obourke

Looking to go on a three month trip around Australia.
Have been doing research on all the tourism websites
- http://www.visitnsw.com/
- http://www.westernaustralia.com/
ETC.
Need advice on secret stops, great places to camp(that are free), best times to travel in each state ETC

Any help would be great!'
Thanks

tasmangirl

Time of year? This will make all the difference to your holiday. Summer (Jan-Mar)will be far too hot in NT, WA and North Queensland. Winter (Jun-Aug) will be too cold and wet for Tasmania and Melbourne.
Australia is a big country, nearly as big as the USA. Traveling around takes time and you are best to fly between places.
We live in New Zealand and often escape our winter to Brisbane or the Sunshine Coast and the weather is usually lovely. We went to Cairns and Port Douglas in May 2014 and again the weather was great.
Noosa is probably my favourite beach place in Asutralia. Not that I have been to them all but it's very pretty there.
Decide where you really want to go and then pick the best time for those places.

michelhuebeli

What months are you looking at? I'm with Tasmangirl here - timing is critical. I used to live in Sydney and had to travel all over for work, and learned what a difference the seasons make. I'm also wondering just what you mean by "around" Australia? What kind of vehicle will you have?
Tell us more, won't you?

eliztravels2

When we did a caravan trip from Perth north to Coral Bay some years ago, we met many travellers doing a circuit around Australia. Some families had taken their kids out of school for a year and were home schooling as they travelled. It was fascinating to pull into a campground and see all the various rigs and setups people were using. We didn’t do free camping, so can’t make any recommendations in that regard, but did very much enjoy that method of travel.

I agree in general with tasmangirl that you have to carefully plan around the seasons. However, to say WA is too hot (or too cold, for that matter ) at any time of year is misleading. Look at the map: the state stretches from the far north to the far south, so it depends entirely on where you are in the state at any given time. South of Perth is quite lovely in the summer.

Also, while comparing Oz and the US in terms of size is useful, it is only part of the story. Australia is much more sparsely populated and in the interior is almost devoid of human habitation. Even with a carefully planned route you could often be driving long distances between small communities and even basic necessities such as water, gas, food and car repair can be hard to come by and expensive.

I suggest you get a rough idea of itinerary including time of year you will be travelling and post it here. Use the feedback to come up with a realistic plan and then we can help you fill in the details. No matter when or where you go there will be grand things to see and much, much more you will have to pass by because of limits of time and money.

Sounds like a great adventure. Happy planning.

marg

I'm sure that there are lots of Australians who could give you advice but we need to know how you are travelling (sounds as though you will be camping with a tent or perhaps a motorhome?) and what time of year.
We have wandered all over Australia - on one trip we drove from Melbourne, through South Australia and north to Coober Pedy, Alice Springs, Uluru, as far as Katherine. From there we turned west to Kununurra, visited the Bungle Bungles, went to Broome, wandered our way south to Perth, then visited the south of Western Australia and drove across the Nullabor back to Adelaide and then home again. This was between June and September and we only had three months so crammed in as much as we could. In a similar time frame, we did a half-circuit of eastern Australia.
Hope this gives you some idea of what you could do.