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Aussie Road trip Suggestions


privatepang

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So prior to the whole marriage and kids thing, my wife and I did an epic road trip in our 911 from Vancouver down to LA via the Pacific Coast Highway which are amongst my fondest memories. I'm wanting to do a similar aussie trip next year with the 2 young kids in tow in the 911. Budgeting about a month to do it starting from Sydney. 

Had a quick look on google maps and these are the top contenders so far starting from Sydney (all trips need to go via Dubbo Zoo):

-Drive via the south coast to Melb then onto Tassie return : 4000kms

- Drive via the south coast to Adelaide then onto Perth  5000 kms.

- Drive up the coast to Cairns is about 3000kms

Just wonder if anyone has suggestions on a good route / locations that gives me good driving roads  (minimal off road..) and enough interesting places to keep the family engaged. Open to getting to the destination and shipping the car home. At the moment, i'm leaning towards the Tassie option...

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First of all i am thinking why with 2 kids in a 911?

What sticks in my head is my uncle travelling to Perth to live in the mid '70's with 3 kids and a lot of gear on the roof rack of his Honda, it was summer as well and they were driving across the Nullabor, that little Honda crossed the country another 4 times.

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6 hours ago, TINGY944 said:

First of all i am thinking why with 2 kids in a 911?

I am thinking the same. Just the logistics of a family of 4's luggage in a 911 for a month. The other point is how do the kids get with motion sickness. As @Dave986 suggested, it is quite nice driving through the snowy mountains, which most of us would love, but Mrs Jeff would hate.

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Go for it, what a great idea!! Sure luggage may be limited, just more washing :D also depends how old the kids are.

Tassie good all year round, but maybe avoid May - July if the colder months bother you? (having said that you will still get amazing days in these months!). It all depends what you want, we just went down the Great Ocean Road in the middle of winter, weather was crap, crowds were low, roads were fairly free and we had a great time :)

We also did the coast road from Sydney to Canberra last year, great drive and well worth it, would have loved to have continued on to Melb via the coast but not enough time.

 

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Can't really dump them with the in laws for a month unfortunately and when they are still small(under 5) and fit thought it would be a nice adventure? 

Will need to do a few smaller trips first to gauge how they will handle it and if the car gets too hot in the rear.

 

Summer is out of the question with no A/C so Spring or Autumn would be the go. 

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1 minute ago, privatepang said:

Can't really dump them with the in laws for a month unfortunately and when they are still small and fit thought it would be a nice adventure? 

Will need to do a few smaller trips first to gauge how they will handle it and if the car gets too hot in the rear.

 

Summer is out of the question with no A/C so Spring or Autumn would be the go. 

928s have a neat feature where they are rear sun visors that partly cover the rear window to reduce sun/ heat in the rear seats, wonder if you could put something similar in a 911?

A trip like this would create memories that would last a lifetime :)

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1 hour ago, MFX said:

I am thinking the same. Just the logistics of a family of 4's luggage in a 911 for a month. The other point is how do the kids get with motion sickness. As @Dave986 suggested, it is quite nice driving through the snowy mountains, which most of us would love, but Mrs Jeff would hate.

I knew she'd have to have flaw somewhere Jeff. ?

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If you have a month, I'd go down the east coast of NSW which is amazing... down through Merimbula and Mallacoota and through to Melbourne via Gippsland, Wilsons Prom, Phillip island. Lots to do with the kids around Phillip Island with the penguins, seals, fun parks, etc. Then through to Melbourne and down for a lap of tassie.

Alternatively after phillip island you could drive to the ferry at sorrento, go across the bay and drive along the great ocean road through to places like Lorne, Apollo bay, Warrnambool, Port Ferry.... man, you could even drive through as far as Robe and Adelaide in SA!

But geez... that's a long time on the road in a 911 with kids!!

 

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On ‎7‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 5:52 PM, privatepang said:

So prior to the whole marriage and kids thing, my wife and I did an epic road trip in our 911 from Vancouver down to LA via the Pacific Coast Highway which are amongst my fondest memories. I'm wanting to do a similar aussie trip next year with the 2 young kids in tow in the 911. Budgeting about a month to do it starting from Sydney. 

Had a quick look on google maps and these are the top contenders so far starting from Sydney (all trips need to go via Dubbo Zoo):

-Drive via the south coast to Melb then onto Tassie return : 4000kms

- Drive via the south coast to Adelaide then onto Perth  5000 kms.

- Drive up the coast to Cairns is about 3000kms

Just wonder if anyone has suggestions on a good route / locations that gives me good driving roads  (minimal off road..) and enough interesting places to keep the family engaged. Open to getting to the destination and shipping the car home. At the moment, i'm leaning towards the Tassie option...

I'm bias being south aussie but would definitely recommend  Melb to Adl via South coast (great ocean road). Stop at bells beach on the way to Apollo bay use this as a base for exploring  the apostles and other coastal areas. Next onto Portland and then Mt Gambia. Penola and the Cooawarra for some great red wine, actually there is good wineries all the way from Penola up to  Padthaway. Then once you hit Adelaide there are some nice twisties in the hills, and more wineries and pretty much the same North and South of the city.

Trip home could be a bit of a challenge though unless you like the long flats of the hay plains.

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Cars and Coffee Byron Bay (formerly known as Byron Bay Chris) travelled around in his 911 with the young clan without too many problems, just don't mention Tamworth. He had roof racks for the extra gear.

The trip is over a month, so short trips, occasion stop overs and just cruising shouldn't present too many issues for the youngsters.

In January 1990, we did Karratha to Newcastle in a fully loaded Datto 1600, no AC, towing a 7x4 trailer with everything we owned, a 3 year old and a 5 year old in the back seat, without any issues by doing shortish sectors, starting early when cool, drive around 8 hours max, and stopping early.  Took us 7 days.

Great car that Datto.

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Yeah wouldn't do large legs. Ive done Great Ocean Road in a passat R36 and went down to Melb via the coast. Was a great drive. 

Think the coastal drive to melb + tassie is looking like the winner here so far. Potentially look at getting the kids to fly home from Tassie as well and i can do the long leg home myself would be an idea.

Thanks guys for the suggestions. Appreciate the feedback. 

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I wasn't suggesting large sectors, just giving an idea of what the youngsters can handle should the need arise.

If you do the Perth trip you can drive one way and take the train, with the car, in the other.

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On 7/31/2018 at 9:31 AM, 3legs said:

Or you could buy a 928 and have room for the kids AND luggage AND working aircon?

Yeh I know, I know i'm not helping am I?

 They scrape the front end in the Adelaide twisties with one person in the car mate, it would dig a trench with 4! ?

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1 hour ago, LeeM said:

 They scrape the front end in the Adelaide twisties with one person in the car mate, it would dig a trench with 4! ?

Good point Lee?

I think the 928 might need some new shocks or I need to lose weight because it was only scraping on the left handers?

I've got some video of it scraping with me swearing but I have no idea how to post it.

Sorry about the thread hijack.

 

 

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New shocks for sure, should not do that! How did you let 911s in front of you to see anyway, you must have been driving super S L O W...….. (yeah thread hijack continues in typical PFA fashion... :)

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18 hours ago, privatepang said:

 

Potentially look at getting the kids to fly home from Tassie as well and i can do the long leg home myself would be an idea.

Good choice through Vic to Tas. Great choice kids and missus on the plane home.... make it a Looooooong leg drive home, you'll need the solace with the car …. crisscross the direct route ie something like Bendigo Bright Alps Canberra Bathurst. A man needs his solace!

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3 minutes ago, LeeM said:

  Ofcourse you were ?

Hijack over, carry on

Aww, but I had so much more to write..... :cool07: (although I do tend to find that 911s do get stuck in the 928s "grille" haha...)

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Back on topic, there are some great roads in Tassie and some equally great views, along with some attractions suited to young kids (how old are yours?).

From targa stages to flowing country roads and it's all relatively close do no big jaunts needed :)

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