The Ride - A Special Aussie Journey

Who would of thought the outback was wheel-chair accessible!

About THE RIDE...

Strap yourself in as four Aussie blokes swap wheelchairs for quad bikes and embark on the ride of their lives. This documentary charts their 5,000km adventure across the outback, as they visit the crash sites where their lives changed forever. Three men are paraplegics and one a quadriplegic, making this no ordinary road movie. Their encounters with mud, deserts, floods and exhaustion test their resilience and endurance to breaking point. 

Fuelled by bold humour and disarming honesty, The Ride is a wild traverse across the terrain of the human spirit, as four men make peace with the tragedy of their past.

To purchase The Ride visit www.theridemovie.org/

Avoiding 4WD track head-on collision

Thank you to Exploroz for this important article. A recent Forum post this week about UHF use on the Canning Stock Route highlights some important safety issues for desert travellers. In outback Australia we have a number of well-used desert treks that have long stretches of sand dunes to cross. These include both the Simpson Desert and the Canning Stock Route. Both these areas can be traversed in either direction, so the opportunity to come across travellers head on is very real and likely, especially if you’re travelling during the peak season. Adhering to a couple of simple safety precautions is your best defence against disaster so we thought we’d mention them in this week’s newsletter. When dune driving in remote areas you really must use a UHF radio with a high-gain antenna - get the best antenna you can afford. You should also have an effective sand flag mounted to your vehicle. Apparently, there are some travellers without either! Using UHF radios appropriately includes using the correct designated channel for the area and limiting non-essential chit-chat on the open airways. On the Simpson, Channel 10 is the designated track channel, whilst on the CSR it is channel 40. Some people like to scan all channels as a safety backup to ensure that they will hear all nearby conversations as an early warning of nearby travellers. The problem with this approach, is that listening to chit-chat is very frustrating for the listeners. Long, unnecessary chit-chatting must always be avoided whatever channel you use. So our first safety advice is to always assume that others are listening and never monopolise any two-way radio channel, especially when touring popular tracks. For more information about UHF radios, see our UHF Radio Article. The next bit of advice we have for you is to always know where you are in relation to a recognisable landmark (eg. “x” km from “y” track junction”). Out in the desert, this might seem a difficult task but you simply need to learn how to adapt to driving “aware”. This means using your odometer (or other readings) and knowing the names of track junctions and landmarks you pass. Knowing your position relative to a landmark in the middle of a desert takes effort and thought but is a great habit to develop and can make all the difference when communicating effectively with oncoming vehicles. Announcing your position from the tops of dunes periodically, along with scanning the horizon for dust that could indicate vehicles should be part of your conscious driving behaviour. If you hear no response to your calls, then continue driving. If a response is heard it is best to stop to ensure you can find out where they are before driving down into any swallows or valleys.

Driving with a sand flag mounted to your vehicle also makes you more visible as you ascend a dune. The idea with the sand flag is to give oncoming vehicles just enough reaction time to stop before you collide head on.

Visiting Australia's Best Theme Parks

Move over, Florida, Australia is fast becoming one of the best destinations for families looking for endless opportunities for theme park fun! Whether you’ve got kids that are true thrill seekers and won’t settle for anything less than terrifying, adrenaline-pumping rollercoasters, or whether you’ve got little ones that would love to discover some amazing Australian wildlife, Australia’s theme parks hit the spot every time. From movie madness to calm and serene natural scenery, if you and your family are looking for fun and exciting road trip destinations, check out these incredible parks located across the country:

Dreamworld

Australia’s biggest theme park really needs no introduction. It’s simply unbelievable. The best aspect of this park is that it boasts not just one, but seven different themed areas, appealing to every single member of the family, right through from babies to the grandparents. For older kids who get their kicks on extreme rides, Pandamonium ticks all the right boxes, but there’s plenty of tamer options for younger ones. Kids will love heading on a swing adventure with Puss in Boots, for example. What’s more, Dreamworld is home to more than 800 native Australian breeds that you can see up close and personal, including crocs, koalas, and kangaroos. For road trippers the park couldn’t be easier to reach, located just off the M1, roughly midway between the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

Movie World

If your kids are big fans of movies and cartoons, you absolutely must take a trip to Movie World  - it will blow their mind! Movie World is like the Warner equivalent of Universal Studios, and features all manner of rides and attractions based upon some of your kids’ favourite films and TV. If they’ve ever wanted to go ghost hunting with Scooby-Doo, exploring with Sid, Manny, and Diego, or flying with Superman, then this is the place! There’s plenty to see and do for all ages, so you can be sure no one will be bored. Movie World is just a 25 minute drive from the Gold Coast, along the M1, so it’s a great place to stop on your way to, or from, the city.

Adventure World

While many of Australia’s best theme parks are located near to the Gold Coast, there are actually some really great parks all around the country, one of which is situated in Western Australia, overlooking the Bibra Lake Reserve. Adventure World is a slightly older, more traditional park, and it certainly has a charm that many others do not. Despite its age, it boasts some of the scariest rides you can imagine, particularly the Tunnel of Terror which always has children’s screams echoing from it! The park is a mere 20 minute drive from Perth, so it’s easy to combine a day out at Adventure World with a road trip to Perth or the west coast.

Keeping Your Family Safe on the Road

Regardless of whether you’re driving to a theme park in a different state, or visiting one locally not far from your hometown, it’s important to take precautions to make sure your family, particularly your young kids, stay safe on the road, especially if you’re traveling in very high heats. One of the most important things you should check before you set off on the road is that you’ve not only got adequate roadside assistance for your vehicle, but that you have the necessary contact details with you in case you break down. If you’ve chosen to hire a car rather than use your own (after all, you’ll need a larger car to bring home all the souvenirs from your trip!), you’ll also need to make arrangements to have the right child seats fitted prior to setting off. Under Australian law, babies and children weighing less than 32 kg should be placed in a special car or booster seat for safety. Incorrect restraints are responsible for 36 percent of all crash fatalities in the country, so don’t take the risk. Of course, always be sure to have a supply of drinks and snacks to last much longer than your intended trip, in case you’re delayed.

Banishing Boredom in the Back Seat

“Are we there yet?” is possibly the worst question in the English language! It’s something all parents dread hearing, so it’s really important you do all you can to take your kids’ minds off the fact that they’re stuck in the back of the car. Games and snacks are ideal for this purpose! Pack some small picnic nibbles (if you’re traveling long distance, try to stick to things like crisps, cookies, and flapjacks that won’t spoil in the heat) and create some simple games before leaving home. To really help your kids get excited about the trip, base the snacks and games on the theme park that you’re planning to visit. If you’re heading to Movie World, for example, write a list of movie questions and challenge your kids to answer them all correctly, or bake up some movie-themed cookies to munch on and keep the hunger at bay!

Article by Melissa MacArthur