So, nothing screams road tripping like COVID border restrictions, we know! But with precautions you can experience travelling during COVID in Australia. Safely, for your family and those you meet or catch up with on your travels.
Why travel Australia in COVID
Like most people in these crazy times, especially as fulltime travellers it had been some time since we had seen our family and close friends.
You know the drill, nieces and nephews, grandparents getting older and you just have to reconnect or plug back in every now and then. Family connections are very important not just for your kids but it’s good for the soul.
So, we decided to surprise our family for christmas and make the trip. We also thought that we would check on our stored items, look at moving them out into a storage container for more flexibility (sale of house or our relocation at a later date) more on how that went later. We did purchase a container from Royal Wolf shipping containers and just had to give them 48hrs notice to have it delivered.
Hardest part – keeping it a secret aarggghhh!
Planning to travel in Australia
Planning our trip, we were to leave Western Australia, third week of December across Nullarbor. Go over the nullarbor through South Australia, with a quick stop to see Miss B’s best friend and family for one night (another travelling family).
Then straight through Broken Hill, New South Wales. In classic Aussie style I had a chuckle at being literally – out the back of Bourke!
Up into Queensland which provided us with another chuckle before entering Goondawindi going through Boggabilla – WHERE do they come up with these names!! (LOVE THEM by the way) Onward to Toowoomba and down to the Gold Coast. When finished visiting, organising storage items, the plan was to then go back the way we came.
Of course, all of this was reliant on COVID restrictions, border closures and restrictions.
Not surprisingly, things did not go according to plan.
We did make the trip from WA to Qld in 3.5 days even with a catchup with our friends, not bad going.
What vehicle did we travel Australia in
We knew it was going to be a quick trip, we had some stuff we wanted to take back to our storage
area and we knew when there, we would be trying to move items around.
Because of all this we decided to just take the Hilux (aka sexy beast) and our 8×5 trailer with canvas cover.
This not only meant way better fuel economy, but we did not have to be as worried about weather conditions when we got to Queensland. It had been wet wet wet which may have affected time frames.
Border restrictions, lockdowns and passes were enough to worry about just to make sure we got there. Hopefully and back when done!
Covid state Border passes
Different states had time frames of when border passes had to be requested, for instance we could not get our New South Wales border pass till we were ready to enter – a little concerning.
Before leaving I had read each website to check requirements on ID or documentation that may be needed. Saved links ready for quick access.
We used all purchases of fuel and any stops on the one credit card to easily show our travel route. We were praised for this, on entering WA border, where police checked it, as evidence of our declaration. Process took 25 minutes, if we could not get phone reception (to check bank statement) the officer said he would hotspot our mobile to his internet. I would recommend loading as much into declaration as possible in advance.
The hilux has long range fuel tanks installed (a great asset for fulltime travellers) and we took 80 litres of additional fuel to ensure as fewer stops were required, as possible. Some of the roadhouses were not open their usual hours, be prepared.
To check out our hilux and upgrades we have done, see our youtube video here.
Border passes are all called different things, a little frustrating it felt like crossing borders in Europe not all the one country!
Western Australia – G2G Pass – longest pass application, longest time to cross border
South Australia – Cross Border Travel application
Northern Territory – Border Entry Form – Yes we needed this one too
The important thing to note here, is not all these border areas will have access to internet. So, it is important to pre-plan lodging the requests within the time frames needed to ensure as less disruption to your travels as possible. In most cases we got answers back within minutes.
Changing plans on the road while travellling
While we were in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and then later Queensland, had outbreaks of COVID, that affected border crossings in some cases, closures.
An unexpected renovation of a property, ended
up squashing plans to move storage items.
The place we were to move it to also proved unsuitable so we cancelled the container’s arrival and got a full refund.
Staying with my eldest sister was fantastic. Miss B had LOTS of cousin time and was feeling loved up by the time we had to hit the road again. I don’t think she was too disappointed not to have to help every day of the renovation too!
Add in Christmas with family, New Years Eve party with Nerf gun fight and more family time equals a pretty happy Miss B!
After 5 weeks of 12 hour days we finished the property renovation, I (Leanne) had torn a muscle in my right knee (being considerate, I did it on the last day) and was pretty immobile. This added to the enjoyment of the long driving sessions ahead, as you can imagine. Western Queensland your roads are atrocious! Ouch, ouch, ouch, Oooouuucchh.
The change of plans due to COVID hotspots, affected us being able to visit some friends/family. We set a new route back to Western Australia via Northern Territory and through Northern Western Australia. This w to ensure entry at that time into Western Australia (no surprises they are the most strict/quickest to shut borders state). We would stay in NT for 14 days and then cross over make our way directly to our rig (we have a Western Australia licence/address) and not have any restriction to isolate. All good in theory.
You have to be flexible when you roadtrip – did I mention plans change
Off we went through Toowoomba to Darwin , Northern Territory 3,800km in 2.5 days. Luckily we had family to stay with, who also like to party.
We made it for Australia day, so that was fantastic – thong throwing, drinks and lots of laughs.
Brett decided to throw in another kitchen installation – just can’t help himself!
His sister was rapt and allowed me to rest my leg. Something to keep in mind, while travelling during a pandemic doctors were not taking new patients.
In an emergency, I am sure you could front at the hospital emergency, but still surprised me being in the same country and not being able to make an appointment.
Yet again, plans change
While in Darwin, the rains came…and came…and came. Lol, that is the wet season in Northern Australia. Western Australia, unfortunately got hit very badly with a cyclone causing higher than usual rain. As a result, a few of the roads we needed to use were washed away. Especially due to the rig we were travelling in – no luxuries or additional equipment, if stuck awaiting flood waters to subside in 40 degree weather. Also, my mobility would be an issue. If we had to stop and camp for a while which in the wet season, is highly probable.
A quick check in with Families on the Road travelling Australia on Facebook, quickly confirmed that a change of route, yet again, was in order. While sitting on the side of the road in Katherine, we applied for South Australia border entry and was denied!!
Rang ahead and the police said something is wrong with that, just come anyway. Every the cross the T’s dot the I’s person, I discovered that their site is not mobile phone optimised. In my hurry to submit form, on side of road, I found a box had to be checked that was not. Resubmitted with box checked. Needed to turn phone sideways to see it, we were immediately accepted. Phew!!
Bonus of new route
Messaged our friends we were dropping back in to see them, in a couple of days (you can
imagine how happy Miss B was with yet another visit to her bestie!).
We set off down the guts of Australia! Thank goodness hubby is a great long distance driver, the trip would have taken considerably longer if I was driving!
Had a great time in South Australia. Lodged our final (hopefully) border pass into Western Australia and set off for home. All going to plan, should be home in 2.5 days.
You know how I said plans change, although extremely grateful
300km from home and see smoke coming from back of hilux – NEVER a good sign. Pull
over and start to troubleshoot, sniff test, texture test you know the drill. No temperature gauge issues, car was running fine??
Call RAC, thanking our prior selves for having Ultimate care that covers, you guessed it 300km from towing destination!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
In over 13,000kms of travelling, this happened at exactly the point we would be covered. So very thankful. Not only that, but our wonderful mechanic Andy from Balcatta Truck repairs that looks after both our Motorhome and Hilux waited for us to arrive. This was to ensure she was locked up tight for the night.
In conclusion of our 13,000km + roadtrip travel during COVID in Australia
So, RAC footed the towing bill which was $1,600 odd dollars. On a side note we were not covered for our trailer, so if you had a caravan same would apply. The tow truck driver said many people are not aware they are not covered. Something that may help others as if we had of been across the nullarbor – ouch!
$7,500 later for auto transmission and oil cooler diversion – ouchy! Apparently common with a lot of different 4WD’s. She has been so good to us, has so many addons, that it did not even take a seconds thought to give the go ahead and fix her up. Arrived home first week of February – what a trip!
For families, educating kids while travellling Australia, check out our Kids Travel Worksheets here
Check out our youtube video from our travels Roadtrip dinner for a quick easy roadtrip dinner. Especially for those LONG driving days and a tip on keeping mum a happy passenger 🙂
Until next time, I hope this helps others wanting to roadtrip travel during COVID in Australia.
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