Yea… I have fam in rural WA. When it was brought up my gramps once said (in a thick scottish accent) “aye laddy funny things that way, you want to bring yerrr 22 (rifle)”.
I did it solo driving to Melbourne. It’s fine.
Biggest takeaway for me was that Australia is big. I know, we all know that. But it’s one thing to leave Perth at 6pm on Monday evening and still be in WA on Wednesday - driving pretty much non-stop. Then South Australia is also huge! Experiencing it really drives the size home.
The drive went something like:
Monday 6pm: Perth - Merredin.
Tuesday 8am: Wake up and leave Merredin. Stop for an hour in Noresman. Finish for the evening in Cocklebiddy.
Wednesday 9am: Leave Cocklebiddy, Spend a bit of time exploring Eucla ruins/border village. Cross the border, check out Bite cliffs. Stop in the evening at Ceduna.
Thursday: Drive to Streaky Bay for lunch - lovely town, want to get back there, but it’s really hard to get to. Drive across the middle of SA, skip Radelaide. Stop late at night at a rest stop 30 minutes before Renmark.
Friday: Drive into Victoria, get to Bendigo around 5pm. Dinner and stay the night at a friend’s place there.
Saturday: Drive to Melbourne, arrive on time for lunch.
It’s honestly fine to do this solo (or the other direction). Just have something (Podcasts? Audiobooks?) loaded to listen to. There is nothing between Noresman and Ceduna. Those little towns you see on the map are just servos. But for all of that, there’s a fair bit of traffic (at least a truck/car every 5 minutes). If you have a real emergency, help won’t be far away.
I did say that I’d like to give that a go once I got a new car! I’m just not sure I want to (or should) do it solo.
Yea… I have fam in rural WA. When it was brought up my gramps once said (in a thick scottish accent) “aye laddy funny things that way, you want to bring yerrr 22 (rifle)”.
Didn’t exactly inspire confidence.
I did it solo driving to Melbourne. It’s fine. Biggest takeaway for me was that Australia is big. I know, we all know that. But it’s one thing to leave Perth at 6pm on Monday evening and still be in WA on Wednesday - driving pretty much non-stop. Then South Australia is also huge! Experiencing it really drives the size home.
The drive went something like:
Monday 6pm: Perth - Merredin.
Tuesday 8am: Wake up and leave Merredin. Stop for an hour in Noresman. Finish for the evening in Cocklebiddy.
Wednesday 9am: Leave Cocklebiddy, Spend a bit of time exploring Eucla ruins/border village. Cross the border, check out Bite cliffs. Stop in the evening at Ceduna.
Thursday: Drive to Streaky Bay for lunch - lovely town, want to get back there, but it’s really hard to get to. Drive across the middle of SA, skip Radelaide. Stop late at night at a rest stop 30 minutes before Renmark.
Friday: Drive into Victoria, get to Bendigo around 5pm. Dinner and stay the night at a friend’s place there.
Saturday: Drive to Melbourne, arrive on time for lunch.
It’s honestly fine to do this solo (or the other direction). Just have something (Podcasts? Audiobooks?) loaded to listen to. There is nothing between Noresman and Ceduna. Those little towns you see on the map are just servos. But for all of that, there’s a fair bit of traffic (at least a truck/car every 5 minutes). If you have a real emergency, help won’t be far away.