Final Route Set

Australia Trip Planning #4

I finally established a route with which I am fairly satisfied. After 9 iterations (and numerous sub-iterations), I think I have the route that fulfills a number of criteria I was after. This it IT, folks.

(If desired, you can use the + and – signs on the map above to zoom in/out for details,
and hold down the mouse button to move the map up, down, and sideways)

Basically, I begin the ride in Perth on the west coast, cruising mildly through several close-proximity towns(1- see numbers on map below). This gives me time to get adjusted to the new environment and fine-tune my ride within “civilization.”  Then I dive into the Outback, traveling several thousand miles within it (2-7). After that I slowly transition out of the Outback and into the east coast (8). There, I ride part of the coastline (9) and then finally traverse (maybe) part of the Australia’s Great Dividing Range (10), before ending in Sydney.

The legs are described in a little bit more detail below:

• Leg 1: Perth to Kalgoorlie: Paved easy riding with many towns in between. 360 miles.
• Leg 2: Kalgoorlie to Laverton: Outback, first stretch. Towns get further apart. Still mostly paved. 250 miles.
• Leg 3: Laverton to Yulara: OUTBACK. Mostly dirt road until Yulara, where Uluru (Australia’s iconic Rock) is. Sparse section (670 miles)
• Leg 4: Yulara to Alice Springs. OUTBACK. Mixed dirt/paved (400 miles)
• Leg 5: Alice Springs to Coober Pedy. OUTBACK. Dirt road including Oodnadatta Track. Sparse section. (430 miles)
• Leg 6: Coober Pedy to Maree. OUTBACK. Dirt road. Sparse section (230 miles)
• Leg 7: Maree to Boulia. OUTBACK. Dirt road called Birdsville Track. Sparse section (540 miles)
• Leg 8: Boulia to Townsville: Emerging out of the outback. More towns. Concerns for water lessens. End at a Great Barrier Reef town. (600 miles)
• Leg 9: Townsville to Brisbane: Down the east coast. More people now. (850 miles)
• Leg 10: Brisbane to Sydney: Cut inland a bit to ride through a section of Australia’s Great Dividing Range, perhaps taking in sections known as the Bicentennial National Trail, before ending up in Sydney (620 miles)

As far as the duration goes, I have the legs roughly timed as such:

• Month 1-2 (April-May): Perth to Alice Springs (Legs 1-4)
  
• Month 3 (June): Alice Springs to Birdsville (Legs 5-6, and half of 7)
  
• Month 4 (July): Birdsville to Townsville (Legs 7 and 8)
  
• Month 5 (August): Townsville to Brisbane (Leg 9)
  
• Month 6 (September): Brisbane to Sydney (Leg 10)
  

This is obviously just a big-picture outline.  The details themselves will unfold in whatever way the ride will naturally take. But I’m very happy with the final structure of the route.  Fun, fun!