.

Condition of the serpentine belt ok?

Basically,look at everything as if you were buying your car again. What would you want done to it to make it reliable?

Hope that has been some help to you.

[vy_storm]

Another good one is to make sure your roadside assistance is up to date. Also would be wise to upgrade it to the cover that gets you accomodation ad extended towing should they not be able to get you going again.

[jules]

roadside is a good idea - the membership works in all states too.

[craigvk]

Forget about the BRA. Buy a GPS instead. They not only tell you things but they are fun to play with too.

You'll likely be driving on main roads, so it should be alright. Unless you are driving at night, forget about the bra. There is also more trucks to follow from Adelaide to Perth than where you are going. Bugs are easy to get off. I found a cloth in the car section at Safeway/Woolworths that is like a sponge and gets all the bugs off easily without scratching. I swear it works! It's in the auto area where the sponges and car soap is.

The trip from NT to Cairns is getting a bit far out. Don't stress it's not bad. Some of the trip you'll not find a petrol station within a short distance. Having your car dual fuel won't be a problem. Run the petrol down say 20% and the gas down 80% and everything should be cool. You'll save some cash having dual fuell. As you'd know highway driving costs less so that's good also. Remember it will still cost tons of fuel doing that trip. I'd guess it would be around 7000-8000 K's of driving by the sound of it. Cairns is about 3200 I think from Melbourne, add that again and you get the idea.

Like others said, carry water and carry some food. Camping is better and a lot cheaper trust me. If you stayed in Motels the whole trip, the bill will rack up $60 a night. Stay in van parks and it's $10 a night.

To be honest, you don't need to worry about much. If your car is a good runner, you can go anywhere. I knew an '82 Corona that went to Cairns twice and Perth once without a problem. Don't worry.

[Pub247]

NT don't drive at night or early morning late evening. I hit 3 kangaroos and they do mean damage. I know someone who hit a cow and wrote off his mum's car. I worked at ayer's rock resort for a while and its pretty shit just go to see uluru and kata-jtuta and thats about it. Kings canyon is also good but its a bit out of the way. And i hope you like flies cause there's shitloads of them. I gets hot out there but the roads are probably the best in australia. A lot of people have blowouts when they're doing like 160 on the open highways so be careful not to go to fast. Boona right about tennent creek its scarey we stopped for petty and couldn't wait to leave full of smelly Aborignals if you go to alice springs go to the shopping centre and you'll smell them its makes you wanna throw up. I did it in a 87 929 mazda drove sunshine coast in qld to ayers rock then to melb then back to qld 8500k's and not one prob with the car besides two broken headlights, pushed in front bar, one indicator and a totally rooted front quater panel where the stupid kangaroo decied to jump into the side of my car at a 140 kph

[VY03]

Shounak might be a good idea to use stockies for tyres as they are better if you go off road on the gravel and not ruin the nice low profiles ones you got

You said its low so don't overload it to the hilt as the extra weight will cause problems or you can put in rear air pump up shocks to help

[Shounak]

Cheers.. Some good advice there..

I'm thinking of investing in a roo bar or similar. I'll see what I can find on eBay.. I might even just whack a different front bar on the car (probably an unpainted one, and just give it a quick black spray) and then change it when I get back..

About the oil change, yeah I'll do that and probably change the belt while I'm at it.

Anyone know of the availability of LPG there? I'm hoping a lot of the servo's in woop woop have gas..

[craigvk]

Forget about the roo bar. If a roo hit you, your car is going to be smashed with or without it.

You shouldn't have a problem with gas as long as the town you stop at isn't a 1000 miles from anywhere. I'd say most half decent size towns should have gas.

[craigvk]

I doubt you would see a roo anyway.

[Stretchomatic]

yeah man just about the roos, it doesnt matter what speed you hit them at...they will do damage, i know a guy with a vs lexcen hit a roo at 140 just scratched the side a little, same guy another one at about 80 or so, damn thing went under the car and busted the front bar and buggered the exhaust...then my other mate in his old hilux with a full bull bar hit a roo doing about 70 the other night, the bullbar is now on a more downward angle, the headlight on the side that got hit was busted and the front quarter panel got a nice dent in it...so yeah..good luck...chances are you wont hit any, but a good set of driving lights would be a great help, just adjust them to the sides so u can see any roos hiding in paddocks...

[Pub247]

during the day you won't see any at night there all over the road cause of the heat it retains, worst thing is they're attracted to light and they jump one way you swerve then they change direction and you don't have time to react again. a horn is pretty good at scaring them away. Slim have you been out there ? there everywhere and camels gotta watch out for them too. We drove fom alice springs to the rock (450k's) at night and saw probably a few hundred along the side of the road. when i was there over a year ago petrol was $1.27 a litre so it'll prolly be around $1.50 mark gas is pretty common though not every servo has it.

[Reaper]

My parents wanna have a family trip around Australia, from Melbourne, to Adelaide, NT (Ayres Rock, etc), Cairns, (possibly) Brissie, Canberra and back down to Melbourne..

Do any of the NT members have any advice about NT? We're might be going about November, what's the best time to go there and is there anything memorable we should see?

Also wondering about my car. We're going to take my beast, but I'm wondering how appropriate it is to take. It's pretty low, but should I prepare the car for the trip in anyway? I was thinking a good coolant flush and carry a few spares. But any other advice about that?

Anyone else done a huge road trip like this?

Cheers

edit: I'm thinking of a car bra and cruise control definitely.. Don't wanna spoil my pretty paintwork... I've seen what highway driving can do to a front bar..

I have driven from Perth to North Qld via Melb (around the coast) and your Commodore will do it fine. The roads between Adelaide and Perth are excellent as are most in the southern half of WA. Unless you hit road works, the roads all over the east coast are easy too.

My only advise is to try and avoid driving the Nullabour at night. The Kangaroos are like flies and the fuel stops are few and far between. The attached photo was taken at the Great Aussie Bite last christmas (very spectacular but i'm not sure I'd drive 18hrs just to see it again!)

Car bra? Depends on how anal you are about the front of your car. I'd recommend plastic headlight protectors but wouldn't bother with much out (maybe a grandpa bonnet protecter to safe the front edge of the bonnet)

My SS has now done over 100,000 km, largely country driving and only has a very few chips on the front bar - wouldn't bother with the car-bra.

Reaper

[minux]

have fun getting the bulldust out of every inconceivable little nook and crany...i had a my taillights half fill up with the shit lol

[nomad]

same guy another one at about 80 or so, damn thing went under the car and busted the front bar and buggered the exhaust...

I can attest to that. I hit a roo the other month at 80kph on one of my local roads. The body damage isn't that bad as can be seen in the attached pics. Only broke the bar & pushed it back & up. You can see this under the headlight. What you can't see here is the destroyed air con condenser & radiator. Luckily I managed to get it home (50kms) with the help of a bottle of Bars Leaks but it was still leaking almost like a seive.

[Ripcell]

edit: I'm thinking of a car bra and cruise control definitely.. Don't wanna spoil my pretty paintwork... I've seen what highway driving can do to a front bar..

watch out for magpies too, they make a mess of ur paint and number plate at 110ks as i found out, basically wrote the number plate off rofl

[holdensupporter2005]

The way the sun is shining on that headlight, makes it look like a BA Ford Headlight!!!

[Sabbath']

What about that spray on paint protectant skin 4WDers use to protect the paint? Anybody used this?

[Sabbath']

My only advise is to try and avoid driving the Nullabour at night.
Reaper

Whats the go with the amount of wind on the Nullabor heading from melbourne to WA? I heard somebody talking saying that because of the way the wind goes you're forcing your way against the wind so you chew up more fuel and if you're towing a caravan then it adds extra drag to the mix?

[vt1538]

I wouldnt put much faith in those little bonnet deflectors. Mine broke on the way from Alice to darwin last week & it done more damage than a little rock would.
A good tip on any long drive up here is to keep an eye on the roadkill. If there is a bit on the road generally the live ones arent far behind. Also the big wedgetail eagles that are feeding on the dead ones take a long time to get airborne when they are full. Having one of these come through the window is worse than denting a bonnet on a roo.
Also check the fuel prices before you leave & plan your fuelstops to the better prices. Some of the Roadhouses are up to 30c a litre different from the nearby towns.