Recently I drove around Australia in 12.5 days, going through all mainland capital cities. It was simply a fantastic experience and I am more in love with our great nation now than when I was as I started out. I blogged each day and those blogs are available on this site. However I wanted to give a summary blog with statistics etc. So here it is.
Distance: 13,129 kms
Actual travel time– when the car was moving: 118 hours and 42 minutes
Average Speed for the entire trip: 111 kms/hour
Average Distance covered each day: 1051kms
Max speed: This figure is subject to a non disclosure clause
Biggest Day: – Last Day – Bordertown to Nowra. 1322.9kms
Shortest Day: – Day Four – Cloncurry to Three Ways Roadhouse.
Day Breakdown: Nowra to Urunga. Urunga to Rockhampton. Rockhampton to Cloncurry. Cloncurry to Three Ways Roadhouse. Three Ways to Darwin. Darwin to Kununurra. Kununurra to Broome. Broome to Karratha. Karratha to Geraldton. Geraldton to Norsman. Norsman to Ceduna. Ceduna to Bordertown. Bordertown to Nowra.
Ipad Travel App used: SpeedTracker. Cost is $8.85
Rating for the App: 9.5/10
Fuel used: 1313 litres
Average Fuel Consumption: 10l/100kms
Average cost for fuel over the entire trip: $1.79
Half Way Point: Halls Creek in WA
Known Fatalities: 7 lizards and 6 birds.
Most Expensive Coke: $5.50 at Eucla
Most Expensive Fuel: $2.10 at Camooweal
Camera: Canon 600D with three different lens included my new Canon Lens 100-400 mm.
Photos Taken: 1887
Favourite Photo:
Where would I like to go back and spend more time: Anywhere between Darwin and Broome.
Nicest Motel: All Seasons at Kununurra
Worst Motel: Three Ways Roadhouse just north of Tennant Creek.
Where wouldn’t I stay again: Karratha Tavern. The accommodation itself was ok. I went into the Tavern for Dinner and was kind of shocked to see the waitresses in Knickers and Bras only. This was not a strip joint, this was purely a pub.
Friendliest Motel Operator: Norsman Golden Chain Motel
Biggest time without phone signal: Between Norsman and Ceduna
Number of Speeding fines: One
Town I simply didn’t like: Tennant Creek. Very sad atmosphere. Boarded up. Looked like it was preparing for a riot. I didn’t like Port Hedland. Has a weird feel about it.
Puzzled by: The lack of wildlife I saw. I only saw 4 kangaroos and 2 lots of emus the entire trip. No Camels, no snakes. I was surprised by the lack of wildlife.
Scariest Moment: Apart from when I nearly fell over a cliff taking a photo, was when I was laying down on a wharf at Karratha to take a photo and I thought my car key had fallen out of my shorts pocket and through the wharf into the ocean. I was taking this photo.
Most Solemn moment: Walking up a WWII airstrip near Darwin with the Australia flag in hand, thinking of the activities of times passed at the airstrip
Advice: When you are driving along and you see something that catches your eye and you think – that would make a good photo – turn around and go back and take the photo. Like for example this:
Key thing I learnt: WA is so much more than Perth. Loved northern WA.
Funny Sight: All the road side displays that people have erected. Australians have a great sense of humour and that is shown by their road side displays. For example:
Was it too quick to see anything?: I have had a few people say – well you aint going to see much doing the trip this quick. I guess my answer is: I saw more of Australia than if I hadn’t of done it and 1887 photos says that I saw plenty of it and had a blast doing it. I saw plenty and loved it.
Creative Idea: I took creative photos of the flag as I travelled around. This was a fun thing to do. Here is link to my blog with the flag photos But here is one example:
Wow Moment: Seeing three large simultaneous Willy Willys going across the desert just south of Port Hedland.
Another Wow Moment: Seeing the cliffs at the Great Australian Bight as I crossed the Nullarbor.
Would I do the trip again: Absolutely.
Do you have any questions, if so put them in the reply section of the blog and I will answer them.
Categories: Australian, Travel
peterpilt 
Hi Peter – I followed this trip of yours from beginning to end and loved it all. So very interesting seeing the changes in scenery and landscapes day by day. It reminded me what I beautiful country I come from – esp. as I sit here typing this in New York City and looking out the window into a snowstorm!
Thanks again for sharing this experience with us all – what an amazing adventure!
Phil
Peter, awesome blog and trip, love the pics, I am thinking the lack of wildlife may be due to the abundance of greenery , the animals don’t need to feed near the road as they do in dry times.
Did you travel the trip alone? f so, would you now have preferred to have travelled with another person? If alone who took the photos with you in them?
I travelled alone. My wife was going to come with me for half the trip but it didn’t work out. The photos of me are taken with a timer and a tripod.
I loved the time alone. Having done it alone, I would take my wife with me next time..
I also followed you every day, and loved it all. We certainly live in an amazing wide brown (and green) land. Thank you for doing it, sharing it, stat stuff, photos etc.
Peter, how did you deal with fatigue when driving such long hours? Seems like a lot of distance to cover on your own without a co-driver…
I didnt really get fatigued at all. The key was that I kept my body clock on NSW time. So i was in bed by 8:30am WA time and up at 4:30am WA time. So by 9am WA time, I had already done 500ks most days. This broke the back of what I was doing. Then I could take my time taking photos etc for the rest of the day as as i travelled.
like a celebrity … you have been followed with great interest & curiosity 🙂 that how it is with our Ps’ …we love to know what your up to & what your opinion is 🙂 i have enjoyed your journey wholeheartedly & hope you got the feeling that most if not all of us loved going along for this journey with you. On a spiritual level i pray that you received answers to questions & direction for where & how you are to go in 2014 …for yourself & for your family & then your church family 🙂 any questions ummmm….. nope i’m all good. i’m sure as you share & preach anything that God wants me to know will be revealed 🙂 God bless you Ps Peter ….i’m so glad God gave me a great new Pastor (1 that’s not afraid to take risks) & wonderful new friend 🙂 xx
Where did you get the speeding fine?
I am doing Brisbane to Perth in a month and a half time.
Just near Ceduna
mmmm
12 days
driving 10 hours per day
at an AVERAGE speed higher than speed limit on most of the roads.
Musta been in a Mazda with number plates PPZ.00M 🙂
Beats following Google Maps though. Although their trip would be 200k less they take an extra 25 hours driving time for an average of (only) 90k/h. On my trips I’m happy if I can average close to 80. [and at my age one day’s enough]