Australia by Car

Speed, loud engines and lots of dust, all tearing up the heart of the Australian outback. What is it? Its Australia’s most gruelling offroad challenge, the Finke Desert Race, which takes place on the Queens Birthday Weekend every June, this year running from Friday 6th June until Monday 9th. If you’re in the area you’d be crazy to miss this truly unique outback event!

The track runs for 450 kilometres across all sorts of desert terrain, beginning just south of Alice Springs and continuing south to the small community of Finke (Aputula). En route it crosses the Finke River, reputedly the oldest river in the world. As you would expect of the outback, it is a rugged route that only the hardiest vehicles survive. While there are many bike, car and buggy entrants from all over the globe, only relatively few make it to the end.

The Finke is quite a spectator affair, with over 1200 people camping along the length of the track to catch a glimpse of the speeding vehicles, or to assist with refuelling and the like. Its a great time to experience the outback and an unique Australian event simultaneously. You are sure to have a whole heap of adventures of your own to go along with the excitement on the track.

The best means of getting to the Finke is to fly into Alice Springs and head down to the track from there. If you need a hire car, check out car rental and if you want more information on Alice Springs and things to see and do there, read this article.

A 260 kilometre long kaleidoscope of colour alive with weird and wonderful underwater creatures, Ningaloo Reef is a must-see for any visitors to Western Australia. Often compared to its eastern big brother the Great Barrier Reef in terms of the diversity of life on display, Ningaloo has one distinct advantage: its ease of accessibility. Most of it lies just a short swim from the shore! Check this article for more reef details.

Most visitors to the reef stay in Exmouth, which is a 1270 kilometre flight from Perth. An old navy town, Exmouth is now base to many diving and fishing charters that will help you explore this beautiful stretch of the coast. Being so close to the shore, the reef is perfect for snorkelling which really opens it up to kids and the less mobile. With over 500 species of tropical fish and 220 species of coral, the minute your mask goes under the surface a whole new world is opened up!

The underwater life gets a whole lot bigger than tropical fish too… in fact it gets up to 14 metres in length! Im talking about the whale sharks, the gentle giants that inhabit these waters between March and June. Their presence is celebrated in the Whaleshark Festival held every year in May, and if you get the opportunity to dive with these beautiful beasts you’ll never forget it. Other larger animals you may bump into are groups of loveable dugongs, and the occasional Loggerhead or Hawkesville Turtle.

Another attraction of Exmouth is the Cape Range National Park, which is just a 30 minute drive inland. Expect to be blown away by stunning gorges, and when the season is right, carpets of wildflowers. Bird and wildlife fanatics are in for a treat here, as are bushwalkers and hikers.

You’ll need a reliable vehicle if you are going to be exploring the Exmouth coastline, and you don’t get more reliable than car hire!