Sydney to Sydney Via everywhere
 

G'day guys. New to this forum and I have a question for those in the know.
Lately i've had the urge to sell my KTM 200 and buy a big fat heavy dr650 and ride around Australia. I'm going to try and wait until i've finished uni so i'm not restricted for time, although uni summer break is quite long it gets pretty hot outback Australia during that time of year. I've got a mate or two interested but so far nothing has been planned. My question for you guys is how do i keep my dirt/tar ration as high as possible. I'm and not huge on road riding, i love the dirt. I've been reading up on GPS units and is it true that you can program them to show unsealed roads/forest trails?

Thanks

Olly

Off-road in OZ
 

G'day and :welcome: to the HUBB!!

Riding around OZ sounds like a great summer. But up north you might run trouble with the wet season. I would target your ride to do as much of Southern Australia where it will be slightly cooler and less hassle with flooding, especially if you travel during Dec/Jan period.:rain: Later in the year, ie from March, then head north and get your fill of Kakadu, Kimberly's, Pilbra, Bungle Bungles etc

As for dirt/off-road you will inevitably need topographic maps because there are very few GPS units availabe with only off-road and as far as I know they don't show when a road is tarmac or dirt, but I would happily stand corrected if anyone knows which GPS shows the difference.

In my experience, stick to the Great Dividing range on the east coast and away from cities and towns and you'll usually find a dirt road somewhere but the reall dirt (read bulldust, sand, mud and gravel) will be in the outback and WA.

You should also try ADVrider forum for people who have mapped off-road tracks.

Garmin 60csx for touring Australia - ADVrider

Garmin topo Australia ?? - ADVrider

Failing that there are 101 books on 4WD tracks around Oz, try a local bookshop you should find you're off-road heaven (or hell) there.

Alrighty, I've done a bit of research and came across a program called mapsource which i downloaded, then it linked up with shonkymaps that i already had. It looks like i can make my own routes along which ever roads/tracks I like. Might take a while though. Anyone got any pointers for creating routes faster, seeing that shonkymaps doesn't support auto routing

Off road in Oz
 

Hi Olly,
Just as the HUBB has a wealth of information on the world there's an OZ website, www exploroz com, with a pile of information on Australia. Have a poke around there and see if that helps.

Enjoy the Outback!