Where do you want to go? - A simple planning guide

Australia has so many fantastic and exciting places to visit that it can literally take you years to see all its beauty! Therefore for first time visitors trying to decide on what you want to see and fitting it all in your time frame can be very difficult, and it's really easy to make unrealistic plans and to turn your holiday into hard work and long hours travelling extensively across the country due to the route you initially planned which was too much in too short a time!

At Travel Wheels we suggest grabbing a pen and a good guide book or use our travel stories section of our website to make a list of the essential things you want to see. You are always welcome to email us or give us a call and we can recommend interesting and fun routes for you to have lots of fun times in Australia! Remember some of these magical places are 1000's of kms apart, so it worth thinking about the amount of time you have and then work backwards to see if you can fit in all the things you want to do in your timeframe.

We would seriously recommend splitting the country up into chunks if you have limited time and focus on one area only and see the rest of Australia on your next trip down under. This will allow you the freedom to not rush and to spend hours behind the wheel everyday watching Australia through your air conditioned window!

If you really want to do this, then our recommendation would be to take the bus, at Travel Wheels we want you to experience and explore this amazing country and have the time of your lives!

Here are the top 6 trips Travel Wheels customers have been in our campervans and our recommendations for the amount of days you need to have the right balance of driving and being able to stop and have fun along the way!

• FLYDRIVE - Sydney to Cairns or Cairns to Sydney = 21-28 DAYS MINIMUM
• Sydney to Cairns return trip = 40 DAYS MINIMUM
• Sydney to Melbourne return trip = 35 DAYS MINIMUM
• Sydney to Melbourne (coastal road & Mountains) to Adelaide and return via outback to Sydney = 50 DAYS MINIMUM
• Sydney to Cairns to Darwin to Uluru (Ayers Rock) to Adelaide to Melbourne and return to Sydney = 120 DAYS MINIMUM
• THE BIG ONE = the whole way around Australia = 365 days!

Another way to enable you to decide on where to go and what to see is to split your trip around Australia in to three main categories, and see which one is the most appealing to you, and base your holiday on it.

• The Coastline of Australia
• The Mountains and Forests
• The Outback

Below is a mini guide to the Coast, Mountains/Forests and the Outback, and see which one you prefer and this will help you to plan out your journey so that you get the most out of your trip.

THE COASTLINE OF AUSTRALIA

Australia is all about the beach and with approximately 35,000 km of coast, there are a lot of beaches to choose from! Most Australians lives within 20km of the coast and with the majority (over 85%) of them living between south Australian to Queensland.

Imagine parking up your campervan on another secluded beach with beautiful white sands and the sounds of the sea as you relax and take in the views. The great thing about Australia is that with such a small population, you will find endless beaches that back home would be crowded as they are so stunning and on this trip you will have them all to yourselves!

Australia is not just about beaches, how about driving along the world famous Great Ocean Road (Victoria) or diving on the Great Barrier Reef (Queensland).

How about hand feeding wild dolphins in Monkey Mia (Western Australia) or at Tangalooma Wild Dolphins on Morteton Island (Queensland). Imagine standing in the shallows and hand feed these gentle dolphins?

If you prefer something more adventurous, how about snorkelling with whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef? (Western Australia)

There are so many examples we could list here, but for a true flavour of real Australian life, it has got to be exploring the coastline to experience the beach culture and the many fun things you can do whilst travelling in your campervan around the coastline of Australia.

FOREST AND MOUNTAINS

If you come to Sydney, then a trip to the Blue Mountains (NSW) is a must! It truly is a wilderness you can explore and only ten years ago, a tree (Wollemi pine) previously scientists believed to be extent for over two million years was only just discovered!

How about exploring the forth longest mountains range in the world, which are known as the Great Dividing Range? How about Skiing in Australia or do you fancy climbing the highest mountain in Australia, then Mount Kosciuszko (2228m) in the Snowy Mountains (NSW) is for you.

If you enjoy bush walking then one of the best National Parks is the Grampians, which even in the middle of the summer when everywhere is red hot, it is lovely and cool and a fantastic place to explore the wilderness and the beauty of the national park, and a great way to get up close and personal with a lot of Australian wildlife.

Want to see the first sunrise in the whole of Australia? Then you should do the night hike to the top of Mount Warning, the first place in the whole of the country that sees the sunrise first thing in the morning and best of all its FREE!

Fancy exploring the second largest temperate rainforest in the world? Travel Wheels suggestion is to fly or take the ferry to Tasmania's beautiful Tarkine forests. Tasmania is a wonderful place; make sure you get a chance to experience it on your trip!

THE OUTBACK

When people talk about Australia, the outback is what it is all about for a lot of people. Imagine an area nearly as big as Europe, which is all yours to explore for FREE! Hiring or buying a Campervan/Station Wagon/4x4 is the best way to see this amazing place, and spending a few weeks, months or years under the stars at night is something not to miss out on and remember it's all for FREE!

Australia is a land of extremes, it is an ancient landscape, and you will find the outback a hauntingly beautiful place where time, space and people will melt away under the sun by day and the stars by night! Uluru (Ayer's Rock) is everyone's number one choice, but there is a lot more to the outback than this.

How about the unique underground town of Coober Pedy or just getting away from it all and feeling like you are on another planet with no-one for miles and miles as you stare out into the outback?

The World Heritage Listed Kakadu National Park with is aboriginal rock art, waterfalls, dense greenery and vast wetlands which are teeming with wildlife is another favourite with many travellers.

Why not use Alice Springs as your base for a few days and start exploring the impressive sights of the Balancing Marbles, ancient palm trees of Palm Valley, West Macdonald Ranges, Watarraka National Park and the Kings Canyon to name a few places.

Uluru (Ayer's Rock) - either climbing it or walking around its base, please remember the Aboriginal people prefer you not to climb it for cultural reasons and even if you do not climb the rock, it is still an amazing place to visit and chill out with a beer or a glass of champagne to see the sunset or sunrise as you see the rock change colours with the end or the start of the day. When you get close to the rock, well ok, 100kms from Erldunda many people actually mistake Mount Connor which is twice the size of Uluru and has a flat top as well for the rock, so make sure you are taking the picture of the right rock!

TRAVEL WHEELS TIPS - WATCH OUT ON THE ROCK!

Unfortunately many people have been injured or have died on the rock! Over the last few decades approximately 54 people have died attempting to climb the rock, so be careful, start early in the morning and drink and bring plenty of water, sun cream and a hat with you! In the middle of the summer, all walks should be completed by 10.30am at the latest and the recommendation is to drink one litre of water per hour on the rock.

Many of our Travel Wheels customers tell us they prefer the walk around the base as its is in fact far more interesting as it has many different things to see and do and of course does allow you to walk around the base in some shade as well.

For more information, visit the Uluru-Kata Tijuta Cultural Centre which is 1km from Uluru for lots of useful maps and to find out more about Aboriginal Culture and the People.

One note of caution when driving in the outback, watch out for the fifty metre long road trains - these monster trucks cannot stop quickly or pull off the road safely, so give them plenty of room, as they are the kings of the roads here in Australia!

As you can see there is a lot to do and we have only just seen the very tip of a large iceberg on what is on offer when you travel around Australia. You really do need a lot of time to see most of the sights of Australia. If you are short on time, one option that is very popular with Travel Wheels customers is our FLY DRIVE packages, as it allows you to have twice the fun in half the time, and they are an ideal way to make your holiday more enjoyable without covering the same road twice!

It's a brilliant way to save time, money and Australia is the ideal destination for a fly-drive holiday. There is simply no better way to discover Australia's beauty, and it will allow you to save a massive amount of time by not wasting any valuable days of your holiday backtracking! Click here for more information on FLY DRIVES.

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO GO TO AUSTRALIA?

There is always somewhere warm and sunny in Australia regardless of what time of year it is, but for travellers from the northern hemisphere, the seasons are reversed, so if its winter in the northern hemisphere, its summer down under! One thing to note is that even Australia's climate has now become a lot less stable in recent years, and the El Niño effect has also travelled to Australia. If you are normally used to having four seasons back at home, then this will only really apply to the southern part of the country which is located outside of the tropics.

AUSTRALIAN SUMMERS

Australian summers will be really warm with fantastic sunshine and the temperature can rise to heat wave conditions in excess of 40°C for brief periods! Always remember to slip, slop, slap as they say in Australia! 'Slip-Slop-Slap' is the name for a health campaign in Australia to get people to "slip on a shirt, slop on sun cream, and slap on a hat" when they go out into the sun in order to prevent skin cancer! Please remember if you do head inland to the outback then the temperatures can get a lot higher, and the great thing about a Travel Wheels vehicle is that they all have air conditioning!

AUSTRALIAN WINTERS

If you arrive in Australia in the winter months and you want really warm weather and lots of sunshine, then do not head for Victoria or New South Wales! These states will have short daylight days and possibly unpredictable weather that will make you feel like you are back in the northern hemisphere winter! However if you are in these states, then if you fancy Skiing in Australia, then the winter is the time to hit the slopes!

However for beautiful sunshine then it time to head up north to Queensland, Northern Territories or to Western Australia for fantastic sunny weather and temperatures up to and over 30 degrees in the winter months!

TWO SEASONS OF THE COASTAL TROPICS

As you head north towards the coastal tropics, then the weather falls into two seasons. For the traveller, the best time to visit these areas is during the hot and dry season from April to November. This means that the humidity will be manageable and the means your trip will be more pleasant with comfortable day and night temperatures so that you will be able to enjoy your holiday without sweating all the time!

THE WET SEASON

Is exactly that, very wet! However you must also realise that before the wet season there is the another mini season which is known as the "Build Up" which is normally in November or December before the rains commences. This is not the best time to explore this region, as it can be very uncomfortable, with stifling, near-total humidity! The only plus to this is that the interior is absolutely full with vivid colours and the countryside really does look beautiful, but its best to check local conditions if you venture inland with your vehicle as the roads may be washed away with all the rain, welcome to Australia!

WHAT ABOUT AUSTRALIA'S INTERIOR?

This is one vast space, and it is an arid semi-desert with very little rain, and incredibly high summer temperatures! The best time to visit the interior is during what is known as the transitional season which is between April and June, or October and November.

LAST AND NOT LEAST, WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO VISIT SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA?

Planning a trip to southern Australia, all you have to do is follow the summer months, it's that easy! The best time to visit is during the Australian summer, which is approximately from December to March.

If you are wondering when Australia's take the summer and school holidays its normally from Christmas through to the end of January and this does mean that prices are higher and beaches more crowded at these times, but with the Travel Wheels travel guides, you will always be able to find a secluded beach with a bit of research! Outside of these times it's brilliant with fantastic sunshine, and everyone in work, so this means the beach is all yours!

NOTE - Average temperatures are in Degrees Celsius

Now using this Travel Wheels guide with our "Before You Go - Planning Your Trip" section of our website, you will start to get a better idea of when are the best times of year to visit the parts of Australia that interest you the most. This now gives you more time to focus on having fun, as you have already done your research about when and where to go.

TRAVEL WHEELS TIPS - IF YOU WANT TO GO THE WHOLE WAY AROUND AUSTRALIA FOLLOW THIS SIMPLE RULE!

If you do want to go the whole way around, you need the minimum of six months and this is rushing things! Our suggestion is a full year, and to keep to the southern coasts during the Australian summer months and then head north to the tropics for the winters months.

With Travel Wheels Campervans, Station Wagons, 4x4s, Roof Tent Wagons and Fly Drives we just about everything you need for a fantastic trip. Remember we are always here to help, so if you need any more advice, feel free to email/call/Skype us and we will be more than happy to plan and advise you on a holiday of a lifetime with Travel Wheels.