Destinations
Two Months road trip - Australia
TheLionVoyager
create your dream Australian Itinerary
A ROAD TRIP OF 15,327 KM, 62 DAYS, 5 STATES AND AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE
Dreaming of the open road? From expansive outback adventures to dramatic coastline routes and green landscapes, there’s no better place to traverse on wheels than Australia. Without a doubt, the best way to see this country in all is to jump in a car, van or camper and hit the road. Australia has a vast network of well-maintained roads and some of the most beautiful road trips in the world. You’ll find few car rental companies around the country where you can hire a van or campervan like Apollo/Hippie Camper, Wicked Campers, Spaceship Rentals or Jucy Rental.
After over six months living in Melbourne, where I was working in an Italian restaurant in the City (Grossi Florentino in Bourke St – If you are in Melbourne I really suggest you to go at least once and eat in this place, it’s really wow), I decided with my friend Marco from Milan, that was a colleague of mine in the restaurant (and for many people that we meet in the road we were twins, we really look similar), to take this adventure before coming back to Europe, so after few weeks of planning we left the restaurant, packed our bags, and hit the road.
Hire a van
The most confortable and cheapest way to explore every part of this continent
Design your itinerary
Buy a big Australian map and highlight all the places that you would like to visit
Get on the Road
It’s going to be one of the best experiences and something that you will remember forever. Enjoy the journey
Our Road Trip
We started our journey from Melbourne (our base), before beginning our trip we had only decided how many days was going to be our road trip and the final destination – Sydney. We didn’t decide any stops, we were traveling with “free mind” following the flow like every road trip should be, in my opinion.
The first main stop was “The Great Ocean Road”, one of the world’s most scenic coastal drives, with the magical 12 Apostles, iconic surf breaks, waterfalls and much more. We spent few days exploring this 400 kilometres long coast. After that we continued driving North stopping in Mount Gambier (very beautiful the Blue Lake) on our way to Adelaide, very cool and relaxing city where we spent a couple of a days.
From Adelaide we kept driving to get to Coober Pedy, deep in the South Australian desert, a famous quirky town, full of people wanting to get lost and fortune seekers, most of the world’s opal comes from this tiny outback town. Try to don’t sleep around this area in the van (we continued driving and slept in the outback).
After 800 km of driving, with a stop in a Roadhouse in the middle of nowhere, we arrived at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park where we stayed a week hiking in the parks and swimming in the natural pools. I really recommend to dedicate as many days as you can of your itinerary to this area as it really is fantastic. We got on the road again with direction to the Northern Territory, we had 2,000 km ahead before arriving to Darwin and at this point we already had done more or less 3,000 km.
Before arriving to Darwin, the furthest north city of Australia, we spent few days hiking, discovering hidden waterfalls and playing with crocodiles in Kakadu National Park and Litchfield National Park, both of them very awesome Parks. I’d suggest to stop as well in Mataranka Hot Springs. Darwin is going to be the first city after thousands of kilometres of desert and national parks, so it’s up to you really how many days you want to spend here as the city is not very big, we stayed for four days chilling in the lagoon and discovering the surroundings.
We got on the road again with direction Cairns, this was one of the longest routes in our trip, around 2,500 km of desert, villages, palm trees and farms (in the area of Queensland you will find plenty of farms if you are looking for a job while traveling or to extend your visa).
In Cairns and surroundings we stayed for 10 days, as one of my best friends from my hometown leaves there, so we tried to spend as much time as possible after many years without seeing each other. In Cairns you have many many activities to do, we did bungy jumping (if you are into that sort of things) from a height of 50m (AJ Hackett), we did skydiving from 14,000ft (1300 skydive Cairns), but of course you can also chill out, in the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon and you can explore the North part of Queensland. There are many cool places like Trinity beach, Palm Cove, Port Douglas, Capo Tribulation and you will have the opportunity to see amazing wildlife like the beautiful cassowary.
We left Cairns and started to drive South down the famous Australian East Coast, with a first stop in Airlie Beach were we had five amazing days between the Whitsunday Islands and some chill time in the Lagoon of this fun town. After that we continued further south driving through and stopping in Hervey Bay, Fraser Island, Noosa (perfect place for surfer), Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Byron Bay, you can easily spend over a month here and enjoy this amazing part of Australia. There are plenty of things to do, from exploring the city of Brisbane, having some fun in DreamWorld (the biggest theme Park of the country), relaxing in the famous beaches and party in the Gold Coast.
The end of this fantastic journey was coming close at this point, our final stop was Sydney were we spent 4 days having the best time in this incredible city and where I had to say goodbye to my travel buddy Marco to return to London. This was the end of my Australian adventure.
Where to sleep in a van in Australia
Australia is a huge country and it is in my opinion, one of the best country in the world for organisation of camping sites and rest areas with plenty of free public BBQ facilities. You won’t have any problem to find a place to park your van and sleep for free or by paying honest fees. The comfort of the rest areas is very variable, you will find some areas with showers, toilets and laundry machine and others with basically nothing.
If you like to plan in advanced your stop, there are few apps and website that will help you to do so like Camps Australia Wide or Wikicamps.
What equipments you 'must have' in your van
The most important thing to have is spirit of adventure and adaptation. You just need few essential tools for cooking like 2 pans to cook with and a portable gas cooker. Another useful thing to have is a phone card that has good reception everywhere (usually Telstra is the best in the Outback).
Some cool tips you should know
01.
Food and Drinks
Plan in advance your grocery and try to avoid eating and drinking out if you are traveling on a budget, the big supermarkets like Woolworths and Coles are only located around the big cities, so try to stock up for what you may need before going inside the deserts
02.
Campsites around Australia
Campsites usually cost between $15 and $50 per night depending on the location. Try to save some money on campground fees and look for free campsites, 80% of our overnights we managed to find it for free
03.
Petrol
Try to fill up the tank and get a spare few litres every time you see a Petrol station while you are in the Outback. A road trip means driving long distances, we drove 15,327 km, driving long distances requires a lot of fuel and fuel isn't cheap. Try to think about this big cost while you are planning the trip
