In my three years of travelling around Australia, I have had many questions from those who are considering starting out in a journey around this fair country of ours. I will address a couple of the main questions that come to mind, but space prevents me from covering all aspects.

1. What should I take with me?

A lot depends on where you are going, what time of year you intend going, and how long you intend staying. Not to mention budget restraints. As there are many forms of travel, I will try to keep it general to those travelling with at least a vehicle of some kind.

A good first aid kit is essential.

A basic survival kit should be seriously considered if you intend travelling off the main highways. If you break down somewhere, especially in the hotter parts of Australia, lack of water is the greatest threat to survival.
A basic survival kit should include; a packet of condoms, and old pair of jeans with the legs intact, some good quality plastic rubbish bags, string, a couple of packets of waterproof matches, a groundsheet, a tarpaulin, a quantity of rope, some tent pegs, at least 20 litres of fresh water, dry foods, tinned foods and a can opener.
The condoms, jeans, string and rubbish bags are used for the collection and storage of water if you should run out. A condom supported inside the tied off leg of an old pair of jeans can hold up to 6 litres of water.

The tarpaulin, rope, tent pegs and ground sheet are to make a lean to shelter from the side of your vehicle.

There are many good publications that will give all the information you need in order to learn how to not only collect the water, but other essentials to consider.
I would strongly suggest that you do a survival course and that your trainer is someone that has had army background or training. You may never need it, but if you break down somewhere, it could literally mean the difference between life and death.

Have 4 changes of clothes for each season, but at least double that of underwear.

I would suggest taking a bucket with a sealing lid too. Before starting out on your days travels, simply put your dirty clothes in the bucket with water and detergent, seal the lid and just put it in the car. The natural movement of the car is enough to wash the clothes, all you need do then is rinse and dry them.

Some sort of cooking pot that you don't mind being blackened by a fire, a good oven mitt to pick it up with and basic eating utensils.

I would also recommend a plastic thermal travel mug. They have nice tight sealing lids on them that have a slit to drink through. I have gone through several of them ( I lose them ) and find them wonderful for having drinks hot or cold kept that way between stops.
There is a lot more I could suggest, but as far as basics go, the above list is a really good start.

2. How long should I plan to take?

This of course depends in most cases on the amount of time available. If you can do it, and wish to travel Australia, I would suggest at least a year to have a basic look around. When I first started out myself, I envisaged being away for three months. I felt that was more than enough time to see the country and do the sightseeing I wanted to do.

However reality is vastly different. It is simple mathematics. Just sticking to the main road and using Perth as a starting point and travelling Perth, Darwin, Cairns, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth is a distance of 14,118 kilometres. If you include the Stuart Highway from Port Augusta to Katherine that is a further 2,399 kilometres. Assuming you wish to finish where you started from, at least one of these legs will need to be travelled twice.
That means you are looking at a minimum of around 18,000 kilometres. If you average 500 kilometres a day, it will take you 36 days to complete the journey. That is allowing no time for sightseeing or stopping in one place longer than sleeping for the night.

I don't feel I need to point out the cost of travelling such a distance or that for most people this is a once in a lifetime journey. Longer is better than shorter when it comes to time but if time is restricted, I would suggest planning a trip shorter in distance. I travelled nearly 50,000 kilometres in my first year and that didn't include the leg from Perth to Darwin up the west coast.

I spent six weeks in Cairns looking around and I didn't get to everything there I would have liked to.
In the three years, I feel I have only just scratched the surface. I have so much more I would like to say on these subjects, but I simply don't have the space in here to do so.

Travel for me has become a passionate love and a way of life.

I sincerely hope that each and everyone of you makes the opportunity to travel like I have.

Don
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>>>>>>>True Peace is found when your inner self is set free<<<<<<<
email dtm@tower.net.au
home page http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Rampart/5588