australia in the summer

[samson]

my planing is to start my trip in may in belgium , so this means that i wil be in darwin arond dec-jan . i now it wil be (verry) wet in the nord and hot in the south . what wil be the best route to avoid to wet and to hot .
i now its a bit bad planing but the big time off from work was not easy to plan.

[Chrispy]

Hi Samson,

No way round it if your coming into Darwin at that time of the year,
Either head straight down the guts towards Three Ways then turn left, and head across to Cairns and the East coast. Or carry straight on down towards Alice Springs, but either way bring your waterproofs for the North and some hot riding gear for the rest!!!

Chrispy

[TravellingStrom]

I agree with Chrispy, but if the weather patterns are anything like this years it will be very bloody wet, don't turn left at 3 ways, go straight down to Adelaide and turn east. Maybe do Tasmania 1st, great roads and work your way back up the east coast.

TravellingStrom

[RogerM]

It will be hard work on a bike at that time of year - the wet season this year has been dumping anything upto 350mm of rain in a day (sometimes in a few hours), which makes riding very unpleasant as its still low 30C, wet wether gear gets as wet inside as does outside from sweating so much. Plenty of roads get closed during the wet - sometimes for a few hours - sometimes for days.

Further South you can expect temperatures of anything upto 42C, again very unpleasant and it can be very dangerous if you dont have enough water with you. Most people who travel at that time of year just dash from service station to service station to stock up on drinks and sit in air conditioning. You will really miss some superb country as well.

Travel on outback roads and tracks is NOT even worth considering, there will be so few other travellers it will be very dangerous if something goes wrong.

The East Coast of Queensland is cooler but also wet from monsson activity up until about mid to late March.

Can you change your arrival port to Fremantle? You may do better spending a bit extra and travel further South by ship and then ride across to the East, it will still be hot but the road across to Adelaide is better and far busier/safer.

[samson]

thanks for the replys
it sounds even wors than i thaud,no backroads,42 c ,floding.
to go tho the port of Fermantle is maybe an option i wil investigate if i am in darwin. i think i have first to go to darwin. i dont now(yet) if there are conections between dilli and ferther than darwin

[swaino]

It's not as bad as all that, yes it is hot and yes, stick to the main roads and don't ride at night but if you do your days riding before midday and give yourself a bit of time to compensate for days you might get rained in, you'll be fine. Good tip about going to Tasmania though, great riding.

[TravellingStrom]

I agree with swaino. When we did the ride to darwin and back, we tried to plan our day to arrive early afternoon at the latest. Then get your tent/motel whatever setup and relax, cos the arvo will be hot Maybe take an extra day, do the tourist bit in the mornings then wait till next day to travel. Depends on your time available I guess.

Just take plenty of water. and drink the bloody stuff, don't just carry it <G>

Be prepared to get wet. The other option, but a boring one, is to take The Gahn train down to Adelaide with bike on board, not sure of cost though.

Cheers
TS

[samson]

i think i am going to just head south trew the midle and avoid afternoon driving . and then go to tasmanie for some more cool riding .
thanks for the tips

[Galloping Gazza]

Hi Samson

The above posts sum it up for the wet season in darwin, But here is my 2 bob.

A bit of an intro to the top end ...

The build up starts about september, its stinking hot with high humitidy and around 34 C this goes till december when the wet starts , roads become impassable and local flodding occurs, the road south is usually open all year round with an exception if its a really wet wet season where its flodded around Katherine area.
The wet normally goes till around this time of year when the high humitidy levels drop and the temp drops to 31C.
Allthough when the wet is officially "over " there is still a lot of run off water and dirt roads are damaged and washed out , making them impassable with a heavy bike , (what are you riding ??)
The Dry season starts around now-April/may and is 31 C and low humitidy , no rain till the build-up storms start in december , lovely time of year the dry is with acess to all the bush tracks is good.
I am doing the Gulf track in mid/late may this year and hope its not going to be to wet. Details are on this site Gulf Track @ ExplorOz

Give me a yell when you get to Darwin.
Cheers MotoGaz
Darwin

PS , I have a KTM 640 Adv for sale , fully set up with all the gear, $9500 Aud in Darwin

[Frank Warner]

Weather - in Darwin .. the tem[perature is usually around 32C .. any time of year. What changes is the humidity and rainfall. In the 'wet' the rain usaually falls in the afternoon (same in Dilli too - you may have the same thing there too). If the water levels are not too high - go on out to Kakadu and Litchfield (around Darwin).. it is interesting to see all that water over the water falls. And the flowers are out then too .. you don't see them in the dry.

Further south is where you'll have the real heat .. 45+C around the centre .. but it won't be raining. Even if it did you'd not care - the water would be welcome! It won't cool down untill you get to the southern coast. Stay on the coast for the cooler temperatures. We do have some 'mountains' (all relative - they are only 3,000 metres) south of Canderra near the south eastern coast. Nice riding there.

Tasmania .. best in Feb .. nice riding there too, but the ferry cost puts most people off.

[Dingo]

Guys, listen to yourselves. If you really enjoy riding you don't really care how hot or wet or cold it is do you? Ok when it's hot you sweat, cold, you shiver wet you get drenched but hey thats half the fun isn't it?

Look on the bright side, when it wet Kangaroos don't move so no chance of hitting them, When it's hot and you ride into a storm, you feel relieved. How many people come to Australia and actually say I saw a flood, or I was riding around in + 40 temp.

Come on, take the good with the bad but enjoy the ride. Isn't that why we ride bikes? Or have we all turned into soft weekend riders who won't take the bike out if it's raining. Do you ever see the MotoGP or WSB stop because of rain or heat, No, cause those guys love what they do.

So, come on, come to Oz when ever you like and enjoy it for what it has to offer. Your airline ticket will be cheaper too remember......haha.

Cheers
Dingo