Travel Tips


 

Safety


In most towns in FNQ, NT and Northern WA, there are social problems with youth and young kids breaking in and stealing things.

 

The kids will break into caravans, or reach in through windows, come though roof vents to find your car keys and then steal and drive off with your car.  People have even woken up in their van to find the kids driving their car while they are in the van!


The kids will even break in, find your phone, hold it up to your face while you are asleep to activate the facial recognition and steal your money! They are very good at what they do!  

 

DON’T LEAVE YOUR CAR KEYS ON A HOOK JUST INSIDE THE CARAVAN DOOR.

 

You must be vigilant and lock everything all the time.  No exceptions! Don't leave valuables in sight as a temptation.  Imagine having your car stolen or loosing your personal belongings! It will ruin your once in a lifetime holiday.


Shopping Centres Be extremely careful when bringing your groceries and placing it in the car.  Kids will be watching and catch you when you drop your guard.  Be especially careful of purses and handbags while loading your groceries in the car!  DON'T PUT THEM DOWN

 

Places like Alice Springs may NOT be safe to walk around at night. 


Fuel Hoses at service stations

Kids will sometime swap the fuel delivery hoses and mix them up.  You think you’re getting diesel, but you’ve actually put unleaded in your car!  Always check the colour of the hose handle.  (Diesel is black)

Generally a diesel engine is safe with about 7-10% unleaded.  So if you have a 100L fuel tank, you could have up to 7L of unleaded.

Roadside assistance (NRMA, RACV or RACQ etc)

You should get the highest cover possible. Sadly “things” happen and having that extra coverage can make all the difference.

Remote Health Care

It's important to have a complete health checkup before you start your travel. The existing health infrastructure is often at capacity and becomes  overstretched by tourists.

Most aboriginal remote communities will have a Health Clinic staffed by Remote Area Nurses that can be in contact with Emergency Specialists in Alice Springs Hospital, Darwin Hospital or Broome Hospital. It is these hospitals with the Remote Area Nurses that will activate RFDS or Care Flight. 

If you are in remote areas, it may take many hours before medical help arrives. There are no "rescue helicopters" in Central Australia or North West WA

Sand Fly Bites you need to apply heat to the bite ASAP, and the sooner the better.  This is my favourite device Bite-A-Way  Even a very hot shower helps alot!

First Aid - carry a decent First Aid kit, Make sure you always carry bandages for snake bites.  Always be current on treatment for snake bites. See St John first aid treatment Snake bite treatment 

Outback Communications

Mobile reception is mainly in large towns, and Indigenous communities., there are many Optus Small Cells in tourist places. Ideally you should have both SIM cards for emergencies.

 

Optus vs Telstra Sadly you need both! While Telstra is common, there are many places where the government supports both Optus and Telstra. 

I use Boost ( BOOST) prepaid (ALL of the Telstra network). I also have an Optus pre paid eSIM, (costs $60 for 12 months). Most modern phones will accommodate either 2 physical SIM’s or 1 physical SIM and an eSIM.

 
Satellite Phones are a very wise investment, especially if not travelling in convoy with another car. 

EPIRBS are worth investing in if you are travelling remotely and alone.

Satellite Tracking Devices such  as SPOT and Garmin InReach are also a very good idea.  Unfortunately you can’t text to “000”.

 

UHF If you’re travelling outback you NEED an 80 channel UHF CB.  Even a 5 watt handheld is better than nothing.  Some of the cattle stations

have repeaters. Click here for  GME 5 Watt   You will always get better reception outide the car.  (Don't be afraid to stand on the roo in an emergency).


CelFi  CelFi  An installation of a CelFi will help voice communications, but does little to help data!  You need to have a very weak single that is then boosted. 

Internet.  A  Netgear Nighthawk  available from Telstra with an external antenna is probably one of the best. You can use either Telstra or Optus SIM card.

You can get an external antenna that makes a huge difference. See Telco Antennas 

Starlink   Starlink Satellite Internet is brilliant!  Works all over Australia and also allows you to make WiFi phone calls, however it's a little expensive. 

HF Radio is very good, but it's expensive and a little difficult to use, therefore it is hardly used anymore 


Booking Ahead

In touristy towns, most caravan parks will book out from 6 -12 months ahead. Also Karijini & Ningaloo Reef your need to book online.  Click  Bookings  for WA National Parks.  The WA booking system is hopeless, sadly I don't know of an alternative.  

 

Staying in Broome.

Broome is typically booked out 12 months in advance!  The Broome SDA Church operates an overflow caravan park, but ONLY when all other caravan parks are full and the Broome Shire then gives permission to open.  You can’t book ahead.  It’s first in best dressed!  We have seen people que out the front from 4am to get a site!  Maximum stay is only 7 days. The phone number is 0431 818 673.  This phone is only turned on when they know they will be open.

Tyre Pressures
As a rough guide start about 36-40 for your car and about 45-50 for your caravan.  Adjust accordingly

Sand Driving - For normal driving on sand you can reduce the pressure to about 18 PSI and in emergencies, you can drop the pressure to even 12 PSI.  

Corrugations - When corrugations are bad, drop pressures to around 25 PSI, but you will need to drive much slower.


A portable 12 volt compressor should be carried.  Also a repair kit to insert plugs into a tyre should also be carried.

Tyre Pressure  Monitoring

As you have no way of telling when you have a puncture on your caravan/trailer, I'm a firm believer in investing in Tyre Pressure Monitoring to get a warning for low pressure before it ruins your tyre.  You can then stop and change to a spare, if you can’t “plug” it.

Click on link for the one I use Safety Dave

4 PSI Rule

There are many variables that affect tyre pressures, including weight and speed. Measure your tyre, pressures when they are cold, then measure the pressure after driving for 1/2 an hour, the pressure shouldn't have increased by more than 4-5 psi. If the pressure increased by more than 4psi, then, there was a heavy load or you were driving very fast.

 

Underground Water

Most outback towns use bore water which has lots of minerals and while suitable for drinking, it will leave stains on your car if not chamoised or dried completely.   Go ahead and wash your car, but make sure you dry the car!  Broome is by far the worst.  The silica in the water is almost impossible to get off.


Apps

There are 2 main apps for finding campsites,  

Spending  App is a great app to keep track of your costs - free and very simple to use. Definitely in IOS, not sure about Android. 

Waze is my favourite navigation app - allows you to receive and also add alerts for fellow travellers

Petrol Spy - helps to find the cheapest fuel

Windy - is both an app and a web page. Windy   Very useful for forecasting winds, temperature, rainfall on a map.