Australia Travel Planning - Brisbane to Perth Road Trip [Itinerary, Tips and Costs]

In this episode of the Global Travel Planning Podcast, host Tracy Collins is joined by her husband and regular co-host Doug Collins to share the story of their epic 10-day coast-to-coast road trip across Australia, from Brisbane to Perth. Together they talk through the logistics, highlights, surprises and practicalities of covering 4,500 kilometres (2,800 miles) through outback towns, iconic routes such as the Nullarbor, and three very different states.

Tracy and Doug reflect on the planning that went into the trip, the memorable stops they made along the way, and their favourite places to stay. They also offer honest thoughts on what they might do differently next time. Expect stories of wildlife sightings, the reality of budgeting for fuel and accommodation, preparing the car for such a journey, and a few mishaps on the road (including the drama of a locked-in car key rescue).

The episode wraps up with the total cost of the trip, along with practical tips to help you plan your own bucket-list Australian drive and make it as enjoyable and stress-free as possible.

Show notes - Episode 74

🎧 Listen to next

• Episode #46 – Discovering Western Australia: Essential Insights and Travel Tips with Tess Moone
• Episode #32 – Brisbane Day Trips: Islands, Wildlife, and Hidden Gems
• Episode #7 – UK to Australia: Making the move with guest Karen Bleakley

Chapters

• 0:00 Adventure Overview: 10 Days Across Australia
• 3:38 Planning Our Brisbane to Perth Drive
• 6:30 Day-by-Day Itinerary Breakdown
• 11:00 Accommodation and Favorite Experiences
• 16:40 Wildlife Encounters Along the Way
• 27:20 Practical Tips and Lessons Learned
• 35:10 Cost Breakdown and Final Reflections

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

We've just wrapped up our biggest Australian adventure 10 days, 4,500 kilometers and 51 hours on the road, including the Nullarbor, one of the most iconic roads in Australia and home to the longest straight road in Australia at 146 kilometers. Stay with us for our route, favorite experiences, wildlife, and at the end we'll reveal the total cost of the trip.

Speaker 2: 0:23

Welcome to the Global Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is founder of the Global Travel Planning website, Tracey Collins. Each week, Tracey is joined by expert guests as she takes you on a journey to destinations around the world, sharing travel inspiration, itinerary ideas and practical tips to help you plan your next adventure. Join us as we explore everywhere, from bustling cities to remote landscapes, uncover cultural treasures and discover the best ways to make your travel dreams a reality.

Speaker 1: 0:55

Hi and welcome to this week's edition of the Global Travel Planning Podcast. In this episode, doug and I are here to talk through our coast-to-coast drive from Brisbane to Perth. We actually just arrived in Perth yesterday, so we are recording this very is it all very fresh in our mind. The journey was four and a half thousand kilometers and it took us a little over 51 hours behind the wheel that's it.

Speaker 3: 1:19

Yeah, by Hong. It took us the. It was planned for about 48 hours when we looked and planned the map out, so we didn't do too bad. Really, we didn't do too bad on that no.

Speaker 1: 1:29

So during that time, we crossed the Nullarbor, which is one of the most iconic roads in Australia. We rolled through country towns, we skirted the cliffs of the Great Australian Bight. We kept our eyes peeled all times for wildlife along the way, and we did see some great wildlife. So we'll take you through the itinerary where we stayed, share our favorite stops along the way. We'll talk about how we split the driving and some of the apps that actually helped us with, uh, when we're out on the road, um, and we'll also talk about the things that we would have done differently yeah, that's right yeah something's been quite good a plan today.

Speaker 1: 2:01

No, exactly, so we wrote a list as we were going along, so we're going to go through that with you as well. Um, and also, make sure you listen until the end, because we're going to reveal exactly what this 10-day adventure cost us, and I think it might surprise you. Um, actually, we'll probably we'll talk about the type of car that we have and the sort of fuel fuel that we used as well. Um, so, anyway, settle in and we're going to relive very recently relive one of Australia's greatest road trips.

Speaker 1: 2:27

Share the lessons, highlights and memories from an unforgettable coast to coast journey. Yeah, so the first thing we thought we'd talk about was actually why we decided to do this road trip, because it is a bit of. We actually decided quite short notice, didn't we?

Speaker 3: 2:41

yeah, it was quite a short notice, wasn't it?

Speaker 1: 2:43

yeah, I think like maybe 10 days before we decided to do it. I, in fact I just sat there and doug doug decided because he's going back to the uk to do some work for the uk travel planning podcast and youtube channel, um, that he was going to fly from perth. So because we we collect quantus points and it was a really good deal to fly from perth to london on points, um, so we kind of thought, okay, that's great, and the fact that our daughter also lives in Perth, I was like, well, I don't think I want to spend six weeks at home. I've got a lot of work to do, but I don't want to sit at home on my own. So I just kind of turned to Doug and said, should we just drive to Perth?

Speaker 3: 3:20

He went oh yeah, that seemed like a good idea.

Speaker 1: 3:27

Yeah. So I, you went, oh, um, yeah, that seemed like a good idea, yeah. So I just said to dominic we're gonna drive over. Is it okay if I stay with you for six weeks? It'll be really good if I bring the car, because you know, maybe I'll do a house sit when I'm here, as we still haven't decided um. So she was like, yeah, yeah, sure, come across.

Speaker 1: 3:37

And then I did a bit of research, I did you did start asking in some facebook groups saying you know, how feasible is this, how doable is this, how long should we take to do this? Because actually we actually had a deadline, because we booked your flight.

Speaker 3: 3:50

Oh, that's right. We had already booked it, hadn't we? Yeah?

Speaker 1: 3:53

So we knew we had to be in Perth before the 11th of September, because you actually fly Today's the 10th. We're recording this on the 10th of September, so this will be coming out a few weeks' time. Yeah, so you actually fly tomorrow.

Speaker 3: 4:05

I fly tomorrow, 24 hours from now.

Speaker 1: 4:06

Yeah, and we made it here when. Yesterday afternoon we did.

Speaker 3: 4:10

Just in time for checking.

Speaker 1: 4:11

don't tell yeah no, so it took us altogether 10 days. We left on the 31st of August and we arrived here on the 9th of September. Good that's right, so good, um so, do you want to go through a quick outline of the itinerary?

Speaker 3: 4:24

okay, not to not to bore everybody, we set out from home, which is red cliff, which is in queensland yeah just north of brisbane yeah so we drove to gundi windy. Apologies for any mispronunciation. Um, and that was a nice gentle introduction. It's only a matter of a few hours, wasn't it? Really about five hours actually yeah because we tried to limit the driving really to between four and maximum seven minutes of all, didn't we?

Speaker 1: 4:51

Yeah? So the first bit was that Redcliffe to Gundu, Indy and then After that, we drove to Dubbo. Yeah, which we wanted to go to for quite a while, and I'd actually like to go back and spend a bit more time. Then, from Dub dubbo, we went to cobar, cobar, and then from cobar went to another destination that I've been wanting to go for quite a while, which was broken hill yep, then from broken hill. So at this point we've gone from queensland, new south wales, and then broken hill.

Speaker 1: 5:15

We went to port augusta so we changed state again and we went into the state of south australia. That's right. And then from from port augusta we went to seduna yep, which is kind of the gateway to the nullable that's right um and then from seduna we drove to the famous nullable roadhouse which is obviously on the nullable.

Speaker 1: 5:35

Stayed there one night and then the next day we drove to cockle biddy or just outside cockle yeah, just outside where we stayed there at the hotel there, um so actually. So we took three days to cross the nullable. We'll just say that, um, and then the next day, from from cockle buddy, we drove calgoly, calgoly. And then yesterday we drove from calgoly to calamunda which is in the perth hills, hills, yeah, so.

Speaker 1: 6:00

So that was the entire trip. So that took 10 days, and we've had a lot of people who've been following us on our Global Travel Planning Facebook group and also on our Instagram, because we're sharing the trip as it went with a summary of our day. So if you actually want to have a look at it, we'll put photographs of this and we're going to write this up as a blog post as well, so you can take a look at that.

Speaker 3: 6:28

But, yeah, we'll share some photos of the places we're going to talk about. So, all together, 10 days. Now how did we share the driving? Because I know this is something that a lot of people yeah, we sort of aim between an hour to two hours each at a time driving, yeah, um, basically because that's from a comfort point of view, but when it got towards the changeover time we're looking for rest stops. So, you know, sometimes five, ten minutes either side and, but it's very straightforward, didn't feel like 10 days driving, really did it?

Speaker 1: 6:48

it didn't actually went really, really quickly. And I think and that's something actually people that have fallen us reflected, because when we first said we were going to do this, we actually had a lot of australians who said to us wow, that's, are you crazy? You're driving that. Why don't you take the flight? Well, we've flown it quite a few times the the Brisbane-Perth route, but you don't see anything. You don't see anything from there. And also, we've lived in Australia now for eight years. We're both Australians. Now the only state we haven't been to a territory is Canberra Act Australian Capital Territory. We haven't been to yet. So hopefully, on the way back, we'll do that On the way back, we'll decide side.

Speaker 1: 7:23

Um, yeah, so, actually. So if, if you're listening and you're on australian thinking I'm you know this is it's just a long way to perth, especially if you live in queensland or if you live in new south wales, maybe you're living in sydney or you live in brisbane or along the coast, you're thinking it's a long way. Actually it's it's. You know, obviously, if you're living in someone like townsville or you know, far north queensland, it's going to be a little bit further, especially considering we also need to say the time of year. Now we're going into spring, um, and you do have to consider that, uh, you know, it's probably getting a bit late to drive uh, the far northern crossing because you can go through the northern part of australia around. Um, we chose this southern route because, um, just, it was the quickest route for us as well. Yeah, um, yeah, and I checked I wasn't saying when we planned it I checked that everything was sealed roads and we you know, and we only have a standard car yeah it's a um suv, don't we?

Speaker 1: 8:15

yeah, yeah, we've got a hyundai um, so, yes, medium-sized suv, uh, we do look after, so we make sure that we always put, if we can, premium premium fuel in it so we'll talk about petrol costs in a moment, um, but yeah, so that worked for us sharing the drive in that way, so that really we didn't have. I think there was one day we had a very short day yeah um from seduna to the nullabore roadhouse and it was literally three hours and you drove that entire day.

Speaker 1: 8:40

I did all that, yeah, yeah so I had a day off from driving but honestly the driving was really easy. Um, before we actually set off, somebody put the fear of god in me actually and made a comment about the fact that, really, wow, people prepare for for months for this and they do this, they do that, they do the other like wow, wow, wow, and I got a bit like, oh, my goodness, maybe this we've bitten off more than two, this is going to be really scary, like we're heading on and I'm not saying that you shouldn't prepare, because we did yeah, but we have done road trips throughout queensland before.

Speaker 3: 9:09

Uh, we have, you know, obviously necessary uh equipment. Yes, obviously we have plenty of water, we are prepared and we take a time, we don't rush, we don't, you know yeah, we don't take risk with time, but also we the car had been recently serviced, we just had the battery changed.

Speaker 1: 9:27

Yeah, as they were stocked up on water, we kind of we knew that we weren't going to have a signal throughout the whole way.

Speaker 1: 9:33

So that's one of the tips that I'm going to say is actually um, and I'm going to mention it now because I think it's really important is download your map. So I had I had downloaded all my maps so they could be used offline. So it makes you feel better when you know the route that you're on and it's not going to suddenly disappear off your Google Maps or whatever Apple Maps or whatever.

Speaker 3: 9:51

you're using Quite often long stretches of road. You're on the same road for 200 kilometres. So you're fine if your map goes off, but it's still nice to know.

Speaker 1: 10:00

Yeah, well, you also know where the kind of kinks on the road and all that sort of stuff. Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 3: 10:05

Kinks, you mean bends, bends, yeah, bends, we also bought a paper map. I will also say so. We also have that in the car as well. Yes, yes, we did that's right.

Speaker 1: 10:14

Now let's talk about and we've actually. When we arrived yesterday, a few people said oh, was it just a 10-day drive? Was that all you did? Did you have any highlights or any things you enjoyed, or was it literally just the entire time in the car? Well, it wasn't the entire time in the car, and we did have some favourite things and things we thoroughly enjoyed along the way.

Speaker 3: 10:34

Yeah, we did. There was a few bits and pieces that we sort of stopped off and we did the research before and we sort of cherry-picked things that totally interested us.

Speaker 1: 10:45

Yeah, and I before, and we sort of cherry-picked things that totally interested us. Yeah, and I mean those. There's certainly things that I'd like to have done. I had longer to do. For example, I wanted the zoo in dubbo.

Speaker 1: 10:49

We didn't get the chance to do, but let's so let's talk about accommodation, because I know people have asked where did we stay? Now, we don't have a caravan, we don't have a tent, we don't have anything, so we stay at, at, basically looking at hotels or motels motor in. There's plenty of those in Australia, so not bad. So basically that's that's where we stayed and actually we're talking about our favorite accommodation and both and I both Doug and I both really enjoy this bit, and it was actually in Cobar about the caravan part.

Speaker 3: 11:17

Yeah, they've got. Not sure exactly how many cabins are gonna say ten, somebody might correct me on that but probably around that number, and it was new or recently upgraded, but it was lovely.

Speaker 1: 11:29

I think was fairly new, I don't know, but well it was. It was lovely. There was a cabin with a little. You could sit outside in the veranda. You could you've reversed your car up here, went up some steps and it was. It was had everything you need.

Speaker 3: 11:41

It wasn't huge, but it was perfect, perfect, and there's just nice enough distance between each one, so you got that privacy as well. And we sat out on the little veranda, didn't we? Yeah, and a cup of tea, obviously.

Speaker 1: 11:52

Yeah, so we did also stop in. I mean, I think of the different places we stopped, we will share the different accommodation that we stayed in and I think that was our favorite, I don't. The only the one that we didn't enjoy was in Kalgoorlie. We're not going to share the name of that, um, we just didn't enjoy it.

Speaker 1: 12:10

It didn't, it was didn't tick the box no, it was the least, least pleasant of our, of our trip. Um, obviously you know you're staying in some places that are in the middle of nowhere, so and it's actually quite mind-blowing when you pull up to places like the nullable roadhouse and, uh, even when we're in cockleberry you're so far away and you know we had a fantastic hot dog. I have to say that it was a brilliant, a really tasty hot dog with all the extras at the nullable roadhouse and that was one of my favorite meals yeah, straightforward and simple yeah, it was really good.

Speaker 1: 12:43

The other place that I really enjoyed um staying was was at the palace hotel in broken hill, which is kind of famous and synonymous with priscilla, queen of the desert. Well, I absolutely love that movie. So we had to go and eat there, didn't we?

Speaker 3: 12:59

well, you told me I had to. Yes, it was brilliant.

Speaker 1: 13:02

It was absolutely. They've got a shop which has got all priscilla kind of um memorabilia you can buy stickers, you can buy t-shirts, you can buy all sorts. It was brilliant you enjoyed and then, uh yeah, I had a gin and tonic in the bar and then we, we, they, they, we. Actually it was the night that they did karaoke and we were too tired to stay on and but apparently it's really really good. But I loved that. I just loved that. The food was really tasty as well.

Speaker 3: 13:27

It was actually yeah.

Speaker 1: 13:28

Yeah, so we enjoyed that. Was there any other favourite meals or food stops that we had? I think those are two. Those are two when I think about it.

Speaker 3: 13:36

those are two highlights, because we also took some food with us as well and we had a few quick meals in the room. Yeah, we did Some evenings as well. I mean, was it in the Nullarbor? It was the roadhouse, it was really windy and turned really wild that night.

Speaker 1: 13:50

Yes, yes yeah, I think it was Sedona it was.

Speaker 3: 13:54

Sedona.

Speaker 1: 13:54

It was a dust storm and then it was really really windy. So in fact, we had planned to have a bit of a lie in the next day, because it was going to be only a three-hour drive, that's right yeah, but there was kind of weather warnings for on the nullable that the wind was going to up to 90 kilometers an hour and so we just decided to leave.

Speaker 3: 14:12

We left at 8 30 I think we left very early 8, 8 am seemed to be sort of a standard time that we so headed onto the road, wasn't it?

Speaker 1: 14:19

yeah, we did, and I would sort of recommend that because, again, you don't want to be travelling during dawn and dusk in Australia because of wildlife on the roads, but it would also mean that we would be able to get to a destination for around check-in time.

Speaker 3: 14:33

Yeah, which was nice because you don't want to be sitting around too long. Actually, we were to Nullarbor Roadhouse because it was a short drive, because we set out early. We were sitting around a little bit, weren't we?

Speaker 1: 14:41

Eating hot dogs.

Speaker 3: 14:42

Eating hot dogs.

Speaker 1: 14:43

Which was fine. It was absolutely fine.

Speaker 3: 14:45

Obviously, doug bought himself a hat as well, like he always does. Yeah, you did.

Speaker 1: 14:48

yes, you got a hat from that and I will just mention about that because I suppose you know we've lived in Australia for eight years. But there's just something quite I don't know. We got to the Nullarbor Roadhouse and there's about the dingoes the thing goes nearby so you have to be careful snakes that have been spotted in the area. So you really feel like you are, you're in australia and you know, you are careful, you have to be careful, um, and and that you know. You just feel like you're out in the wild, really, um, what about favorite drive or stretch of road?

Speaker 3: 15:19

across the normal, you have to say um, but you know, a couple of days before, when we saw all the emus and goats, that was driving from Cobar to Broken. Hill, wasn't it?

Speaker 1: 15:33

that was quite special, and even from Dubbo to Cobar there were so many goats but you know what?

Speaker 3: 15:38

there's so many different elements for it, because the terrain, the landscape changes so often. Before you get to the Nullarbor, obviously, um, but it's so changeable. And then, before you get to the Nullarbor, obviously, but it's so changeable.

Speaker 1: 15:48

And then when you come out the other side. But even changes on the Nullarbor, it's not the same on the Nullarbor.

Speaker 3: 15:51

It's not the Nullarbor plain. There's some trees to start with.

Speaker 1: 15:53

Yeah, I thought I'd been conned when I saw Nullarbor. Where are all these trees? I didn't think there's going to. That I just thought was amazing. It's just endless. The landscape just goes on and on and on and the sky is massive. It's huge, and then you get to the. I can't think it's Great Western, is it Great Western Tree Forest or something? And that was also fantastic.

Speaker 3: 16:18

Yeah, but the trees are so different and that's just because we're obviously eight years but new to australia.

Speaker 1: 16:24

some of the training we've seen it's just so different to what we've seen before yeah, and it's really funny because it's something we were talking to our daughter about last night and she was saying you know, people say, oh, when she's been abroad to australia, it's all the same, and she's like you must be joking it's not everything changes and and okay, yeah, we've done four and a half thousand kilometers, so you're going to expect some changes of terrain, uh, but it's, but it's quite incredible what you see and the differences, um, so certainly not boring, and I would stress that because I think people thought we were going to get bored with this drive and I have to say we did not get bored anything but bored.

Speaker 3: 16:57

I mean, we're chatting away most of the time, weren't we?

Speaker 1: 17:00

yeah, we were. Now, what about beautiful view or landscape? Because that can I'm going to say the view, can I say the view? So we pulled over just off the Nullarbor at the Great Australian Bight and Doug took some photographs from the kind of edge, cliff edge, not right at the cliff edge. Just to stress that. But my goodness, the sea was beautiful, it was. Beautiful aquamarine blue I'll put the photographs in as well. And I just thought, wow, it was so pretty. And we're so close to the Great Australian Bight.

Speaker 3: 17:31

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 17:32

We follow it along, you drive along it, don't you?

Speaker 3: 17:34

You really do. Yeah, but there's more places than we thought to stop off because, driving a standard car, some of the roads down to the car park overlooking the water, they were unsealed, yeah, but there is a few that are sealed as well yeah, yeah, well, yeah, and you just have to be, you have to be careful but, um, yeah, I would say I'd say that I don't know if was that yours um, there's just so many.

Speaker 3: 18:02

Yes, that was special because I was the one standing there. I was watching it driving through when the, the land, the, the road surface changes and you've got a good view of the plane yeah they were sort of special moments in time, yeah, I mean with driving orders of passage. You're looking out in the front and he just gives you a sense of sort of proportion, sense of scale. You think, well, look how, how far you can see yeah, it's like endless road.

Speaker 1: 18:27

Yeah, you could see like the road straight ahead. You went on for just seemed to go on forever yeah yeah, which, and there was not a lot of traffic on the road. There's something else I will actually mention about traffic, because, um, yes, we did pass a lot of road trains and there were a fair number of caravans, but there were stretches of the road where we just didn't see any body for miles and miles, and miles, that's right, we really didn't, but even then we just sort of chugged along, nice and steady, yeah, very easy what about our most surprising stop or hidden gem?

Speaker 1: 18:55

and we both agreed on this one actually is exactly the same and that was actually in cobar.

Speaker 3: 18:59

Cobar completely surprised me yeah, I thought cobar got a lovely balance between its uh mining heritage.

Speaker 1: 19:07

There was a remembrance site as well, yeah, that was really nice, and they've got some old machinery. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 19:12

Being a typical bloke, you know, looking at old machinery it's really worth looking at. But then I saw the sign for the lookout.

Speaker 1: 19:18

Yeah, and I was like, oh no, I don't want to go to the lookout and because we'd gone back to well, we'd actually checked in, yeah, back to it. We got, well, we'd actually checked in, yeah. And then we went out and I was like we were looking at kind of the memorial memorial and we looked at machinery and it was like let's go and have a look out and I was like, okay, because the lookout was one of the things that came up in the visa.

Speaker 1: 19:33

To list of things on the way and I'm so glad that doug said to go and look at this. So it's fort bork hill lookout. Yeah, wow, wow. I got probably one of my favorite bits of video that I've ever, ever taken and it's. It's just. I mean, it's a massive, massive hole in the ground like huge. I can't. Now I've seen the great hole in kimberley in south africa which is a big diamond from the diamond um and that is huge um, and I don't know if that's the biggest in the world, but this was big. The one in cobalt, in fact. We did see the one in calcule as well, but the one in cobalt um is massive. But I got this picture of a road train. Well, it's actually video. The road train um across the top, kind of, with the dust flailing out from the, the wheels, and you see how tiny this road train is compared to this hole in the ground and it's

Speaker 3: 20:22

it was mind blowing it really was, it really was so yeah, I I just thought that was really interesting.

Speaker 1: 20:27

So if you haven't been to cobalt, I would recommend going to cobalt and there's a nice accommodation there as well. Yeah, exactly, exactly, and the staff were lovely as well, uh, now, well, let's talk about wildlife, because everybody's always interested in what you see and what you don't see.

Speaker 3: 20:38

Now we we have to say we found it really strange that once we got into south australia and to west australia, we didn't see very much no, it was a total lack because for the first few days we were sort of trying to count up how many emus we saw, how many kangaroos we saw.

Speaker 1: 20:54

Yeah, yeah, well, unfortunately we did see a lot of kangaroos that had been victims of, you know, road had been hit by cars or road trains um like over 50, I think, on the first few days, which was quite astonishing, um, but we saw the most wildlife really.

Speaker 1: 21:08

obviously going through, we weren't very like over 50, I think, on the first few days, which was quite astonishing, but we saw the most wildlife really. Obviously. We weren't very long in Queensland because we just drove from Redcliffe to Goondiwindi, but the drive through New South Wales was incredible yeah it really, really was. We must have seen 50-odd emus.

Speaker 3: 21:20

Yeah, there was one particular one where one was about to cross the road with a young. It's one of those. You haven't got time to grab your phone your camera. It's just not possible. So just one of those old fashioned moments. We looked at it.

Speaker 1: 21:35

I don't think we've got any pictures of any of the emus because we're just they're so far apart when you see them. There must have been about 12 in one group yes, it was it was incredible. So we saw a lot of kangaroos. We did see some live ones as well. We saw a lot of emus. We saw a lot of wedge-tailed eagles.

Speaker 3: 21:54

Yes.

Speaker 1: 21:54

So I think we saw more of those as we travelled through.

Speaker 3: 21:56

Yes, I think so.

Speaker 1: 21:58

And we saw. I've never seen so many goats in my life, but there's one moment, wasn't there, that stuck in both of our minds which we didn't expect it yeah, yeah, absolutely so, and that was on the nullable, I was on the normal. Uh, we kind of. I could see something in front of us on the road and I said, what is that? What? What's on the road? And as we got closer we realized it was a dingo yeah um, and it was.

Speaker 1: 22:19

It was kind of, it was a black key kind of black didn't go, not not the sandy colored kind of um, and it kind of it sniffed around on the road. There was obviously some roadkill or something. It was sniffing around out. So I was a bit worried it was going to kind of continue crossing the road, but it didn't. It turned tail and kind of went back across the road Again. I don't want to look down and get my phone to take a video. I want to enjoy the moment.

Speaker 1: 22:42

It's a wow moment for us, yeah and I think we're really privileged because I've spoken to so many people who've crossed the nullabore and never seen anything. Um, we did. We did expect to see camels. We didn't see any camels not a single camel. Seen plenty of signs with them on, but we didn't see an actual live one yeah, so we have got photos with the iconic sign um for camels, kangaroos and wombats on the nullabore. We didn't see any of those, but we did see the dingo.

Speaker 1: 23:09

So, that was a real privilege and I think that was the kind of wild moment seeing the dingo was something quite special. Obviously we've seen them in the zoo, but I've never seen one in….

Speaker 3: 23:19

It's different, isn't it?

Speaker 1: 23:20

Yeah, out in life. What about, I guess, thinking about the challenges and the things that we've learned along the way? So, um, could you think, is there a hardest day of the trip? I kind of think, and I can't think of a hardest day. It was all, all really good fun?

Speaker 3: 23:37

no, because because we planned out we don't want to sort of underplay it and the fact that people say you need to plan it a bit more in advance, I still think we ticked most boxes and we planned it, so we didn't have a truly difficult day in the accommodation you booked quite late on yeah, I did, and that was a bit of a struggle for the nullable, I must say, and I will kind of, when I come to a second talk about the things that would do differently that, to be honest, where we stayed was absolutely fine and I'd love to stay at the roadhouse again on the way back and I have to say we will be doing this journey again yes

Speaker 1: 24:08

uh, end of october we'll be doing the journey back, but we're going to be doing it um, slightly different. I want to do the great ocean road and victoria, a bit more victoria and the coastline this time, so, but I haven't planned it yet no, you're going to give me 24 hours to get the jet lag back from the uk oh, longer than that, because obviously we need to be safe. So probably two or three days after, and then we'll set off.

Speaker 3: 24:27

You can drive the first few days.

Speaker 1: 24:29

Oh, okay, okay. What about funny or memorable mishaps? Anything funny or memorable, I think. Probably the funniest one was probably one of the not-so-funny-at-the-time ones.

Speaker 3: 24:43

No, not-so-funny-at at the time, but quickly resolved, shall we say.

Speaker 1: 24:48

So what happened, Doug?

Speaker 3: 24:50

Well, Tracy no.

Speaker 1: 24:54

No, tracy no.

Speaker 3: 24:54

Locked the car keys in the car.

Speaker 1: 24:57

Doug Doug locked the car keys.

Speaker 3: 25:00

Okay then, let's be diplomatic. Somehow the car keys ended up locked in the car. Not sure how I think the lock was. I think you in the car, not sure how.

Speaker 1: 25:09

I think the lock was. I think you shut the door, that's how, and it automatically locked, darling.

Speaker 3: 25:11

Because I should tell you my routine. Every morning I clean the windscreen and all the windows inside and out, which is obviously a very clever thing to do. But I found that I couldn't quite reach the middle of the windscreen because I'm assuming I'm not quite tall enough, so there's a little bit of a spot I missed. The day before, With the door open, I couldn't reach it, so I closed the door with the keys inside.

Speaker 1: 25:37

And it automatically locked.

Speaker 3: 25:38

And it automatically locked.

Speaker 1: 25:40

Luckily we are members of RACQ and we phoned them up and they came within an hour.

Speaker 3: 25:45

That's the breakdown.

Speaker 1: 25:46

Luckily also we were in Dubbo so we could, and luckily also we didn't have that far to go. That day it was maybe a four-hour drive.

Speaker 2: 25:52

Yes.

Speaker 1: 25:52

So I was less panicked because this happened. It was actually a late leave and I think we'd already decided we were going to leave late for a bit, so it was probably about 9 o'clock. It happened a quarter past 9, something like that. Actually, the accommodation in Dubbo was worth mentioning as well. Yeah, that was nice. Yeah, that was nice.

Speaker 3: 26:08

The food was also.

Speaker 1: 26:09

Actually we should have mentioned that, because that food was really good.

Speaker 3: 26:12

That schnitty was brilliant it was, and there's breakfast already included yeah, I will, I'm going to put a link to all the accommodation we digress yeah so yes, the kids were inside. We phoned the icq and they arrived. About three quarters an hour wait was it. Yeah, probably half an hour 45 then it took the mechanic probably about 10, 15 seconds to get in. They know what they're doing yeah, absolutely so.

Speaker 1: 26:36

So that was it so sugar sand and off we were of into the car. They know what they're doing. Yeah, absolutely so, that was it so sugar sand and off we went.

Speaker 3: 26:39

Of course, the car was already packed.

Speaker 1: 26:41

Yeah, everything was ready.

Speaker 3: 26:41

I cleaned the windows, ready to go.

Speaker 1: 26:44

So, yeah, we had to sit outside the room for about 20 minutes while we waited because we had to check out. So yeah, that was kind of the, but thank goodness that happened not there and not when we were sitting having a cup of tea in the middle of nowhere.

Speaker 3: 26:56

Yes.

Speaker 1: 26:56

That is something.

Speaker 3: 26:57

But it did focus us thereafter. Yes, with keys.

Speaker 1: 27:02

Should we then share now the things that we would have done differently?

Speaker 3: 27:06

Go on.

Speaker 1: 27:06

So the first one is take a spare key. So, first of all, somebody else, who I won't mention, only took one key with us, and the one key was locked in the car right, so take more than one key.

Speaker 3: 27:20

That would be the most of us have spare keys and yeah, yeah, make sure.

Speaker 1: 27:24

Also, the thing is that we had the automatic lock on, which meant that when doug shut that door, it automatically locked, and so that was it we. We had with no chance that's it. Second thing make sure you've got roadside assistance most definitely yeah, so we sorted that out. Before we left with our saq. We upped it so that, if anything happened, we would could yes I think I can't remember the actual limit. They'll tell you we're joking about.

Speaker 1: 27:46

That is a very important thing yeah, one thing we really did yeah yeah, make sure you've got like water and stuff like that.

Speaker 1: 27:52

Make sure you think about all those things. And the other thing to check now I'm sure lots of australians are going to tell me in fact I think I got a message from somebody going well, it's been like that my whole life. But you've got to remember that we've only been australia eight years and we knew that going into western australia was very, very strict with fruit and vegetables, right, so that was not something we had. We we knew that fruit, vegetable, honey, that sort of thing, so we already had checked that. We knew that. What we hadn't realized um is that there is also um a quarantine between um new south wales and south australia. So that caught us out. Well, it doesn't cause that we just have to hand over the tomatoes yeah, I mean, it's plenty of signs.

Speaker 1: 28:29

Yeah, it's your approach and telling you this and telling you that um, so the only thing that we had that we shouldn't have had were tomatoes, right, so we had to hand them over. But now we're aware of that, and so you know, I had no idea why, I hadn't even crossed our minds, but we were so focused on. Western Australia with that and I guess we'd watched. There's not a massive amount on YouTube. We're going to be putting this journey on YouTube. We found there wasn't a lot on YouTube.

Speaker 1: 28:57

And I don't think any well, with one video we did watch mentioned, they go in from South.

Speaker 2: 29:00

Australia to Western Australia. Said nothing about New South.

Speaker 1: 29:02

Wales anyway. So yeah, we figured that out. The other thing that you need to do is make sure you plan your fuel stops that's right.

Speaker 3: 29:08

We use several apps and obviously we plan the routes on the maps and plan it along the way, and we did make a rule of we tend to use BP or Shell petrol stations.

Speaker 1: 29:24

We see what we topple, yeah. So I don't think actually the entire way. The car got less than about half full nothing. Every time we saw a petrol station, anything from when we got to three quarters between a half and three quarters would stop and fill up.

Speaker 3: 29:37

But we had it in mind as to where we were looking at.

Speaker 1: 29:39

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 29:40

I mean some of the apps. We did find we expected a BP and that was a Shell, so we may not be totally up to date, as you think, with these apps.

Speaker 1: 29:50

Yeah, but you just have to just check, but just do plan that. I think that's important. The other thing thing and I will mention the apps in a second but and the other thing to do is download your map so that they're available offline. I think that it's just it. Just you just feel a bit better when you especially so much of the drive that you do will.

Speaker 3: 30:05

You will have no reception, and so that having the map there just made me feel better yeah, on top of that one, we all always let people know when we're leaving and what time we expected to arrive. Arrive as well. That was recommended yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 30:18

The other thing you've got here is you had I'm just looking through the list windscreen wipes yes, I just bought a couple of packets of windscreen or glass wipes.

Speaker 3: 30:25

Really made life so much easier cleaning the windscreen, the windows in the morning yeah, so that worked really well.

Speaker 1: 30:32

And the other thing we've talked about anyway, make sure you've got water. Don't assume that you're going to have wi-fi or you're going to have access to the internet via. I mean, we're with Telstra. We had pretty good service, but not the entire way, so don't assume that you're going to have that. We also, I guess we're talking about amenities. Now, in the places that we stayed Quite, a lot of places did have things like a microwave and a toaster, but some didn't.

Speaker 3: 30:57

That's right. Yeah, and maybe we're a little bit naive. There's one little hole in our research. We just assumed if one place had it they'd all have the same, but they didn't.

Speaker 1: 31:06

We did. So we're going to buy a toaster for our return. So we'll go to Kmart and buy a toaster. So we've got that, because that was something that we we did miss and we did have some kind of microwavable meals we couldn't eat. But I mean no big deal because you know in some ways as well, supporting the economy of places by buying a hot dog or whatever is you know, because it is important.

Speaker 1: 31:25

I think the other thing I would recommend that you do and this is something that our daughter recommended as well, because she's done this drive before is to make sure that you have books and music available offline. So we have Spotify. We just downloaded lots of playlists, we downloaded some books, we downloaded some quizzes, though we didn't have much success with those.

Speaker 3: 31:43

No, but we spent a lot of time talking about the scenery, yeah.

Speaker 1: 31:48

Yeah, I mean, we do chat a lot as you can probably tell. So we did do a lot of chatting, but we also did enjoy the music.

Speaker 3: 31:55

We're also working while we're part of the business. What we're?

Speaker 1: 32:01

going to be doing like strategy talks and, yeah, I did a lot of kind of planning as well. Um, yeah, don't miss some of the iconic stuff. Like we missed. We did miss the sign for halfway across australia. Um, there's a sign I can't remember the place, the destiny, it's where the great galah is. You did get a picture of the great galah, but there there's a sign, a lovely sign, to say that you're halfway between Sydney and Perth and across Australia.

Speaker 1: 32:20

But the beauty is we're going to be driving back, so we can probably stop off and get the picture but do some research into some of the stuff along the drive, because we missed that and I was like, oh no, yeah, so that's the thing.

Speaker 1: 32:38

The other thing is check, check the weather, and we did that every night, which is why we knew when we got into um seduna, seduna, that there's this there was a big dust storm. It was very, very windy, um, and we checked for the day after. It didn't end up being as bad as that we expected, but I think it's important. Yeah, um. And then the other thing that I'd say number 12, I guess, because we've got a list, but this is number 12 on my list is to book ahead. Um, you know there's not a lot of accommodation on the nullabor, so you need to book ahead. Um, you know there's not a lot of accommodation on the nullabor, so you need to book ahead.

Speaker 1: 32:58

Um, you know the nullabor roadhouse was full yes um, you know it is booked and I know when I did the drive because with a partner they've got a dog, so they had to look even more carefully about accommodation um, so do plan that, don't also, I mean, we didn't do massive days. Uh, I know quite often when we've driven in queensland we've done 10 hour days, 12 hour days. We certainly didn't do massive days. Uh, I know, quite often when we've driven in queensland we've done 10 hour days, 12 hour days. We certainly didn't do for this because we knew it was going to take us longer. It's a longer drive than we've done in queensland, even though we've driven up to cooktown and back and all the rest of it. This, this was four and a half thousand kilometers.

Speaker 3: 33:33

So, um, we just didn't do anything more than seven hours probably edged on the side of caution the fact we've not done this drive before that. We wanted to do it in bite-sized chunks, so we weren't rushed or hassled. You know, manageable yeah, absolutely yeah right.

Speaker 1: 33:49

so let me just talk about some of the practical tips, the apps. The apps are used was fuel map australia, I think it's called fuel. Yeah, I think it's fuel map aust. Yeah, I think it's Fuel Map Australia. I used that and I actually don't use Google Maps. I've got Apple Maps on my phone which I've just used forever, and I just downloaded those and they were available offline and then I've just deleted them afterwards because I don't want them to take a lot of memory, and then when we return, I'll do exactly the same work out each and just download the map for the entire route and then it just, it just, and do that as well before we leave home, because I had to do one of the maps and the wi-fi was a bit iffy, that's right um.

Speaker 1: 34:24

So I was like, oh no, um, we found it pretty easy to find fuel, food and accommodation, but we did take some, we did have some food.

Speaker 3: 34:32

Yeah, we had some, yeah some tins and things like that?

Speaker 1: 34:38

What essentials did we pack? I mean a kettle.

Speaker 3: 34:41

Very important to take a kettle. I had my own travel kettle. Quite frankly, some of the kettles in some of the places.

Speaker 1: 34:48

Yeah, I wouldn't know.

Speaker 3: 34:50

I carry my little travel kettle. Being an Englishman, I love my tea, so it's important to have a kettle, yeah and other essentials that we had.

Speaker 1: 34:58

I think probably well, well, just the water we actually did use the water, because some of the places you go you can't actually drink the water that's right coming across the Nullarbor, because I always asked.

Speaker 3: 35:06

I don't know if it sounded like a silly question, but I always asked and they said no, no, I would recommend drinking the water so make sure you've got enough water plus additional water, so I think it's recommended enough water for two days per person.

Speaker 1: 35:23

So pack more. And then I know we've been asked about advice for tackling the air highway and the Nullarbor and I've heard people say, oh, it's fatiguing and boring, but okay, this is the first time we've driven it. I might have a different story this time novelty factor possibly. I don't think it's gonna be a problem I really found it fascinating, absolutely fascinating.

Speaker 3: 35:44

The change in scenery was just quite something else, and I think the regular changes as well make it, you know, breaks it up nicely well, yeah, because you know that one of us would swap them out, so you didn't have to do that.

Speaker 1: 35:55

Um, so I know we've done this in 10 days. You could do this in far, far longer and many, many people do it in far, far longer. We did it in 10 days because we had a, you know, a deadline, same when we go back. We've got a deadline for to go back to work. So we'll have deadlines that will make a difference on time. But if you you know, if you're a grey nomad, or you've got a month off work or you've got plenty of time to do it, yeah, take longer than 10 days.

Speaker 3: 36:20

Don't be afraid to give it a go, but you can do it in 10 days if you want to.

Speaker 1: 36:25

It's not impossible In fact, you can do it in less, probably, if you want to, and do longer days, but honestly I think we had a perfect balance.

Speaker 3: 36:32

I know as I say, we got here. We weren't exhausted when we arrived.

Speaker 1: 36:37

Yeah, I think we weren't. We're both kind of I wouldn't want to do the drive back straight away. I will say that, certainly not. But you know, if somebody said, will you do the road trip again, I'm like, well, we kind of have to because we have to get back home.

Speaker 3: 36:50

So there is no choice.

Speaker 1: 36:51

When we cross the Nullarbor, we're going to do things slightly different uh, yeah, well, I think, to be honest, doing the three days, and we did get this advice actually from from friends of ours, rosalind allen, who have got an article about driving the nullable, which I read and they did it in three days and and actually I think that that worked out, maybe doing it in three days rather than it's a long way. It's like I think it's at 1200 kilometers it's pretty long drive.

Speaker 1: 37:11

So, um, yeah, you need to break, break it up really, um, but I think I I mean, if I was going to ask about a single highlight of the trip, I'd just say the entire trip was a highlight.

Speaker 3: 37:21

I think so, I think so.

Speaker 1: 37:23

Yeah, so I'd just do it. So yeah, so if you're thinking about it and it's something that you want to do, go for it.

Speaker 3: 37:29

Most definitely so.

Speaker 1: 37:30

Absolutely Well. Thanks for listening again to another episode of the global travel planning podcast. If you've done this trip, or you're thinking about doing this trip, or you've got any questions, um, you can leave us a message on speakpipe. We love to hear from you and we'll get back to you.

Speaker 1: 37:46

Um, yep we haven't give the cost oh yes, yeah, you're right, doug, we haven't, and that was the thing that I said we're going to share at the end. So would you want to share, then, the total cost for accommodation and the total cost for petrol?

Speaker 3: 37:59

Okay, the accommodation total cost was $1,562.55.

Speaker 1: 38:08

So that was accommodation for nine nights.

Speaker 3: 38:10

Nine nights, that was.

Speaker 1: 38:13

And then petrol costs.

Speaker 3: 38:14

The total spend on petrol for the entire trip was $779.50, so $780.

Speaker 1: 38:22

And we also fill up with premium.

Speaker 3: 38:24

I think we did every single time yeah.

Speaker 1: 38:26

I think maybe once we didn't. I think there was one time we couldn't. But the rest of the time that was with premium. So that's premium unleaded, so that's not bad at all, Bear in mind. So we have got a medium SUV.

Speaker 3: 38:38

Yeah, a Hyundai Tucson Tucson, so that's not bad at all bearing in mind.

Speaker 1: 38:40

So we have got a medium suv, um, yeah, a high on die tucson, tucson, that's it. Yeah, so that kind of gives you an idea of the costs, um, but we always end the podcast with the one question what would be the one tip that we'd share? So I guess, what would be the one tip that you would share? Doug, for anybody planning this trip don't be daunted by it.

Speaker 3: 38:54

Ask people who have done it before a reliable source.

Speaker 1: 38:58

Don't ask millions of people because you'll get a million different answers yeah, and I think my tip would be to have those, download the offline maps. I think that was really. I found that really useful to have those and I just felt a bit more I don't know, just felt a bit happier that we could follow. We knew we're following the actual route and I did it every night and, like, looked at the route and made sure that I knew what route we're on, but it was always on it when we got in the car. If we lost the signal, it went to the offline map. So that was that just made me feel a lot better. So that would be one my my one tip. As I said before, we are going to get this together on youtube and share it on the global travel planning youtube channel. So do go and follow along for that. Um, we've obviously got stuff on instagram and we're going to put an article together that's it we've got.

Speaker 3: 39:45

Uh, I always keep a diary on every day so I can call. I've got more details. Anybody wishes to know a bit more information, a bit more detail? But yes, I'm going to convert all that into a blog post yep and um.

Speaker 1: 39:57

You can see photographs from the trip as well as on instagram. You'll find them in the show notes at global travel planningcom. Forward slash episode 74, um. But I guess that just leaves me and doug to say until next week, happy global travel planning thank you for joining us on this episode of the global travel planning podcast.

Speaker 1: 40:17

for more details and links to everything we discussed today, check out the show notes at globaltravelplanningcom. Remember if you enjoyed the show, please consider leaving us a review on your favorite podcast app, because your feedback helps us reach more travel enthusiasts, just like you. Anyway, that leaves me to say, as always happy global travel planning.