John Timms

Should I Go Walkabout Again (A Motorhome Adventure) John Timms

After expressing my doubts and fears about leaving my comfort zone on the Gold Coast, in order to venture the road in an ageing motorhome in unfamiliar territory for an undefined destination, I reflected on that last long journey. We had experienced breakdowns, bad weather, boredom, relentless distance, but also saw breathtaking scenery, interesting people and the delight of the changing panorama day by day. There were times though when I wanted to get the next flight home. After our first adventure nineteen months ago, we felt ready for the road again. On our last journey we never got further than Melbourne, encountering the winter weather down south after a hot journey down the coast of New South Wales, We had scurried back north to the tropics in North Queensland having been too used to the warmer climate of Queensland. This time we decided to do 'The Big Lap' by road from Queensland up north through to the Northern Territory and coastal Western Australia, coastal South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and back to Queensland's Gold Coast - anticlockwise. It is better to travel this direction from east to west to take advantage of prevailing winds, avoid 'The Big Wet' monsoon weather up north and get back down south before the onset of the northern Summer. We have included fifty color photos from our collection together with maps and a listing of the road route taken. This diary commences with a short trip to Queensland's Sunshine Coast with a stop on the Gold Coast. The big journey took us up to Rockhampton and across central Queensland via Longreach and Mt. Isa. We continued down to Tennant Creek in Northern Territory to Uluru, then back up via Katherine to Darwin. From Darwin we travelled back down to Katherine across to Western Australia's Kununurra, and Broome down the coast to Perth, Margaret River and Bremer Bay on the south coast. This completed the first part of the lap around Australia. Diary 3 completes the second half of 'The Big Lap' back to Queensland and exploration of Tasmania.