I'm contemplating (with family) a return trip from Syd to WA - maybe summer 2012/2013. I'm sure there is some surfer's or windsurfer's travel diary out there if someone has read it or can direct me accordingly? Could anyone offer some advice about their experience either way. Definite surf stops/checks, where to skip, no sense-of-humour Police to avoid etc...

Is the car-train still operating? Has anyone used it?

Might fly the family back from Adelaide or Melbourne to ease the car woes on the return trip.

If we go it won't be hard to beat this summer on the NSW coast. Below average.

regarding putting your vehicle on the train..... i did the trip 2 years ago and looked int putting my van on the train for the return trip but they would not allow you to have anything in the van.... so if your planning on having a vehicle full of windsurfing/camping gear its not an option..

It would be a good opportunity to update the map as you go round...

thewindmap.com/#-35.89503104015986,133.77937499899417,6

Mark _australia said...

Speed the whole way to maximise sailing time. Stop nowhere. It is all about the windsurfing.

And the family will thank you for not stopping in the desert

Yes, just drive.

I did it four days in an old car that could not do 100 km/h so in a modern car it should be doable in about three days but they will be long days.

The biggest disappointment is aiming to get to the WA boarder and once there realising you are in the middle of nowhere with a long way to go.

Expect fuel prices to be over the top.

The truckies are pretty good.

Stop in and say g'day to the Adelaide crew, lots of families and good crew, don't stop in snowtown

Did the road trip a few years ago, but drove by myself Melb to Esperance over two days, then had to wait for wind. Family flew to Perth a week later. Great trip. Hope the family can cope with long days in the car. Coming back by train is a good way to go as you''l be sick of driving by then.
Suggest you don't drive after dark unless you're really good at video games where you have to dodge kamikaze animals.
No problem with gear in the car on the train. No gas bottles though.

Don't go to streaky bay. Noah's are all in that area.
But go to the cafe and though the back and there is a mould of one they caught there. It is bloody massive.

yeah did it in some 60 hours with mates many years ago, including changing on the fly, that sort of stuff.
I used to be crazy and stupid, as you say.
Not crazy anymore.

Pack at least 1 golf club if you can fit it in and do a few holes

www.nullarborlinks.com/

For travelling the Nullabor with kids an in car DVD player makes life so much easier, even if just a portable one.
10 hours driving per day was no big deal with an 8 & 12 year old.
Now they think any road trip less than 3 hours is just too short.
They like to get all cosy in the back and watch movies.

tomp said...

THANKS all for the feedback.

Not sure if it will happen as a few things need to fall into place but if I start to organize an itenery then my wife might concede for a WA express trip for me ("just go bloody windsurfing then, don't meet any girls or have any fun..."!!)

AJ, for your OZ trip what type of vehicle did you use (+ trailer?) and over what time frame? How far into QLD did you go and can a regular car make the anti-clockwise trip in summer season across the top end or from Alice Springs to mid coast WA.

If we did any OZ trip then fuel is not an issue as the car is leased so it would prob be car + box type trailer.

hey TOMP,

2005 Toyota Kluger (only AWD not 4WD) and 1980 model 12ft pop top caravan. Both handled the trip well with the Kluger going everywhere we wanted, including many creek crossings in Kakadu and at El Questro that we really shouldnt have done. Got the boards and sails freighted over to Broome beforehand ready for the sailing as soon as we got to Exmouth.

We left in May 2006 from Port Macquarie. Up in cairnes by mid July. We went across and through to Ravenshoe, Mt Surprise, Kurumba, Lawn Hill Nat Park, back down through Cloncurry and across to the boarder. We had a real wet trip after Kurumba. Back then (prob still the same) the main hwy across West Qld was single lane, so when road trains come you have to get off the road, and the sides of the road being so wet everyone was getting bogged and / or spearing off into the bush. Wouldnt want to try it in the wet season for this reason. Not sure about from Alice across the mid west, we didnt take that route so i am not sure how low you can go across. The wet season can be ferocious in the Kimberly so i would be cautious about going too high in a commy.

The benefit of anti-clockwise is that you get to follow the seabreezes south after they commence in early spring. We got to Exmouth in early spring and caught the first consistent seabreezes, and then followed the systems south as the season progressed, stopping at the stations on the way south (Gnaraloo, warra (sp?), red bluff on Quobba) to Gerro. Stopped in Gerro for Nov sailed everyday there for a month, some days on 6.2, other days on a 4.5m and a lot in between. In Perth for Chrissy, sailed there. Went SW in Jan (Esp etc) and then strated heading across the Null in feb. Brutal weather on the Null, 44 deg and a northerly wind (offshore and dead dry heat). Only got out of the car long enough to fill with petrol. Had some good sailing around Adelaide, the local grew there were ripping.

tomp said...

THANKS all for the feedback.

AJ, for your OZ trip what type of vehicle did you use (+ trailer?) and over what time frame? How far into QLD did you go and can a regular car make the anti-clockwise trip in summer season across the top end or from Alice Springs to mid coast WA.

If we did any OZ trip then fuel is not an issue as the car is leased so it would prob be car + box type trailer.

It has not been any problems crossing Australia for the last 25 years during the summer, either south or north the roads are good for ordinary cars. In some places you might want to do some detours to the best surfspots though... The first time I crossed the country was in 1989 in a Holden Gemini without A/C and 4 boards on the roof. We stopped in Adelaide and Norseman when we crossed Nullabor. In the middle, where to road is straight for hours we met a Japanese rollerskater..

It was a bit hot in NT, but that was the only problem. Well I hit a dead big dead animal in the middle of the night on a 26 hour stint between Katherine and Cairns, the car stunk for 3 weeks. Do not drive 2500 km in one stint!

andersbq said...

tomp said...

THANKS all for the feedback.

AJ, for your OZ trip what type of vehicle did you use (+ trailer?) and over what time frame? How far into QLD did you go and can a regular car make the anti-clockwise trip in summer season across the top end or from Alice Springs to mid coast WA.

If we did any OZ trip then fuel is not an issue as the car is leased so it would prob be car + box type trailer.

It has not been any problems crossing Australia for the last 25 years during the summer, either south or north the roads are good for ordinary cars. In some places you might want to do some detours to the best surfspots though... The first time I crossed the country was in 1989 in a Holden Gemini without A/C and 4 boards on the roof. We stopped in Adelaide and Norseman when we crossed Nullabor. In the middle, where to road is straight for hours we met a Japanese rollerskater..

It was a bit hot in NT, but that was the only problem. Well I hit a dead big dead animal in the middle of the night on a 26 hour stint between Katherine and Cairns, the car stunk for 3 weeks. Do not drive 2500 km in one stint!

Sorry but I dispute the north bit. In the wet season (summer for the rest of Oz) trying to travel up north (as in the very top end) can result in impassable roads for weeks and that is in a well equipped 4WD.
To say that you can travel in summer across the top end in a normal car can get somebody killed.
Alice across like you did , yes. But people may read your post to mean Kununurra to Darwin and some of that could be really really dangerous.

WINDY MILLER said...

do It!


highlights/lowlights 4 me

.the best sunsets,sunrises you will ever see
.long straight roads
.road kill massacres
.whales galore, saw moby dick last time
.cactus,beachport,robe,streaky S.A
.watching the fisherman unload their brucey catch at streaky
.eucla,windy,esperance,denmark, W.A, camping at bremer bay
. -7C; trying to sleep in car at norseman
.gourmet food at nulabor roadhouses.....




.

You forgot $30 for a sixpack of midstrength cans

Chris6791 said...

Or go via rabbit flats roadhouse on the tanami track and pay more than $100 for a warm block of VB.

Worth every cent for the Very Best my friend.
hic

what da **** you lokin at ****?
Oh sorry, back to the midstrength for me

paddymac said...

Mark _australia said...

what da **** you lokin at ****?

Nuthin

Mark _australia said...

you calling me nuthin?

That's not how I remember it, but we are talking VB here...