Bit of an eye opener.
 

Quite often watch "Outback Truckers", long distance road train truckers in Australia. The journeys are mind boggling, thousands of KM, recall one trip of 3,600km. The stations (ranches) as well, remember one being bigger than Wales :eek:

Some friends were over there a few years ago and on a drive that was going to take a few days they were amazed that even though the road was good you rarely saw another car. Even trucks were not as plentiful as they expected.

Once they arrived they realised why most people fly when they are doing these big distances

Yes, It certainly is big over here. For instance driving from southeast to west coast ((Melbourne to Perth) is a 4 day drive, north to south (Darwin to Melbourne) is 5 days, east coast Melbourne to Brisbane (only half way along the coast) is 2 days. These times don’t include sightseeing, just meals and refuelling, so if you are planning a long trip take your time to enjoy our country. If you only have a couple of weeks then limit your travel to one area only or fly to major destinations. We regularly drive from near Melbourne in the south to Brisbane to visit relatives, it’s only around 1700km ��.

The longest road trip we have taken (with caravan in tow) covered almost 10,000 km. If you plot it roughly on the map of Europe, we live roughly were Athens is, then travel to Milan in Italy, up to Copenhagen then across to Moldova and finally back to Athens. In Australian terms that was almost ‘half a lap’ and took us 3 months at a leisurely pace. Many here do ‘the big lap’ in their retirement, ie circumnavigate the continent with a caravan taking between 6 and 12 months.

I don't think many of us up here appreciate how huge that continent is, thanks for the info. What a way to start retirement too.

Thanks for that. Awakened a childhood dream for me. Read, and read, as a youngster, countless books about Australia and formed a lifelong ambition to go there. Unfortunately, never realised! Maybe a prolonged visit one day.

If that dream ever gets off the ‘one day’ list and becomes a reality I am sure there are many Australian members who would gladly assist with your travel plans by way of advice, local knowledge, or show you around their particular part of Oz.

Thanks for that encouragement.

I'm beginning to doubt the dream will become reality now. I don't think I'd be able to get adequate medical cover!