Around Australia in a Land Rover

[troopertripper]

Just a fantastic report and I've been thoroughly entertained!
My dream trip for me, my wife & little girl. I love Australia and although I have never been there, we hope to be able to pretty much retrace your route.
Thank you for sharing your trip with all of us, and do you have an idea when/how you'll be publishing your book (self/commercially).
Cheers, J.P.

 

[Iain_U1250]

We are working on the book, have to narrow down from around 10,000 photos to about 100. So far we have narrowed it down to 380 photos, so now to sort our the final ones and the layout. We will self publish is, on one of the website that allow you to sell it. We are thinking about donating the profits to one of Breast Cancer research programs, but need to get the book finished first before we get int the detail of publishing etc.

 

[Timothynaustin]

Amazing trip Thank you 4 sharing

Looking forward to your Book:ylsmoke: we shall be getting a copy each, any hints or tips on its release date would be appreciated very very much.
Your photography is Amazing and that is an understatement.
Hope your wife is well on the road to recovery, I also went through Cancer and am in remission also 4 heart attacks and one Bypass op. All ok now and trip reports like yours Inspire the rest of us immensly.
God bless and Thanks for taking the time to share with the wider offroading community :safari-rig: I now I speak for all of us when I say.
Fabulous ;-):wings:

cheers Tim:coffeedrink:

 

[mrFelix]

calm down Tim or you'll give yourself another heart attack

 

[Iain_U1250]

Thanks Tim, I'll post a link to the book site when it's finished.

Iain

Looking forward to your Book:ylsmoke: we shall be getting a copy each, any hints or tips on its release date would be appreciated very very much.
Your photography is Amazing and that is an understatement.
Hope your wife is well on the road to recovery, I also went through Cancer and am in remission also 4 heart attacks and one Bypass op. All ok now and trip reports like yours Inspire the rest of us immensly.
God bless and Thanks for taking the time to share with the wider offroading community :safari-rig: I now I speak for all of us when I say.
Fabulous ;-):wings:

cheers Tim:coffeedrink:

 

[Rumpig]

a great read Iain and some beautiful pics through out...brought back some fantastic memories of our trip through the Gulf a few years back, including a brief stop over at Lorella Springs.
i think i recall you mentioned Butterfly Springs was packed at the time of your visit and you moved on, did you get to see all the butterflies that were at the spring at all? we were there late in the dry season and had the place pretty much to our own small group, the amount of butterflies at the spring was truely amazing to see.

 

[Iain_U1250]

There we so many vehicles at Butterfly springs I think even the butterflies would have had to sleep on the road . First time we were ( Oct 2012) there we had the place to ourselves, but did not swim as the water was pretty stagnant, no butterflies though. This time we did not even make it inside the camp ground, too many cars We did see hundred of butterflies at Lorella Springs when we walked up to one of the waterholes though. Hopefully next time we will get to stay at Butterfly Springs.

 

[piratexpress1369a]

great trip and i love all the pictures too ..again thanks for the link ..thanks for sharing ..

 

[lewispaul]

Your trip was really interesting. i have been read it thoroughly and when I was reading it really makes me feel like I am also along with you people.
Ultimate

 

[Iain_U1250]

Glad you enjoyed it. We can't wait to go on another trip.

 

[caprocker]

I'm amazed at how much Australia looks like west Texas. Have thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Australia is on my list!

 

[graynomad]

I think you will find that Oz is very much like the US, just with 1/10th the people. Heck you will even be able to understand the locals (for the most part )

The main difference is that you guys drive on the wrong side of the road, but in the outback people drive in the centre anyway (or on whatever side has the least corrugations) so that won't matter either.

 

[Iain_U1250]

Australia is a great place to visit, like Rob says, most people drive in the smoothest part of the road in the outback, but you have to remember to stick to the left when something is coming towards you. You can often drive all day without seeing another vehicles. We move from one side of the road to the other depending on what looks the smoothest. Sometimes there are five or six definite wheel tracks, sometimes only three and often only only two wheel tracks that wander across the whole width of the road.

On a normal outback road, you can see approaching vehicles from the dust plume. We just move over to the left side of the road, and put our car into neutral and coast past the other people. This does two good things, first your engine is sucking in the minimal amount of air and dust, second, your tyres are not throwing up so many rocks at the other cars opposite. If everyone did this there would be less broken windscreens. If the other vehicle coming towards us is a road train, we pull off the road and stop, you can't see through their dust clouds for a good 10-15 seconds, and there is often another road train not far behind the first one.

We were heading up to Mitchell Plateau on a pretty rough road with only three wheel tracks, and came around a corner to find a Britz 4WD heading straight for us, we swerved off the road to the left to avoid them, whilst they did not move at all keeping in their two wheel tracks. We then heard the "copilot" call out on the radio to "what out for the out-of-control Land Rover driving on the wrong side of the road" to the people behind them. My wife then explained in a few choice phases which side of the road you are supposed to drive on here in Australia. Our visitors from overseas had forgotten which side of the road to drive on, and knew nothing about what to do when passing other vehicles on a narrow road it seems. I wish that one of the mandatory things for hiring a Britz 4wd would be a one day course in off road driving and especially on how to drive in the outback. Heaven help them if they try that with a road train or something big.

I think you will find that Oz is very much like the US, just with 1/10th the people. Heck you will even be able to understand the locals (for the most part )

The main difference is that you guys drive on the wrong side of the road, but in the outback people drive in the centre anyway (or on whatever side has the least corrugations) so that won't matter either.

 

[Sunshinecatcher]

Great blog

Thanks Guys for the great story keep it up, I am planning my trip end of June with me and the dog so we shall see where we end up.

 

[chrisyleigh]

Just spent all day reading this word for word
Very inspiring!
Great read
thankyou