Dinky

Having been living in Sydney for over a year now (and loving it!) it's time to venture into the outback! I've driven to Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide from Sydney with no issues. However I'm kinda apprehensive about a journey out West. Has anybody done it? Any tips or views? I think it’s supposed to take about 12-14 hours and rather than risking a collision with a Roo any suggestions for a stop on route?

Thanks all

Dinky

Quinkana

Late Spring. Take a wander on a road less trammelled - book the master bedroom in Willandra - and remember to slow down and smell the herbage.

MrsDagboy

Ive done Brisbane to Adelaide many times which passes through Broken Hill. Agree with Megs, try springtime, the wildflowers out there make the landscape even more special when they are in flower. Depending on how confident you are (& what your car is like), avoid driving at dawn & dusk because of the roos, or just at night in general. Definately avoid summer & possibly the middle of winter as well - whilst its lovely during the day it can get quite cold at night.

Be prepared for the outback towns to be nothing like Sydney (or any of the other major coastal centres!). And I dont mean just to look at .

There is one particular crest in the road out there that everytime I go over it I get shivers down my spine. Standing on top of it in the very early morning looking out across the landscape with the rocks & stunted vegetation, its like being alone on this planet or on a different one. Its a very special part of the world which most people dont appreciate.

Hope you have a fab trip, Im jealous .

eatstatic

Be very careful of roos AT ALL TIMES! I wrote off my Holden 50 km outside of Broken Hill at 11 am, due to one! The bastard jumped out of some scrub, no way could I avoid it. I had to wait 2 days to get the train back to Sydney (15 hours, the train is painfully slow). Luckilly the NRMA insurance paid for my motel and train ticket back.

Check out Mario's Palace Hotel in Broken Hill, Mario and his son Morat are top blokes. You may recognise the pub area out of Priscilla Queen of the desert, a 1990's OZ film. The place has great paintings done by Mario and an local Aboriginal artist.

I have driven the route a few times and I usually stop at either Dubbo or Cobar. I would not recommend Wilcannia, unless you wish to witness a depressed crime ridden outback town first hand.

I agree with MrsDB, the country is pretty unique around Broken Hill. Drive out to Silverton, check out the pub there, has featured in a few films and ads due to the sheer hostile and never ending harshness of the envoironment. There are also some sculpures near BH which were done by various artists, they are worth checking out.

As long as you stick to the Barrier Highway I would not worry about breaking down Although fairly remote, the road is a main route between Sydney and SA. Do watch out for the roos though! I drove from Syd to Cairns to Mt Isa to Alice to SA then to BH only to hit a roo 50 km out!

Good luck it is an interesting journey, one I always much more prefered to the generally more popular east coast drive.

tiredwithtwins

did this years ago, but by coach - much better as you can admire the scenery and not worry about YOUR car getting dented!

fab drive, can i come??

sue

Dinky

"As long as you stick to the Barrier Highway I would not worry about breaking down Although fairly remote, the road is a main route between Sydney and SA. Do watch out for the roos though! I drove from Syd to Cairns to Mt Isa to Alice to SA then to BH only to hit a roo 50 km out!"

Really appreciate the advice, thanks.
Can the journey be done in a normal car? We've only got a soft roader (RAV4) and given the comments here I'm think of asking Bayswater for one of their nice white toyota hire cars for a few days ;-)

D

MrsDagboy

Now that would be a first Daz!

Dinky, yes, you can do it in a normal car, just be wary of the roos, they will make an awful mess of the front of a car without a roobar (as Daz has already testified to), especially a small one.

wombat42

l don't have to worry about roo's, l got a steel roo bar attached to the front of my car so l just run them over and they bounce off to the side of the car
without causing any damage. The only danger is if one flies through the windscreen, but it has'nt happened yet. The other good thing about having
a roo bar is that with all the road kill l'm never short of something to eat for dinnner.

NJJ

Nice place. Pool table is only about 40c per game too and the locals are easy pickins to make a few dollars if you can play I remember sitting in the bar there makin silly drunken bets with morat & the pool team there. Real friendly place, as is the Black Lion Hotel opposite the visitors centre. Stay away from the Demo club for eats though, food is awful. Best bet is musicians club, decent cheap food and it's even open for a cheeky game of two up at weekends if you're interested.


If you do venture to Silverton Pub, ask them at the bar for the Silverton Test (I kid ye not!)

eatstatic

40 cents for the pool table, complete with rips!! The triangle in the tree too as I recall! I stayed in the Black Lion back in Jan 2001 and yep that was a friendly bar too.

Strange, I found that pubs in places like Broken Hill and other country towns were actually not bad. On the whole the pubs were sociable and you could chat, play pool and generally have a half decent evening. However in suburban Sydney and other East coast towns the pubs were dead and full of people playing pokies.

What is the Siverton test, I saw it advertised but dare not ask! You see that mad max motor parked out the front?