Best Time to Travel Australia by Caravan? Start With the Seasons
Once you’ve decided you’re actually going, and not just talking about it, the next real question is where you want to be and when. This is where a lot of families get their departure planning backwards, they pick an exact date first, then try to fit the map around it.
It works better the other way around: start with the season, then narrow down to a date. Get the seasonal shape right first and the exact date becomes a much easier decision later.
– For planning your route around the seasons: Hema Maps
Don’t Go to the Top of Australia Over Summer
We all know this one as an Australia overview: don’t go to the top part of Australia over the summer period, because you’ve got wet season, roads are closed, it’s not touristy, and it’s going to be really, really hot. You’ll probably want to start your summer travel down the south of Australia instead.
Winter Flips It: The Top End Is Where It’s At
Vice versa, during winter, the top of Australia is just awesome, unless you want to go to the snow. So have a think about where it is you actually want to go, and what’s really important to you.
Put Down Months, Not Exact Dates, First
Once you know roughly where you want to be, put down the months you want to be there, not exact dates. Don’t put down that you want to be at Ningaloo to see the whale sharks on the 10th of June, for example, because that puts a lot of pressure on you to get there. You do need to book some of those specific experiences later, but at the planning stage, just put the rough month.
Think About the Whole Loop, Not Just One Destination
It’s easy to fixate on one bucket-list spot and plan everything around getting there on an exact day. It works better to think about the whole loop first, roughly which regions you want in each season, then let the specific bookable experiences slot into that shape once you’re closer to actually being there. That way one delayed booking or a change of plans somewhere along the route doesn’t throw out the whole trip.
Our Thoughts
Season should genuinely come before date in this process. Deciding you want to be in the Kimberley in July tells you almost everything about the shape of your whole year, whereas picking the 1st of March first and then trying to work out where that puts you in the country is the harder way round.
Get the rough shape of the year sorted by season first. The exact date comes later, once you’ve worked backwards from all the other commitments in your life, and it’s a lot easier to lock in a departure date once you already know roughly which half of the country you’ll be starting in.
- Stuck Talking About Your Big Lap Instead of Actually Planning It? Here’s the Trap
- You’ve Got a Departure Date. Now Work Backwards From It.
