Australian Roads with Very Few Cars on Them

About a month ago I wrote an article called Driving Out Of Town in Australia when I posted pictures of roads as I, you’ve guessed it, drove out of town.

The towns, well cities, I drove out of were Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. Regular reader djmcbell noted in the comments that there weren’t very many other cars on the roads. Another reader, Dave Mc from Adelaide, saw that comment and sent me in some photographs of his own. He belongs to a car club where he is known as Old 8; it’s also the rego of his car…

Old 008This car…

Classic CarHe also likes to drive out of town and sent me a few pictures of when he drove quite some distance out of Adelaide. He drove over 500 km out of Adelaide to Broken Hill. Then, from Broken Hill, he took the road heading back south to Mildura in Victoria, another 300 clicks or so. This is what that road looked like…

Broken Hill 1 Broken Hill 2

Broken HillLast week, in my post Avoiding the Motorways and Taking the Back Roads in Australia, somebody commented about how lush the countryside looked. I did mention that it’s not like that everywhere, and as you can see from the above images, down south it can often get very dry and brown. My thanks to Dave Mc from Adelaide for those pictures.

I’ve also driven out of quite a few other cities myself, including Perth and Hobart, both were fantastic drives with very few cars. Unfortunately I didn’t take any road pictures on those trips. I did take a few nighttime pictures when I drove out of Darwin though. They are a bit blurry, apologies for that, but still not many cars…

Darwin 074 Darwin 075 Darwin 076

Driving out of DarwinThe most remote drive I’ve ever done though must surely be the journey from Alice Springs down to Uluru. It makes me laugh that if you look at Google maps it will tell you that it’s a 463 km journey that will take six hours and four minutes ‘without traffic‘.

I’m not surprised that they do not quote an alternative travel time for when the roads are busy, because they look like this…

Alice Springs and Uluru 039 Alice Springs and Uluru 040 Alice Springs and Uluru 041 Alice Springs and Uluru 042 Alice Springs and Uluru 045 Alice Springs and Uluru 047 Alice Springs and Uluru 117

Alice Springs to Uluru driveI was a little surprised at some point in the journey though when I did see some oncoming traffic, it wasn’t exactly a car though…

House movingAs you can see, there’s a bit of a traffic jam behind that thing, maybe Google do need a ‘with traffic‘ travel time after all.

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{ 11 comments… add one }
  • Warwick Wakefield February 10, 2016, 12:57 pm |

    An Australian politician once said, “When an ordinary man is driving his car he feels like a king.”

    Exactly right. And not all the outback roads are straight and flat; a lot of them are full of interesting turns and junctions.

    A lot of nerds say that the “Next Big Thing” in motor cars is the arrival of self-driven cars.
    But when you are in a self driven car you would feel like a passenger in a lift.
    The particular enjoyment that comes from being in control of your own car will be gone.

    The joy of going where you want to go, often on impulse, would be gone.
    Maybe self driven cars would be good for going to and from work, but that’s not the fun part of driving.

    Do many people feel like this? Well, the most popular show in the history of television is Top Gear, where Jeremy Clarkson and his mates investigate just which cars give you the most driving fun.

    Aussie roads could be better; you can drive from Sydney to Brisbane, along the Pacific Highway, and only drive within sight of the ocean for fifty miles or so; but still there is great fun to be had, especially if you’re prepared to turn off the highway occasionally and explore some back roads.

    • BobinOz February 10, 2016, 6:30 pm |

      I am one of those who feels like a king when I’m driving, I love to drive, especially along roads I’ve never been on before towards places I’ve never seen. I’ve done a fair bit of driving since moving here to Australia and I absolutely love the Australian roads.

      As you say, duck off the main roads every now and then and you’ll get a great view. Drive along the Great Ocean Road and you will have fantastic views pretty much all of the time.

      And yes, I want to drive my car, me, nobody else, certainly not a computer. What I want to know is when, notice I said when not if, the computer crashes your car on your behalf, do you claim against the computers insurance or will it be down to your own insurance even though you were an innocent passenger?

      Of course I know the answer to that one, which is why I think self driving cars are a ridiculous idea.

      • Warwick Wakefield February 11, 2016, 10:55 am |

        Right on, Bob.

        Computer driven cars; what an ugly idea,
        Warwick

        • Michael Permana February 15, 2016, 10:19 am |

          I also enjoy driving my own cars, especially in hill / mountainous area where there are a lot of corners!

          Related to the self-driving I believe it’s for people who don’t really passionate about driving. I know some friends who finds cars just as tool, like I see hammer and saw. Although they are tools, but for a passionate carpenter it’s the furniture making experience that they enjoy so much while some other people just want to have that chair as final product.

          Another upside of the self-driving is safety for drunkards. Sure there are alternatives like taxis or Uber, but it’s additional cost as well. One thing to note here, what if they can’t find their own car on the carpark because they’re too drunk? 😀

          • BobinOz February 15, 2016, 5:44 pm |

            Gosh, I don’t think the idea of computerised cars is so that people can get drunk and drive home. And if these computerised cars are powered by Windows 10, I’d suggest people become passionate about driving as quickly as possible and stay sober 🙂

  • peter.taylor February 10, 2016, 2:21 am |

    Hi bob
    Have the cars out there got bigger engines to cope with the large distances
    you have to travel

    • BobinOz February 10, 2016, 5:40 pm |

      Not specifically Peter, no, although we do have plenty of cars with big engines if you want them. Mostly though there is a preference for 4 x 4’s for some of our more rugged terrain and also some beaches allow you to drive on them.

      But then again we also have plenty of people driving around in a Hyundai Getz.

  • jim February 9, 2016, 6:54 pm |

    when we went to Adelaide almost 14 years ago I was told if u want to lose a day drive along the nullarbor any exciting photos of this road ?

  • djmcbell February 8, 2016, 9:40 pm |

    So for Alice Springs to Uluru, Google needs a “without traffic” and a “stuck behind a house” setting.

    Still needs to be said, I feel like I could drive on those roads. A lot of people around my neck of the woods seem to have forgotten they have these things called “indicators”.

    • BobinOz February 9, 2016, 8:24 pm |

      Well I certainly know where my indicators are, but on that particular journey from Alice Springs to Uluru I only used them once. There is only one turn.

      I used them out of habit, if I hadn’t have used them, nobody else would have known except me and maybe my passengers.

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