Realistic and Comfortable Travel Distance in a Day

[Newcastle Knight]

Being new to towing a caravan I am wondering what is a reasonable distance to travel in a day?

We are heading to Melbourne from Newcastle early next month so I am just trying to plan my trip and whilst I understand that travel times and distances are variable and depend on the individual I would be interested to hear what people think.

thanks

 

[Billrw136]

You will know doubt get many views on this! Personally I prefer, say, 400km a day - having said that my wife and I travelled from our son's place in Griffith home to Gosford in a day - 650km door to door - no problems at all. Bear in mind though a lot of that travel was on motorway (2 lanes each way). We just stop every 2-3 hours briefly to stretch our legs.

Cheers

Bill

 

[Greg]

Go the Knights! Ive got a 3 year old so travel for me is at night or 3hrs by day, but I must say he is getting better with the more travelling we do.

Greg

 

[chartrock]

We try to do no more then 500km in a day, less if possible but at times we have done over 600km just to get to a holiday start point a bit quicker. We also maintain the stop ever 2 hours or so.

 

[Burnsy]

Hey NK, how's things? We are going down same time to pick up van, so no sight seeing for us. 2 nights down 2 nights back, my kids are 8 & 10 so that's about minimum for me to be fair. I'm not one to do much long distance driving at night.....after about 8pm my body says it's time to relax and most nights I'm nodding off by about 9ish! But normally about 5-6hrs driving a day will do me as I would prefer to set up in daylight. Hope you have a good trip.

Cheers.

 

[BUSH PALACE]

I get told off all the time on this one , being an ex express interstate driver i use to just go to get there, but now we put in a good first day (on a long trip)
then do around the 400k per day stopping around the 100k mark to strech and enjoy and have a holiday

 

[cruza driver]

I get told off all the time on this one , being an ex express interstate driver i use to just go to get there, but now we put in a good first day (on a long trip)
then do around the 400k per day stopping around the 100k mark to strech and enjoy and have a holiday

We do the same thing, get a good start then relax and take in the sights after that.

If going across the SA to the Flinders or Alice for eg we get to Mildura or Renmark from Melb on the 1st day then cruise after that. We never have prebooked anywhere if in advance if staying at a CP so we don't feel like we have to be at a set place at a set time.

 

[Newcastle Knight]

Thanks guys, I want to get as close to Melbourne as possible on day 1, after Albury what's the next place to stop for an overnighter? I'm hoping to do 7 to 10hrs on the first day and after that will be alot slower.

 

[Big Gee]

We generally try for 3-4 hours per day. But that depends on how much the kiddies can handle!

 

[acmackie]

I'm part way through the same trip. I have 3 boys 4 years and under. We did Syd-Wodonga Sunday afternoon, Wodonga to Bayswater Monday (arrived for 1pm handover), stayed Dandenong overnight and today we travelled to Lakes Entrance. Tomorrow we're heading to Eden for 2 nights, then Ulladulla for 2 nights before back to Sydney. Got to say I am looking forward to staying put for a couple of nights, the travel each day is showing on the boys, and I'm feeling it too. However the excitement of having the new van helps keep you going.

 

[TatongTraveler]

Thanks guys, I want to get as close to Melbourne as possible on day 1, after Albury what's the next place to stop for an overnighter? I'm hoping to do 7 to 10hrs on the first day and after that will be alot slower.

Just over 1 hour towards melbourne is Benella. Country town with everything you would need for a stopover and is not to far off the hume. Wil leave you just over 2 hours from Melb for day 2

 

[achjimmy]

Thanks guys, I want to get as close to Melbourne as possible on day 1, after Albury what's the next place to stop for an overnighter? I'm hoping to do 7 to 10hrs on the first day and after that will be alot slower.

Albury is probably about max from Newcastle. That'd be close to 10 hours, the road down will be good all the way but it can still get fairly tiring towing.

 

[Greg]

What date are you off to Melbourne, Im going , if the van is ready second week in September. Tom Tom was telling me 11 hrs from Blacksmiths to Seaford. Im going to try and do it in 1 day, stay over night pick the van up then 2 days to return to Newy.

Greg

 

[Kenshi123]

Hi mate. I often get told off for this but we tend to get away around 6am and pull up between 4-5pm on the first day. Then 5-6hrs the next day depending on where we are going. Sharing the driving is an option if your partner (and you) are willing/able.

 

[straydingo]

we aim at 600km on a good day, with rest / stretch stops along the way, where we just want to get from home to a major stop (ie home to brisbane) and have no intention of sight seeing on the way.
The route you take will affect your distances - going through a major city where 30km might take an hour, a major highway or a lesser main road which may be more winding and in a lesser condition. (Coming back from WA, we also forget the change in time zone can mean 6 hrs driving took 7hrs on the clock )

What date are you off to Melbourne, Im going , if the van is ready second week in September. Tom Tom was telling me 11 hrs from Blacksmiths to Seaford. Im going to try and do it in 1 day, stay over night pick the van up then 2 days to return to Newy.Greg

We used the Tom Tom up and back from Brisbane recently (updated, but first time used in years) and it overstated times by a lot! But admittedly, it did want to go in odd directions, take a fwy exit only to get straight back on again, so maybe if we did obey it the timing was correct.