Tag Archives: driving experiences

Lucy’s family road trip – part 2

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We continue to follow NRMA Marketing Manager, Lucy and her young family on their 4,900km road trip from Sydney to Kangaroo Island via the Flinders Ranges.

Arriving at Wilpena Pound, Flinders Ranges

Wilpena Pound by air

Wilpena Pound by air is the best way to see it!

The summer heat in the outback is intense – by 10am the temperature gauge in the car registered 40 degrees Celsius, leaving another 10 hours of daylight for the current record of 51.2 to be broken. It came close.

Fortunately, as the mercury was rising, so too was the mood in the car, as we finally approached Wilpena Pound. The scenery became progressively more interesting, with gentle hills turning into mountain ranges and the odd dead tree replaced by healthy cypress pines.

Although native to Australia, the trees had me thinking I was in the United States.  It reminded me of the approach to Yosemite – the pine trees, the impressive rock formations (albeit on a smaller scale) and the sense we had arrived somewhere really special.

We were extremely pleased to be staying put for a few days at the Wilpena Pound Resort. Situated at the base of the Pound and shaded by river red gums, the resort was no fancy-Port Douglas style resort. Far from it.  It was friendly and casual, catering for campers as well as more upmarket holiday makers.

One memorable evening was spent by the pool – a welcome oasis – as we watched 10 or more kangaroos grazing and generally hanging out under the gum trees just metres away. In what turned out to be a fairly regular occurrence a family of emus casually wandered by as we ate breakfast.

The nearby visitors centre provided excellent information on the many walks in the area – which I considered doing for about 10 seconds – before deciding to see the Pound by air! Please allow me to list a few excuses. Although fit, I was 6 months pregnant, had a child in tow and it was 40 degrees.

My son Jasper in earmuffs

Jasper struggles with his earmuffs

From the cosy 4 seater Cessna we enjoyed breathtaking views over the Pound and surrounding mountain ranges. I spent 30 minutes gobsmacked by the geological formations below, while concentrating hard to hear the pilot’s explanations over the loud, but reassuring noise of the plane’s single engine. All while I was fighting the overwhelming urge to burst out laughing at Jasper in earmuffs.

I was relieved to discover that I’m not the only person who thought Wilpena Pound was a volcanic crater. I learned that the 17 x 8 km bowl is the result of millions of years of erosion which you can clearly see from the seams of layered rock which surround the Pound.

Next stop – our final destination of Kangaroo Island.

Do you think long family road trips are a thing of the past?

Lucy’s family road trip – part 1

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Sydney to Kangaroo Island via Wilpena Pound

Broken Hill

Broken Hill - on the way to Wilpena Pound

As the mother of a 3-year-old, I currently consider a trip to the supermarket a long haul.  These days even a short outing requires a supply of food reserves, not to mention emotional reserves. Then there are the toys, hats, sunscreen and spare underpants! So you can imagine my surprise when I found myself suggesting to my husband we go on a 4,900km round trip from Sydney to Kangaroo Island via the Flinders Ranges.

At an aerial photography exhibition many years ago I became intrigued by a photograph of a massive crater-like valley surrounded by jagged mountains. It looked completely surreal rising from the red dust of the Australian outback. This looked as spectacular as Uluru, yet I had never heard of it, had no idea where it was or how it came to be there. This was Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges. But getting there from Sydney was no easy task.

To access the Flinders Ranges we took the northern most route from Sydney to South Australia, which takes you over the Blue Mountains, past Orange and Dubbo on the Mitchell Highway, then on the Barrier Highway for many relentless hours west through Broken Hill. This route was three or four hundred kilometres more than the direct route from Sydney to Adelaide on the Sturt Highway, but in a moment of ambitious naivety, I decided the detour would be worth it to see Wilpena Pound.

Previously ambitious travellers – but now first time parents with another on the way – we quickly learnt that our holidays would have to be tailored to suit “the family”.

The rough plan was to drive around 400 to 500 kilometres each day, assuming that this would be the limit of a three-year old’s ability to sit still in a confined space. And with 1,620 kilometres between Sydney and Wilpena, we had 4 days’ driving and 3 sleeps’ til we got there.

All went well on day one, as we made it quite comfortably to Narromine (450kms west of Sydney). Day two however, wasn’t quite as smooth. The further west you travel in this wide brown land, the fewer inhabitants there are. On more than one occasion towns on my map failed to materialise, or, as I seriously began to wonder, perhaps we missed them in a state of hypnotic delirium.

Why is it that hours in a confined space with loved ones can test your sanity so severely?  After all sitting next to me, was the man I loved and had vowed to spend the rest of my life with, and sitting in the back was the product of this love; our son Jasper.  Despite this, I soon discovered – as I’m sure they did also – it’s possible to have too much of a good thing.

Some tell-tale signs that cabin fever might be setting in during your road trip:

  • You leap out of the car at the first sign of civilisation to visit a “museum”, despite the fact that it is actually just a few trinkets on display at Nanna’s place.
  • You stay for a cuppa because it’s nice to talk to someone different.
  • In the car you consume excessive quantities of lollies, which inevitably perpetuates the madness.
  • You then photograph a jelly baby at the request of a child who’s convinced it looks like a goat.

On the positive side, all this time together inevitably resulted in more conversations, an old fashioned activity which helped to pass the time and to strengthen the family bond. I have to believe this because it justifies our decision to turn down the optional extra DVD player that every other sane family has in their car.

During such a conversation we decided, somewhat regrettably, to introduce Jasper to his now favourite game, I Spy. Predictably, this was played to death for the remaining two week long journey. Sometimes we had to be quite creative.  En route from Cobar to Broken Hill, there were only five things to be spied – the road; the sky; red dirt; a feral goat; and a dead tree.  That’s one object per hundred kilometres.

Time can seem like a rare luxury for many these days. Yet on this road trip we had plenty of time to look out the window and just observe. The country courtesy wave for example, was a unique gesture used exclusively by local drivers for other local drivers passing in the opposite direction. After a little practice, my husband had it down pat – a very gentle raise of two fingers from the steering wheel to acknowledge a fellow traveller with the occasional additional head nod if feeling enthusiastic. At the conclusion of the day I thought may never end, we pulled into Broken Hill – a surprisingly lively city, where many were enjoying a meal alfresco late on this summer’s night. After perusing the tourist information we decided to spend another night to see some local art and visit the quintessential Aussie pubs made famous in the film Priscilla and Mad Max. As payback for the art galleries, the boys dragged me to a mining museum, followed by a railway museum, which proved a major highlight for one diehard Thomas fan.

Speaking of highlights, on our last night as I stood atop a hill in the desert watching the infinite horizon fill with colour, I understood why so many artists have been inspired by Broken Hill.

Next stop Wilpena Pound…

Do you take your family on long road trips or are they a thing of the past?

Driverless Cars – Taking YOU out of Driving

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driverless car

The driverless car - would you drive one?

We’re inherently lazy things, and ever since ol’ Karl Benz invented the car we’ve been trying to think up ways to get the things to drive for us. Airplanes can do it for goodness sake!

The most serious attempts to build a driverless car began back in the 1970s with a group of, funnily enough, Japanese enthusiasts. They failed. But mankind pushed on and eventually America got involved, or rather the American Army got involved. The Defence Advanced Research Program Agency (DARPA) kicked off its Grand Challenge in 2004. Enter Google, which recently lost a court case in the States to allow its driverless cars (a driver does sit behind the wheel, but the car does all the work unless it’s an emergency) to cruise the highways and byways.

Fast forward to now and BMW has announced it has built and tested a driverless car that’s almost ready to take on the Autobahn. According to the press pack (and this really is like reading the Total Recall script about the Johnny Cabs), ‘researchers have equipped a BMW 5 Series with intelligent software as well as vision assistance and environment detection systems. The advanced automated assistance function for motorway journeys can be activated with the push of a button. From this point on, the prototype system can autonomously control acceleration and braking, and it can safely pass slower vehicles.

‘One of the greatest challenges early in the project involved reacting to vehicles merging on to the motorway at exit and access points – but even this problem could be solved with a cooperative approach. The prototype system reacts to the situation by allowing the merging vehicles to join the traffic flow, and it can even change lanes giving the merging vehicles adequate space to enter traffic safely. This is possible up to a speed of 130km/h, but in compliance with current traffic regulations regarding speed limits and such things as prohibited passing zones.’

BMW admits it isn’t ready just yet to roll out its ‘auto pilot’ and that the next stage in its development is to ‘teach’ the prototype how to deal with road construction sites and motorway junctions.

How comfortable would you be with a car that, on the freeway at least, was able to do the driving for you?

The lost art of the courtesy wave

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The courtesy wave

Is the courtesy wave a lost art?

The courtesy wave is a simple gesture to thank your fellow driver, cyclist or pedestrian for being courteous and considerate on the road.  It can be expressed in a number of ways from an effusive hand-wave out the window to a more subtle, subdued head-nod.

The courtesy wave can be used in a variety of situations:

  • When merging lanes and your fellow driver creates space for you to merge
  • When driving on a narrow street and the oncoming driver pulls over allowing you to pass
  • When yielding right of way when the right-of-way is unclear
  • When acknowledging a driver of the same vehicle – a particular favourite of motorcyclists and Kombi drivers
  • When apologising for a driving indiscretion such as (accidentally) cutting off another driver

While it may seem like an antiquated notion, there is still considerable support for this form of driving etiquette. There are at least 16 Facebook fan pages created by supporters and a Canadian website called MyRoadWaves was set up so recipients of the courtesy wave could enter details of their experience (including locating the incident on Google Maps), and then share that experience with fellow courtesy wave advocates.

The courtesy wave is not a legal requirement but it can substantially raise the tone of driving while at the same time lower the temperature of motorists. A breath of fresh air in a busy and congested city like Sydney.

https://twitter.com/#!/NRMA/status/73620903799427072

Is the courtesy wave a lost art or is it alive and well on our roads?
When do you think it’s appropriate to give or receive a courtesy wave?

Your road, your rules

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The road rules govern the interaction of pedestrians and motorists. While they are there to make the roads safe for all road users, they will always be the topic of debate.

The rules are put under even more scrutiny when a new rule is made or an old rule is amended to respond to the changing nature of vehicles, technology and the road itself.

But imagine, for a moment, that you are in charge. You can roll out the rules you want and scratch those that you don’t. Now is your chance to alleviate your frustration, get where you’re going on time and improve traffic flow.

It’s your road, so you make the rules.

If you were given the job of designing a road and the road rules that go with it, what rules would you make? What rules would you keep and which would you discard?