Travel in Australia since the 1960's and the evolution of my own passion for adventuring

Travel by car and the way Australians holiday has changed dramatically since the 1960's when people travelled only very limited distances.

Australia has now developed into one of the best countries in the world for a road trip which is considered a rite of passage for the adventurous traveller.

This post tells the story of that change and also tells the story of the evolution of my own passion for adventuring throughout Australia.

I grew up in Sydney in the 60’s & 70's where the family holiday was always a road trip. These trips were often to Queensland as well as many trips with the extended family. After all Australia was becoming one of the best countries in the world for adventure road trips. Many of these trips were camping or caravanning and for others we just headed off in the car staying in motels and units.

Some of my most memorable camping was our annual trip, in the Christmas school holiday's, to Gerroa on the NSW south coast, with many other families from our church. I remember how our extended family seemed to dominate the campsite.

My father always treated family holidays as a priority and a really special event. He also opened my eyes to what’s on the other side of the mountain. Cars & roads were not very sophisticated in those days so people did not travel great distances as they do today. In fact, our national highway only became fully sealed in 1986.

The caravans above are two of three caravans my grandfather, a fitter & turner, made himself in his back yard in Five Dock, Sydney in his spare time. One for himself, one for our family and one to rent out. The other photo shows our family caravan growing up being towed by my Dad's 57 Chevy. The roof was plywood overlaid with silver painted canvas. It used to be my job to re-paint the caravan roof from time to time.

My Grandfather also made his own timber rowing boat and a wonderful range of flat pack camping furniture for camping in tents in the days when you couldn’t buy camping equipment like you can now. There was no BCF in those days just army surplus. In fact, after WWII tents were so hard to come by my grandmother bought an ex army tent and converted it to a family tent. Her background as a dressmaker certainly helped with this daunting task where she took her unpowered Singer, treadle sewing machine out in the back yard to tackle the massive tent conversion.

My Mum rowing the timber row boat made by my Grandfather and the converted tents in the background.

Whilst caravans were first manufactured in Australia in the 1920's, they never really became popular until post WWII, in the 50's & 60's, when they also began making cars capable of pulling a small caravan. This was also when mass car ownership began and caravans started being mass produced. Caravans were typically around 700kg.

The industry peaked in the mid 1970's then dropped off a tad with higher fuel cost and as other holiday options started to emerge, including package holidays, and overseas travel started to become affordable.

Photo shows Rosemary's parents Viscount van who also loved caravanning & camping. The Viscount was the biggest seller in the 60's.

In the 80's, 4WD vehicles changed from looking like military vehicles to an acceptable family car. This also started 4WD'ing becoming a recreational activity. The popularity of 4WD's grew steadily from there and caravanning seemed to resume its popularity including the availability of camper trailers which could easily be stored in the home garage. Around that time the publicity campaign to 'see Australia first' started to emerge.

The popularity of recreational 4WD'ing also made it feasible to explore wilderness locations which started to become popular, or possible, in the 80's.

A plaque, erected in the Simpson Desert, shows how this, now popular wilderness location, was only first crossed by a vehicle in 1962 which was a major achievement. It would still however, be many more years before tracks were built for oil and gas exploration and recreational crossing of the desert was a popular thing to do.

Around the 80's, baby boomers also started hitting the road in mass, then bathrooms were introduced into caravans which became a game changer and saw their popularity rise markedly. Serious off road caravans were soon introduced, and today we see vans commonly weigh around 3 tonnes and require large 4WD's to tow them.

All these changes have steadily increased the popularity of caravans and camping to the point they are now more popular then ever. In 2019 the total camping visitor nights exceeded 60 million and 14 million trips for the first time. Since then, the effect of the COVID pandemic brought on a 240% increase to caravan sales in 2021. In fact, the 2021 season in northern Australia (June to August) saw unprecedented caravans on the road so much so caravans far outnumbered cars on the road.

The photos above show my grandmother in their 12' x 12 tent and our family12' x 12' tent growing up.

My childhood experiences had a great impact on me and as soon as I obtained my driving licence, back in 1973, I started exploring Australia with my mates. My own exploring was a rite of passage and all done in my Holden Kingswood. On one of those trips we went all the way from Sydney to Perth, before the Nullarbor (Eyre Highway) was a sealed road and we camped all the way.

Photo above shows one of my first touring adventures after I got my licence being Sydney - Perth with mates David, Greg & Jim. Note the two water bags on the front of the car to provide cool drinking water. There is a stone screen over the windscreen as this was in the days of tempered windscreens (glass that shattered on impact). There is also my DIY stone screen and bug screen over the grille.

I married in 1978 and my wife, Rosemary, shared my passion for travel. Five children soon followed and my work, as a Builder, necessitated living in seven different locations across Australia as well as a year in East Timor. This diversity allowed a wonderful opportunity to continue our passion for exploring. During all our family life, with our 5 children, we would use every long weekend and all of my annual leave to continue exploring Australia.

We also lived in Arnhem Land on Elcho Island for 3 months which gave us a valuable insight into indigenous Australian culture.

We bought our first 4WD in 1983 after being invited to join a trip to Fraser Island by our friends Peter & Bonita. A 4WD certainly expanded our exploring capability and in the following years our adventures soon included all the iconic destinations in Australia. This included come some of the most remote destinations and always included our camper trailer in tow.

I took long service leave in 1991 and we travelled around Australia with 4 kids at the time which we dubbed 'Operation Top End'. Our children reflect on that trip today and regard it as a highlight of their childhood. We have now owned three camper trailers and three caravans.

Photo shows our rig for our family trip around Australia in 1991 'Operation Top End' (before caravans had bathrooms).

I initiated and led The Exodus 4WD Group, connected to our church, for about 10 years where most of the trips were camping & 4WD adventures over long weekends as well as longer trips away. All the participants seemed to be infected by our enthusiasm. We did a huge number of group trips in those years trips and often the groups were very large. The largest of these trips had 100 people join in.

I still lead many trips with groups of friends today which have included 4 trips to Cape York, 30 trips to Fraser Island, 7 trips to the Victorian High Country, 10 trips to the Barrington Tops, 3 trips to Central Australia, the Kimberley, the Simpson Desert, the Grampians plus a plethora of closer destinations on long weekends. Between group trips, family trips and trips as a couple we have explored most nooks & cranny's in Australia and we are as passionate as ever about exploring Australia. All up, I have planned and led over 60 expeditions over the last 30 years. After all its in our DNA to explore, that’s the way we are wired.

Examples of recent expeditions include a 6 month (16,000km) trip to the Top End, a 3 month (14,000km) trip to Broome & the Kimberley and a 2 month (10,000km) trip to Cape York and North Queensland all with many special destinations explored along the way.

Our first trip to Fraser Island 1983 with our first 4WD - GQ Patrol.

Our first Toyota Landcruiser in 1984.

We soon moved on from tents to our first camper trailer in 1987 as shown above.

Camper trailers started becoming popular in the 80's.

We have 5 children and so far 10 grandchildren. We now we get invited on expeditions initiated by our kids which become awesome family events.

A few examples of some of the 60 iconic group trips I have planned & led over the years include the following:

Operation Rainbow - first group trip I led to Fraser Island 1992.

Operation Southern Cross - group trip to the Victorian High Country 1997.

Operation Golden Triangle - group trip to Hill End 1997.

Operation Desert Sky - group trip to the Simpson Desert 2015.

Operation Kimberley Moon - group trip to The Kimberley 2019.

Operation Pajinka - group trip to Cape York 2021.

Rich Story Telling from Group Trips:

All group trips have been associated with rich stories of some remarkable events. These stories have been retold around many campfires and many have become group folklore. All these stories are now captured in this blog.

All these rich stories are recorded in posts in this blog under the category 'True Stories from our Group Trips'. (some still to be published - standby)

Sharing our experiences through this blog is simply something I love doing and an expression of my passion for travel. Its all done on a non commercial basis where I will share the ‘where’ and the ‘how’. My reward is to see other independent travellers infected by our enthusiasm.

How we travel now

David & Rosemary Allan – the faces behind:

May adventure & discovery be your constant companions.

Reflection:

For me, a trip is memorable when I am enriched by a deeper sense of connection to a place which triggers an emotional or spiritual response. This comes from feelings of Awe when I feel part of something bigger. Such as, seeing dramatic landscapes, being caught up in the history and sensing the passion of the human spirit.

A memorable experience will cause me to day dream about the next trip even more than the last trip.

Remember: Your adventure begins the moment you decide to go.