Day by Day Guide

Now that you've gotten the overview, state-by-state with highlights and images, you may be wondering what I really think my agenda will be: how far per day? When are the long days and when are the more relaxing days? How many miles will I travel on a long day? Actually, I won't be answering that one in miles as Google maps (and my rental car) think in kilometers. If it has been a while since you've thought in kilometers, the conversion is about 1.6 km/ mile. Put differently 100km/hr is about 62 miles/hr. Actually, because most of these roads are 2-lane roads, I do not expect to average 100km/hr at any point on the trip. The images in this entry are both from Western Australia Tourism and no, unlike this first image I do not intend to be on dirt roads (not that a little dirt won't kick up).

This guide does not set in stone where I'll be. There are few reservations along the way (dates in bold are reserved). This is more like a benchmark so that I will know if I am ahead of the pace or behind it. It will also let those of you following along at home know what the plan is and how far from it I am straying at any given time. Anything from car problems and weather (big issue early in the trip) to route changes, towns that do not look inviting, and Alex's sleep will slow or accelerate things. Prior to Melbourne, many days will involve longer days on the road, but you can be sure Alex and I will get up early and stay up late so that he has fun. As I've mentioned before, I expect to drive almost exclusively during the day - we'll have about 13 hours of daylight most of the time (tropics have shorter days, but as the Southern Hemisphere days get shorter we'll be further south mitigating the effect). Each city is listed with the date when I would spend the night there. "Travel" indicates the estimated time (rounded to nearest hour) & distance we will drive that day to get there (according to Google maps). Also, I've allowed for extra days in case things get delayed by listing stays in Monkey Mia, Perth, and Adelaide a little longer than I expect. Style comment: sorry for the elipses (...), but creating a table and spacing does not come naturally to this web format. Enjoy!

DATE...DESTINATION...TRAVEL...SCENERY/ HIGHLIGHTS
Jan 26-28...Cairns...23 hrs (air)...Cairns, Kuranda, Port Douglas, the Hilton
Jan 29...Normanton...8hr 678km...mountains, jungle, rain, big crocodile statue, maybe Gulf of Carpenteria
Jan 30...Mt Isa...6hr 492km...more jungle, more of that big crocodile statue
Jan 31...Tennant Creek...7hr 648km...out of jungle into serious desert
Feb 1...Katherine...9hr 750km...Devil's Marbles, Katherine Gorge, more jungle
Feb 2-3...Darwin...7hr 538km...Kakadu National Park, Timor Sea, probably watch Super Bowl while explaining American Football rules to locals
Feb 4...Kununurra...9hr 803km...jungle, tributaries, much water
Feb 5...Fitzroy Crossing...8hr 656km...Bungle Bungles, the Kimberly Range
Feb 6...Broome...4hr 364km...Broome is a cool town on the Indian Ocean
Feb 7...Karratha...9hr 779km...ocean on my right, desert on my left
Feb 8...Wooramel...9hr 753km...see yesterday
Feb 9-10...Monkey Mia...2hr 206km...swim with dolphins in Shark Bay, exit Highway 1 for first time since Feb 4
Feb 11-14..Perth...10hr 840km...Rottnest Island beach, Perth, Fremantle
Feb 15...Margaret River...5hr 295km...wine tasting
Feb 16...Denmark...4hr 301km...wine tasting, tree-top walk in Walpole
Feb 17...Esperance...6hr 514km...drive along Southern Ocean, enjoy my birthday
Feb 18...Eucla...10hr 912km...see yesterday, but without people
Feb 19...Pt Augusta...11hr 959km...see yesterday, still no people
Feb 20-23...Adelaide...4hr 307km...best wine country on earth (and people again)
Feb 24-Mar 1..Melbourne...9hr 721km...Aneta, Melbourne, Ocean Road, Phillip Island penguins
Mar 2...Lakes Entrance...4hr 320km...drop off Aneta at the airport, head for the rolling hills of East Gippsland
Mar 3-7...Sydney...9hr 704km...Canberra, Sydney, Bondi Beach
Mar 8-14...Port Macquarie...5hr 383km...beach time, subtropical
Mar 15-17...Gold Coast/Brisbane...7hr 524km...beach & city, back into jungle
Mar 18...Maryborough...4hr 311km...Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo in Beerwah
Mar 19...Mackay...8hr 697km...up the coast, deeper into the tropics
Mar 20...Townsville...5hr 388km...picturesque town, children's water park
Mar 21-22...Cairns...5hr 345 km...back in case we missed anything
Mar 23...Sydney...2hr (flight)...one more night on the town, right Alex?
Mar 24...San Francisco..18hr (flight)...stories to tell (if I haven't posted them all)

If you assume we put another 50km on the car during every "extra" day in a town (29 days in total), we should drive approximately 16,638 kilometers or 10,334 miles.


Opportunities like this really don't come along very often. I can't wait to get started.