Darwin to Broome: Five Decisions Before the Long Middle
Darwin to Broome is a chain of decisions rather than one road: surface, season, vehicle, water and where you may sleep, and how to take them in turn.
The long way is the trip
Australia rewards people who stop earlier than they planned. This is a magazine about the driving decisions that shape a road trip — how far to go in a day, where the free camps actually are, and what the whole thing costs once fuel and park fees are added up.
- Read this first
- What to sort out before your first pickup
- Most planned route
- The Great Ocean Road, in something small
- Longest drive
- Darwin to Broome, across the top
Start here
The piece we would hand someone who has just booked a van and is staring at a map.
Great Ocean Road in a Minicamper: What a Small Van Changes
What a small camper actually changes on the Great Ocean Road: parking, the Otway bends, timing the Apostles, and why the road is not a distance problem.
Routes worth the drive
Written from the road, not from a brochure. Distances, timing and where the plan usually breaks.
Alice Springs to Adelaide: Spacing, Roadhouses and the Turn-Back
The Stuart Highway as a spacing problem: where the long days fall, why Coober Pedy and Woomera split the drive, and the rule for turning back.
Browse by concern
Four ways into the archive. Most people start with the one that is currently worrying them.
Routes
Drives long enough to be worth planning, with the stops that actually change the trip.
Camping
Where you can sleep, what it costs and which nights you should book ahead.
Money
Fuel, food, park fees: the parts of a road trip budget people forget to add.
First trip
The things worth sorting before you leave, and the things you can work out on the road.
Everything published
Explore our road-trip guides. Dates show when an article was published or substantially updated.
- 01
Great Ocean Road in a Minicamper: What a Small Van Changes
What a small camper actually changes on the Great Ocean Road: parking, the Otway bends, timing the Apostles, and why the road is not a distance problem.
- 02
Darwin to Broome: Five Decisions Before the Long Middle
Darwin to Broome is a chain of decisions rather than one road: surface, season, vehicle, water and where you may sleep, and how to take them in turn.
- 03
Alice Springs to Adelaide: Spacing, Roadhouses and the Turn-Back
The Stuart Highway as a spacing problem: where the long days fall, why Coober Pedy and Woomera split the drive, and the rule for turning back.
- 04
Brisbane to Melbourne Southbound: Coast or Inland, and Who Each Suits
Brisbane to Melbourne southbound is a fork, not a route: Princes Highway coast against the Newell and Olympic Way inland. What each is for, and who it suits.
- 05
Seven Days Inland: A New South Wales Loop Without the Coast
A one-week inland New South Wales loop: the Blue Mountains, the western slopes and the Hunter, and why a loop beats the coast when you only have seven days.
- 06
The Albany Loop: Shape and Spacing on WA's South Coast
Albany, Denmark, Margaret River and Augusta form a loop, not a line. How the south-west corner is shaped, where the drives fall, and why direction matters.
- 07
Crossing the Nullarbor: Two Days of Arithmetic
The Nullarbor is a distance problem, not a sightseeing one. How to plan the crossing by direction, fuel spacing, fatigue, quarantine and legal nights.
- 08
The Gibb River Road: Deciding Before You Commit
The Gibb River Road is a decision with consequences, not a list of gorges. Three tests to run before you commit, and the rules for turning back on it.
- 09
How Far Can You Drive in a Day in Australia? A Method, Not a Number
There is no universal daily distance for Australia. What actually consumes a driving day, and a way to calibrate your own limit before the trip starts.
- 10
Is Australia Expensive to Road Trip? Where the Budget Actually Goes
Australia is cheap to drive through and expensive to be entertained in. Where an Australian road trip budget actually goes, and what is optional.
- 11
Campervan or Car and Hotels in Australia? The Trade You Are Actually Making
Not a vehicle comparison: a choice between two ways of travelling Australia. Where a campervan wins, where hotels win, and which trip shapes suit each.
- 12
National Park Entry Fees in Australia Are Not National: How the System Works
Park entry in Australia is set state by state, and often park by park. What a pass covers, what it never covers, and which agency to check before you go.
- 13
What an Unsealed Road Does to Your Itinerary
Corrugations, dust and water crossings do not just slow you down: they change how many nights you need, what you can carry and whether you can keep going.
- 14
Wilsons Promontory: Camping at Tidal River and What a Vehicle Can Do
Wilsons Prom is 50,500 hectares of coast 157 km from Melbourne, and the hard part is not the drive. Tidal River camping, access and booking reality.
- 15
Your First Road Trip in a Small Camper: What to Sort Before You Leave
Booked your first small camper? Five things to sort before you drive off: what the van includes, packing small, fuel and water, legal sleeps, and pickup day.
- 16
Planning Australia in the Right Order
Season, then length, then coast, then vehicle, then nights. Why the sequence matters more than the answers, and what goes wrong when you book a van first.
- 17
Driving Down Under: The Rules an Overseas Licence Does Not Teach You
Australia drives on the left, but the rules that catch overseas drivers are the state ones: speed limits by road type, roundabouts, school zones and phones.
- 18
Outback Motoring: Whether the Remote Leg Belongs in Your Trip
A decision framework for outback driving: whether the remote leg earns the days it costs, what changes when it does, and the turn-back rules to set first.
- 19
Driving to an Australian Event: The Arrival Problem
Gate times, on-site camping versus a town bed, arriving after dark and leaving in a queue. The logistics of driving a campervan to an Australian event.
- 20
Choosing Your New South Wales: Coast, Mountains or Inland
How to pick which part of New South Wales suits the length of trip you actually have, and where the costs really sit in each of the three regions.
- 21
Where the Money Goes in Tropical North Queensland
Reef days, long fuel distances and wet-season closures that force paid rooms: where money goes in far north Queensland, and which self-drive days stay cheap.
- 22
Cheap Campervan Hire: What 'Cheap' Is Actually Comparing
Cheap campervan hire is a comparison, not a price. What the word hides about class, dates, direction and distance, and where the operator's real figures are.
- 23
Campervan Hire in Australia: What the Depot Decides
Choosing a campervan in Australia starts with the depot, not the vehicle. What each end of the country changes about your quote, and where the rates live.
- 24
Book and Save: How to Read a Campervan Quote
The old booking page, replaced by something more useful: what a campervan quote is built from, what it leaves out, and where the operator's own rates live.
- 25
Travel Deals Australia: Telling an Offer From Advertising
The old deals page was affiliate copy for someone else's tours. This one explains how to test a campervan offer, and where the operator's specials live.
- 26
Roadtrip New Zealand: what this page is, and where to go instead
This was a short 2014 note about campervanning New Zealand. It is not current advice. Here is what changed and where the useful pages are now.
- 27
Mitzi's USA road trip tips: an archived post, and what still holds
A 2015 guest post about driving from Vancouver to Los Angeles. Kept as a record, with an honest note on which of its tips are safe to rely on.
