Australia Travel Forum

I am taking my Mom to Australia for the first time in August. We land in Sydney at 6 AM on Tuesday, August 11 and we fly home from Sydney at 2 PM on Wednesday, August 26th, so that gives us 16 days in country. I love adventure and nature but I'm going to save the cage diving off the Great Barrier Reef for the next trip since my mom isn't a certified diver. My mom is in her mid-50s and although she is cultured and loves the wine and arts, etc. she also loves hiking and nature. We have taken several road trips together over the years, stopping at every national park and "world's largest ball of twine" along the way. So we'd love to take a road trip in Australia together.

We'd love to see some of the Outback and I hear that the Savannah Way is a must-do drive that passes through several national parks and the outback. So we are thinking about a couple days in Sydney with a day trip (or possibly an overnight) to the Hunter Valley for some wine tasting. Then we would fly to Darwin (or possibly Alice Springs??) and rent a car and drive PART of the Savannah Way, through the Kimberley Region to Broome. From Broome we would fly back to Sydney and spend a final couple days there.

Do we have enough time to do this? Is this a good route? How many days would we need to do this portion of the Savannah Way? Any other recommendations?

I cannot help with Savannah way but there is a lot to know about driving safely in the outback in general and if my memory serves me correctly VT members 1+1 and pedroswift have good advice on their pages.

Otherwise I can send you information.

Marg

Hi I am flying to Darwin on 1st August and after a few days joing an 8 day coach tour Top End Spectacular provided by AATKINGS. www.aatkings.com I recommend you visit their web page as it will help you prepare your itinerary.

I have driven Darwin to Kakadu about 10 years ago, a sealed road and took from memory approx 3 hours, I think the speed limit has been reduced since then so it might be a little longer, You can then drive to Katherine, and from Katherine to Broome is on sealed road.

From Darwin you can take a day trip to Litchfield National Park, approx 1 hour drive,and also visit Wangi Falls.

After our tour we are flying Darwin / Broome, very cheap when airfares specials are on. Booked last week for approx $170 pp.

From Broome I recommend you take an organised day tour to Windjana Gorge, Tunnel Creek & Gibb River road $243 pp. Another tour Geikie Gorge & Aboriginal Adventure. Your car will not get to these places easily as you really need 4 wheel drive to get to the good locations. I think rental car coys do not alloy you to go off road. This is the real Kimberley. I will most likely book Broome day tours with Pinnacle Tours. www.pinnacletours.com.au however there will be other tour coys operating out of Broome.

Other web pages:
travelnt.com

www.visitwa.com.au



Just booked our accommodation in Broome monday 10th August, that is Broome Cup Weekend (horse racing)and hotels are heavily booked. Try Expedia web page to check out accommodation availability.

have a great trip

Mike

The Darwin to Broome section of the Savannah Way is the easiest, it's all sealed road. You can drive it by just staying on the main roads themselves but doing the Savannah Way usually entails features well off the side. If you go to Alice Springs and drive from there, you'll need about 3 days to just get to the Savannah Way (at Katherine). How long you take depends on how much of a look around you want. At Katherine there's Nitmiluk National Park with anything from 1 to 5 days walks on marked trails. Gregory National Park, near the Victoria River, has some spectacular walking country but nothing in marked trails. Keep River National Park has shorter marked walks, near the NT/WA border. Purnululu National Park (Bungle Bungles) is also spectacular with some shorter walks. Not to forget Geikie Gorge National Park which also has shorter walks.

while in sydney you could do the featherdale park.also check my pages on canberra,though it is not on your itenary list.it just takes a few hours from sydney by road.i found the suburbs of canberra very beautiful.i am sorry not to have uploaded my photos,but the kambah region with the urambi hills are indeed beautiful,wild and full of kangaroos.
you could google search for it.
hope this helps,

G'day
I've driven the savannah way a couple of times so here is my 2 bobs worth. Doing a breakdown in your itinery you have 6-7 days and that is not allowing any time in Darwin or Broome. The distance is just under 1900kms on bitumen road so either 2 or 3 days driving. Alice Springs to Broome is about 900km longer. All the attractions along there usually involve leaving the main road and are at least day trips. Plus they are usually on dirt roads in some cases 4x4 vehicles are recommended.

I personnaly would look at flying to Alice Springs and driving to Darwin then back to Sydney. There are a wealth of places to see. Its about 1450km so not to far and most of the attractions are reasonably close to the main road or bitumen roads to them. It will give you a good look at the various types of country sides from desert to lush rain forest. Places to visit - Mataranka hot springs, Kakadu, Litchfield National Park and there are some great pubs to stop at for lunch. You'll see and appreciate it more if you do a small area and take your time rather than sprinting through it.

Hope this helps JJ

I never even considered the drive from Alice Springs to Darwin. I'll look into that. Thanks!