Exploring Australia With Kids: How to Turn the Drive Into the Adventure
We were about two hours out of Kununurra when my youngest asked, for the fourth time, how far away we were. I gave the answer every parent gives — not long now — and she went straight back to the iPad.
That was the trip where it clicked. We were driving across one of the most extraordinary countries on earth and my kids were watching a cartoon about a dog.
Exploring Australia with kids isn't really about the destinations. Most of the trip is the drive. If the drive is something to be endured, the whole holiday is something to be endured. Here's what changed it for us.
The short version
- Give kids a way to see the trip. A physical map they can mark off beats any app.
- Stop more often, for shorter. Every two hours, ten minutes, out of the car.
- Let them own part of the plan. A kid who chose the stop is invested in getting there.
- Sun-safe clothing removes a whole category of argument at every single stop.
- Screens as a tool, not a default. Save them for the last hour, when everyone is done.
Give them something they can see and touch
Kids have almost no sense of scale in a car. "Three hundred kilometres" means nothing to a six-year-old. "We're going from here to here, and look how far we've already come" means everything.
The single best thing we ever added to the van was the Map of Australia Sticker. It's got every town and every National Park across all six states and both territories — not just the capitals — and you mark off where you've been with a Sharpie as you go.
What actually happens is this. The kids find the next town before you get there. They argue about which route is shorter. They colour in the leg the second you pull up. And by the end of a big trip they're standing at the back of the van showing another family exactly where they've been, which is a very different kid from the one watching a cartoon about a dog.
It's 40cm wide, UV-rated so it lives on the outside of the van without fading, and printed by a small family business in regional Victoria. If you'd rather have it inside, plenty of families put theirs on the fridge or an interior wall instead.
Make it a game
A few things our community does with theirs: one colour per trip, so you can see the years build up. A sticker or a star for the places they'd go back to. A rule that whoever spots the town sign first gets to mark it off. Small stuff, but it turns a five-hour leg into something with a scoreboard.
Stop more often than feels efficient
The instinct is to push through. Get the kilometres done, get set up before dark. It backfires every time.
Our rule now is every two hours, minimum ten minutes, everyone out of the car — even if it's just a gravel pull-off with a good tree. Nobody has to do anything. They just have to be out.
The trip takes maybe forty minutes longer. The last two hours are dramatically less awful. That's a good trade.
And pick the stops with a bit of thought. A free camp with a creek, a lookout, a weird big thing in a small town, a bakery with a reputation. Our guide to free camping in Australia for families is full of spots that work as overnighters and as lunch stops.
Dress them so every stop isn't a negotiation
Here's the thing nobody warns you about. Every stop involves the same three-minute conversation: hat on, sunscreen, no you can't go in the water in that.
Multiply that by six stops a day for two weeks and it's genuinely exhausting.
The fix that worked for us was putting the kids in UPF50+ fishing shirts for the whole drive. They're light enough to be comfortable in a hot car, they're already sun-safe when the door opens, and if the stop turns out to have a creek they can just get in. The Kids Ocean Fishing Shirt Dress is the one my daughter would live in if I let her.
Same for me, honestly. A sun-safe dress and the Pony Cap means I'm not reapplying sunscreen to my own arms at every roadhouse. We went through the whole reasoning in Why I Ditched Sunscreen for Good.
The wet-clothes-in-the-car problem sorts itself out at the other end. String up a pegless clothesline when you arrive, slide everything in, and it's dry before dinner.
Let them own a piece of it
Give each kid one decision that's genuinely theirs. Not "do you want to stop", but a real one — which of these two towns we detour through, where we eat lunch, which walk we do at the National Park.
Two things happen. They stop asking how far away we are, because they're tracking towards something they chose. And they start actually looking out the window, because they need the information.
Older kids can take it further: give them the map sticker, the road atlas and the job of navigating a leg. It's a real skill and they're weirdly proud of it.
Screens, honestly
We're not a no-screens family and I'm not going to pretend we are. But there's a big difference between screens as the default and screens as a tool.
What works: nothing for the first stretch while everyone's fresh, audiobooks and podcasts through the middle, screens saved for the last hour when everyone including the driver is over it. Held in reserve, an iPad is a genuinely useful lever. Handed over at 7am, it's gone by 9 and you've got nothing left.
For a full arsenal of alternatives, How to Keep Kids Entertained on Long Drives is the one our community shares most.
What's actually worked for us
- Snack box per kid, packed the night before. They ration it themselves. No more handing things over your shoulder at 110km/h.
- A stop before anyone melts down, not after. Watch for the second time someone asks how far — that's your signal.
- Mark the map at the stop, not at camp. The reward has to land while it still connects to the drive.
- One "yes" a day. One unplanned thing they ask for — the lookout, the ice cream, the extra swim. It buys enormous goodwill.
- Arrive before 4pm. Setting up in daylight with kids who still have energy is a completely different experience.
Questions we get asked
How far should you drive in a day with kids?
Four to five hours of actual driving is a comfortable ceiling for most families, which lands around 400 to 450km on highways. Push past six and you'll spend the evening paying for it. On big-lap trips, plan a rest day every third or fourth day.
How do you keep kids interested in a long Australian road trip?
Give them a visible way to track progress and a real say in the route. A physical map they mark off as they go does both, and it works far better than an app because it stays on the van where they can see it every day.
What's the best age to take kids exploring Australia?
Families in our community have done big trips at every age. Under two is easier than people think because they nap through the drives. Five to twelve is the sweet spot — old enough to remember it, young enough to be genuinely delighted by a lookout.
How do you handle school while travelling?
Most families use distance education or take a short absence with schoolwork sent along. But don't underestimate the map on the van — geography, distance, scale and reading a real map are all things your kids will absorb without noticing.
What should kids wear on long drives in Australia?
Light, breathable, sun-safe layers they can go straight from the car into a creek in. UPF50+ shirts and shirt dresses save you reapplying sunscreen at every stop, and they dry fast if the stop turns into a swim.
The bit worth remembering
Our kids don't talk much about the campsites. They talk about the drive to Coral Bay, the roadhouse with the emu, the day they navigated the whole leg themselves.
The driving isn't the price you pay to get to the holiday. With a bit of setting up, it's the holiday.
Start with the map on the van. It's the cheapest change with the biggest return, and it makes the whole country feel reachable to a kid who has only ever seen it as a shape on a screen.
Planning your route? Have a look at Australia's Top 5 Family-Friendly Campsites, voted by our community — and come tell us where you're headed in the MWCAC Facebook group.
Written by Prue | Founder, Mums Who Caravan and Camp
Prue is a camping mum, community builder, and the founder of MWCAC — Australia's go-to brand for sun-safe UPF50+ clothing for families who love the outdoors. She has driven a lot of very long Australian legs with kids in the back, and started MWCAC after realising there had to be a better way to keep them covered without the sunscreen battle at every stop. Today, MWCAC is trusted by over 30,000 Australian camping mums.
Victoria, Australia | mumswhocaravanandcamp.com.au | Facebook Community