Tagged: remote travel

Twenty years of fixing rigs taught me most breakdowns interstate come down to picking the wrong workshop. Here's how I vet one in an hour.

Not every empty patch of dirt is free to camp on. Here's how I actually work out who owns the ground and how to ask properly before I pull in.

Crossing three time zones with no daylight saving in some and half-hour offsets in others causes more missed calls and confused kids than any tech problem on the road.

A remote Gulf of Carpentaria loop from Karumba to Borroloola, with real numbers on fuel, water and where the phone signal actually stops.

Fixed tanks feel like the obvious answer for water, but jerry cans and bladders often win on remote trips. Here's the real trade-off, with numbers.

Nine years towing a 21ft off-road van has taught me which recovery gear gets used and which sits in the tunnel boot as dead weight.

You don't need a charter boat to see the Kimberley coast properly. Here's how to reach the gorges, tides and beaches from the Troopy instead.

The Tanami Track links Alice Springs to the Kimberley across 1,000km of red dirt. Here's what it actually takes in fuel, water and nerve.

Apps have made free camp hunting lazy and crowded. Here's how I actually find quiet, legal sites using maps, radios and old-fashioned local knowledge.

Most caravan and car policies have gaps once you leave the bitumen. Here's what to check before you rely on your insurer out bush.

Solo touring with a dog changes how you pick camps, manage heat and handle emergencies. Here's what nine seasons in the Troopy taught me.

A standard caravan service misses the things that actually strand you on the Gibb or the Anne Beadell. Here's the checklist I run before every remote lap.

A practical way to read a free camp in the first ten minutes, before you've unhitched or dropped the camper, so you don't end up stuck, bogged or moved on after dark.

How to work out what fuel will actually cost on a lap of Australia, including the remote premium most budgets miss entirely.

A dry-season creek looks harmless until it isn't. Here's how I actually assess a crossing before I put the Troopy and camper into it.