How Do You Know Where You Are?

Australia is a huge country, with many diverse landscapes, from the red vastness of the outback to bustling cosmopolitan cities. While sometimes there is no mistaking a landmark (Uluru, Sydney Harbour Bridge) in many other cases the landscape repeats across the country. That salt lake, is that in WA's goldfields, or northern South Australia? This cool ferny glade - Tasmania, or Victoria's Otway Ranges? Rugged breakaway country - near Coober Pedy, Winton, or Broken Hill? Green rolling hills - Queensland's Atherton Tableland or Gippsland in Victoria? And as for dry eucalypt scrub, that could be almost anywhere!

So if you wake up one morning with no memory of how you got there, what clues tell you where in Australia you are? One way is to take a look at the nearest road, the states have surprising differences in their road network. The first thing is to check out the speed limit. If it is 130 kmh, then you are in the Northern Territory, the only place in Australia that allows such a speed. And even then the locals complain about the nanny state interfering with their right to go as fast as they like! If it is 110 on a narrow winding road, then you are probably in Western Australia. Virtually all roads in WA outside town boundaries have a 110 kmh speed limit, despite many of them not being engineered for such speeds. It can be pretty scary towing the van through the undulating tall timber country of the south west of the state, with vehicles roaring around curves towards you trying to cling to roads that have the incorrect camber! A speed limit of 100 kmh on a wide open country road probably means you are in Victoria or NSW within a couple of hundred kilometres of the capital city. Unlike the more laissez faire states to the north and west, Australia's two most populated states are reluctant to let anyone let rip until they are well away from the eagle eye of government.

Another clue can be found on the roads by looking at the distance markers. In Victoria, NSW and Tasmania, you will generally find them every 5km, whereas the other states tend to stretch them out to every 10 km once you get away from the main cities. Queensland adopts a more random approach, sometimes there will be 20km between signs, then all of a sudden three in a row 5km apart. You can always tell if you are in South Australia - although only 5km apart they economise by only having one sign doing duty for both directions of traffic. So each marker will have one side indicating standard distances such as 55, 50 and so on, the other side will have some progression such as 47, 42, 38 ..... The other thing about distance markers is that in the north of Western Australia and in the Northern Territory, there are so few towns that the distance markers will often measure between roadhouses, which are still likely to be several hundred kilometres apart. On the Barkly Highway heading west across the Northern Territory there is so little of note that the distance markers indicate the distance to the Stuart Highway!

The last clue to your location you might get from the nearest road can be found by checking out the rest stops. In Victoria and NSW they are few and far between, although when you do find one they generally have a toilet. South Australia and Queensland are perhaps better provided for in the number of rest stops, but toilets are less common. Western Australia is by far the best provided in the rest stop department. While the major rest stops with facilities such as toilets and picnic tables are no more frequent than in other states, there is generally no more than 20 km between minor rest stops, where you can pull off the road for lunch or to change drivers. In the Northern Territory they have hardly any rest stops, which perhaps explains why the occasional roadhouse is usually buzzing with travellers rushing inside, then emerging a few minutes later with a look of relief on their faces!