Sunday, March 16, 2014

Plan Your Self Drive Australia Trip


The Great Alpine Road
An Australian road trip is one of the best ways to experience the magnificent scenery .From short trips to long stays and 4WD adventures, Australian road trips cover every length and landscape. Not only it comes to be cheaper but also they give you a liberty to spend more time at the places you like .

Mount Hotham

 
Common road rules in Australia :-
-The Road rules in Australia are important to understand before taking off your self drive holiday .
-Most of the Fatal Car Accidents across australia happens because of Ignorance to traffic rules.
-Following Videos would make you aware of the common road rules across Australia .
Do look all the animated videos :-
http://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs5qn0CxqDldzFkpACwgYXkVu9jO7ReIq
Note - Australia follows Right Hand Drive, which means Car Steering is on the right hand side for the Driver and driver must drive in left lane .

Common Mistakes an New/Overseas Drivers make :-
1) Drive on wrong lane - Fatal Error
Expectation - Be aware of your lane directions .
2) Impatience while making turns .
Expectation - You must Give way on turns .
3) On a Highway with a Speed Limit of 80 and above ,Driving slow on right lane .
Expectation - You  must use the right lane only case of overtaking .
4) Driving Slow .
Expectation - You must always drive approximately at the same speed as indicated by speed signs
5) Driving on High Beam at night , with other cars infront with a distance of 2-8 sec ahead .
Expectation :-
a) You must use the high beam on freeways only when there is no car ahead of you .
b) You must change the beam to Low as courtesy when another car from opposite direction approaches you .
6) Driving without GPS mounted stand on windscreen .

Great Ocean Drive
Self Drive Sight Seeing Ideas:-
1) Great Ocean Drive : http://www.visitgreatoceanroad.org.au/
2) Tasmania : http://www.discovertasmania.com.au/
3) Cairns : http://www.cairns-greatbarrierreef.org.au/
4) Grampians National Park :-
Beautiful Place for Trekking Enthusiasts - http://www.grampianstourism.com.au/
5) Gold Coast : www.visitgoldcoast.com.au
6) http://www.australia.com/explore/itineraries-ideas/holiday-ideas.aspx

Car/Caravan hire in Australia :-
Best Car Hire Companies in Australia :-
1) Thrifty - (http://www.thrifty.com.au)
2) Europcar - ( www.europcar.com.au)
3) Hertz - ( https://www.hertz.com.au/)
4) Avis - ( www.avis.com.au)

Budget Campervans or Caravans :-
1) JUCY - http://www.jucy.com.au/

Way to Mount Buller
Car Pick Up / Returns Tips :-

1) Trading Hours - Its important to know the Trading hours of the Car Hire Outlet .
You must check out the opening and closing hours of the exact outlet from where you plan to pick up and drop your rental vehicle .Its important for 2 reasons :-
     a) Cost of the trip might get affected due to this .
     b) Also the timing is important in case you have connecting flights
Note - Very Rare Outlets have After Hour Dropping Service. Just checkout the exact steps ,just in case you get late .

2) You Should carry Optimum Documents while hiring a Car .
     a) Valid Passport in Original .
     b) Hotel Booking Confirmations(only for overseas visitor)
     c) Proof Of address

Vaccum Clean->Soap->HighPressureRinse->FullTank
 
 
Rental Retrurn Policy :-
1) Clean Car - Usually Its expected to return your rental vehicle in a fairly clean condition .
Its common to find Car Wash in Gas Stations .Most of the Manual Car Wash charge 1$ for 1 min of Vaccum / Soap Wash / Rinse . So It would not take more than 3-4 dollars to have your car cleaned up properly.

2) Tank Full while Return - Its is mandartory to fill in the Tank full while returning the car .
If not , it will attract a penalty and a service charge .Make sure to checkout the nearest petrol/gas station while returning the car .

Petrol/Gas Filling Stations :-
Important Note - You need to Fill in Petrol by yourself . Then Pay inside the counter by yourself .
Its important to keep your petrol or gas levels moderate at all times.
Sometimes ,In Country Sides it becomes hard to find a petrol/gas station.

Creative Commons License
Travel Living by Nitin Bhatnagar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License