Has anyone out the had experience transporting their car back from Darwin to Melbourne (or M-D)?
Looks like its pretty tricky-Anything in the car has to be sent separately if sent via truck, if by train (Ghan) then the car has to be picked up in Adelaide, but all your kit can stay in the car..

Any thoughts or advice appreciated. I am trying to make the most of a 5 week break over September, by driving from Melbourne to Darwin up the centre.

A few years ago I wanted to hire a car and drive from Perth to Adelaide . Impossible as all the hire car companies price it out of existence.

Still on the bucket list as I got from Cairns to Melbourne so far.  FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

If you are planning on putting the car on the train and travelling on it as well, I would not recommend it unless you have a sleeper, & this is expensive.

We took the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Adelaide, we upgraded to a sleeper at a good price. Then Adelaide to Alice on the Ghan we did not upgrade as they wanted full price, & it was seriously expensive. I would not recommend the seating, they are terrible, it is really exhausting, you can't & are not allowed to lie down anywhere. Fly if you can't afford a sleeper.


Driving, can you try to see some things on the way to your most distant destination and other things on the way back to break up the long distances.

Our NSW trip we only drove during the day. I don't want to drive at night in the outback. Get going early without breakfast (still watch out for kangaroos), have breakfast half an hour or an hour later for your first break. You can get into a pretty good early start routine in a few days for these longer stretches. It is very easy to stuff around in the morning wasting precious time. It is very easy to waste 2 hours, or in other works another 200 km! Swap drivers every hour, just simply for everyone to stretch their legs & water a tree the scrub!

Eat anything other than sweets in the car. Once you sort out the fruit fly zone issues, apples & nuts etc, water & not sugary drinks will keep you going far better over the longer stretches. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

Last edited by Lightwater on 22nd May 2017 11:02 pm. Edited 1 time in total

FDG wrote:

Any thoughts or advice appreciated. I am trying to make the most of a 5 week break over September, by driving from Melbourne to Darwin up the centre.

We were there late Sept, bloody hot at around 40°C, take plenty of water, hats, light coloured umbrellas are really good & fly nets for the face, light coloured loose clothing.

We swam at Kings Canyon, very cool water, such a relief. You don't need a towel as you will snap dry with the extremely dry air. We found that you are constantly sipping water rather than bigger drinks at larger intervals. Make sure you have plenty of water & don't waste any on pointless things like cleaning.

This photo is 2 wide angle photos remapped. You need a super wide angle, fisheye or panoramic camera. Take a wide angle lens for the outback!

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Get to Kata Tjuta (Olgas) before dawn, 6am allowed in National Park.

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Indian Pacific, paupers' sleeper, but as least you can lie down, still far cheaper to fly.

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 Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

An old Ghan joke.

A passenger asked when is the train going to arrive as I am pregnant and the baby is due very soon.

The conductor said: You should not have got on the train while pregnant.

The passenger said: I was not pregnant when I got on the train! Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18