We Took the Road Less Travelled But Where the Hell Are We?

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In Oz, it's pretty popular to rent a campervan to drive all over this immense country.  To our surprise we found out that Oz is just slightly smaller than the United States in physical size.

The idea of exploring Australia's east coast on wheels had all the components of adventure, the open road and freedom.  Except for one minor detail.  We didn't have a clue on how to drive standard transmission (campervans in Oz rarely come in automatic).

Australia's east coast on wheels had all the components of adventure, the open road and freedom

Our campervan named LUCY.
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Knowing this, I asked my uncle to give me a crash course (insert pun here) on his old standard van in the backroads of Kalbarri.  We drove around for 20 mins and I didn't even get out of second gear.  Good enough.

We picked up the campervan in Adelaide and did up the paper work.  Nowhere did they ask if we knew how to drive standard so we figured we didn't need to disclose anything more and worry them further.  Besides, I was confident in my ability to learn fast.  And Jenn was confident with her chiropractic coverage for the pending whiplash she would receive at the hands of my shifting.

Sunset at Byron Bay
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At the rental place, we got a little tour of our home for the next 21 days.  The campervan was fitted with all the comforts of home but shrunk down into Hobbit sized proportions in order to fit into the van.  It had a sink, a mini-fridge, a microwave and a two burner gas stove.  The dining table was detachable and formed the roomy double bed when it was put across the back seats.

So before we could even chime "Mr. Transmission is a friend of mine" we were handed the key.

Touring the Barossa wine region.
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We didn't really drive the van out of the rental lot.  It was more like we put it in neutral and let it roll onto the street.  Not to worry though.  We had a handy cheat sheet on how to drive standard that we printed from the internet.  Jenn read it outloud as we rolled out of sight into the small residential side roads to practice.

The first hour of trying to get out of the city was not easy.  There was a lot of jerking and shaking and cursing in the slow lane as I fumbled with the stick shift.  It was like our van was having an epileptic seizure down the street and motorists around us could tell we were new at this.  They gave us plenty of room.  Eventually, I got the hang of it.  Eventually.

Rise and shine. Another morning in the campervan.
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Over the next 3 weeks we travelled up the coast.  We had the essential Austraila Camp 4 book which is the bible of road tourists in Oz.  This awesome road atlas shows every possible free overnight rest area and budget caravan park in Oz.  It was vital for finding places to park and sleep.

We defintely had some good and bad days in the van.  The good was the incredible freedom of touring on our own.  We were really big on getting off the beaten track and checking out the smaller towns.  Bus tours don't really go to the towns we saw like Wagga Wagga and Wollongong (these names still make us laugh).  Our next day's plan was dictated entirely by what we wanted to do and how much we wanted to drive.

Kangaroo closeup
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There's a funny camaraderie on the road as you pass by other campervans coming in the opposite direction.  You give them a little wave or a nod to acknowledge each other because on some stretch of road they may be the only signs of life for miles.  And sometimes when you pull into a rest stop you usually chat up other campervans like they were neighbours.

The bad thing about the roadtrip was the long and boring driving days.  Since we got caught up longer in some places, like the Barossa wine region (no surprise there), we had to make up some distance with long drives.  The boring parade of endless broken white lines made it easy to turn the steering wheel hard right at 120 km/h for some excitement.  And to make matters worse, we also had to suffer the untold agony of switching between the only CD we had and horrible 80's rock on AM radio (you can hardly get any reception in the outback and when you do it always seems like Hall and Oates).

Kango and her joey
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Some excellent roadside entertainment was provided by the roadsigns posted by the Ministry of Transportation warning drivers against driving while tired.  The warnings were pretty direct and a little morbid like "Tired Drivers Die" or "A microsleep can KILL".

By the end of the the end of the trip we covered a little under 6,000 km of road and ended up at Cairns in the tropical north.

Driving a slow, obnoxious campervan up a hill and annoying the traffic behind you is not only for old retirees.  We had a great time doing it.

Koala cuddling time. The well behaved Koala just kept eating leaves non-stop the whole time.
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Cheers,

Lenny and Jenn