Australia

[Iwrestledabearonce]

Hey! I'm at the moment in Melbourne, Australia, and I was thinking about hitchhing up to Adelaide and trying to hop a train to Alice Springs across the Outback...

Anybody here who did that or has any ides, hints or knows any unexpected hazards like fuckin long tunnels or something?

 

[doombear]

ive been lookin into this for a while...
i guess the obvious advice would be to cover yaself!!!!! you're gonna be extremely exposed to the elements so you're gonna need a LOT of water to make it all the way to alice springs. i hear those trains go pretty fast but it is hot and dry and sunny. so again make sure that you have some sort of shelter from the sun. the wind will cool you off a bit while you're moving but it may not be enough alone to prevent heatstroke. a big brimmed hat would help too. but seriously having something to provide shade could be a lifesaver!~
follow up if you actually do this.

 

[kai]

take an umbrella for the sun and a good blanket for the night.

personally i'm not a fan of being anywhere near the power so when i ride i ride way at the back where if you are the exhaust will already have broken up in the tunnels...

well provided that australian trains are as long as north american class 1's and that the tunnels are designed in the same fashion.

 

[Iwrestledabearonce]

Thanks for the advice! I might go to the yard in Adelaide and just to some research which cars, how long the trains actually are n shit. I don't want to do anything which I don't feel comfortable with!

 

[atherington]

Awesome idea. Curious how this goes and if its possible

 

[Iwrestledabearonce]

Ok, did some research and found out quite a bit. There is Port Augusta just north of Adelaide, there the tracks divide into West- and Northbound. Northbound leads to the town Tarcoola which is the major intersection for the trans Australian rail traffic West-East and North-South. There the tracks devide again into Westbound towards Perth and Northbound towards Alice Springs. Found some timetabels and other shit as well. Found a few tables in which some guy kept track of the details of passing trains. The column for "Number of vehicles" ranges from 45 to 60. That's not quite long, but should work, hey?
Think the next step is to go to the railyard in Port August or even Adelaide to find out which trains stop there... and where they go!?

Even found two contact addresses of a guy who seems to be an Australian railway nerd and another guy who is an actual nomadic traveler like me and seems to know way more than I do at this stage. Shot both of them an eMail.

I keep you updated!

 

[nitepeepole]

i'm gunna be asking these same questions in two months .

 

[nitepeepole]

hey folks i'm gunna be in melbourne from the first of december(in tassie right now) and'd love to meet up with any folks, potentially for traveling about. pm me or holla back here.

 

[Critical Rupture]

What ever happened here? I know kids who have ridden Alice to Darwin, Melbs to Adelaide, and Newie to Brisbane too. Haven't tried this shit in this country yet, so keen to hear stories...

 

[nitepeepole]

blah...we just got kikkd out of our squat in melbourne squat after 5 months of kids living there... its actually a really nice house in a really nice neighborhood...but some dumbass left the front window open.
after having a goon tell us to get the fuck out while smakkng my buddy upside the head...the owner came back and gave us a week..which was cool of him.
adios melbourne
im off to new zealand.

 

[nonesuch]

i hitched from darwin to melbourne to sydney to cairns and back to darwin, and the best way to go is just stick your thumb up. it can def be rough in the outback but if someone is going somewhere they are usually going far and they will give you a lift, or they will kidnap you and torture you.

also on the coasts its easy as to sleep on beaches so accomadation is basically never an issue

 

[ashone]

Hey was just curious to know if anyone knows of any squats in Melbourne that are active or abandoned properties that could be useful? Private message the details if you know.

 

[bergies]

just be mindful of the complete vastness of interior australia..500 miles in the outback is not like 500 miles anywhere else..there is absolutely fuck all out there..from sydney to perth is a three day trip via rail..it sounds like an exciting trip non the less..

 

[GypsyDamien]

Is anybody in australia at the moment? wouldn't mind some new travellin' dawgs. Im in Sydney at the moment, i wanna hitch back down to melbs, then mayby hit up tasmania for a little bit (ive got some friends there to crash at).
should be fun, anyone?

 

[psychoviolinist]

Much wootage for fellow aussies And I'm deffinately up for any traveling, been bumming it in the adelaide hills for the past few months. Heading up to Ballarat/Melbs in a few weeks to meet up with some old buddies. But yeah, never been to tassie, how would you be geting there? Ferrying it?

 

[stove]

I'll be down there as of the 10th of April, for two or so months. Let me know where y'all are at. I'll be hitching, mostly, but if I find convenient freight I'll hop on.

 

[psychoviolinist]

Hey, I'll be round the melbourne/ballarat area around then for those months. If you make it down that way gives an oi

 

[stove]

In Darwin, hitching out to Brisbane tomorrow with a stopover in Mt. Isa for couchsurfing. Dunno where from there, either down to Mebs via Syd, or looking at catching out....

 

[stove]

Hitching around here is riddiculously easy- think Oregon, for all the Yanks out there. A day from Townsville to Brisbane, two from Brissy to Syd. I'm rolling out in a day or two headed for Melbs, looking for any info about the city (shows, squats, dumpsters, etc) and/or folks to meet up with.

 

[polardkevin]

I am planning for Australian tour for next spring.Well the places which I want to visit first are:
Bondi Beach
The Sydney Opera House
Great Ocean Road
Bungle Bungle Range