Australian road trips are long. Distances that look modest on a map turn into six-hour drives through country with no shade and patchy phone reception. A bit of planning makes the difference between a good trip and a stressful one.
Before you leave
- Check your dog is up to date — vaccinations, flea and tick prevention, and worming. Tick coverage matters especially if you're heading anywhere along the east coast.
- Update the microchip details. An out-of-date phone number is the most common reason lost dogs aren't reunited quickly.
- Add a temporary tag with your mobile number on it — useful if you're away from your registered address.
- Look up vets along the route and save a couple of numbers. Emergency clinics are thin on the ground once you're outside major centres.
- Confirm accommodation is genuinely pet-friendly, including whether dogs can be left unattended in the room. Many places say yes to dogs but no to leaving them alone.
Restraint — non-negotiable
An unrestrained dog is a hazard to itself and to you, and can attract a fine in every state. Options that work: a crash-tested harness clipped to a seatbelt, a secured crate, a cargo barrier, or a booster seat with an internal tether for small dogs.
Whatever you choose, attach to a harness rather than a collar. A collar attachment in a hard stop can cause serious neck injury. Our co-driving seat handles this for small dogs — raised for the window view, with a tether that clips to the harness.
Managing the heat
This is the part most likely to go badly wrong on an Australian trip.
- Drive early or late in summer and rest through the worst of the afternoon.
- Never leave them in the parked car — not even briefly, not even in shade. Plan your fuel and food stops around this.
- Direct the air conditioning low. Your dog lives in the bottom half-metre of the cabin; that's the air that needs cooling.
- Sun shades on the rear windows make a real difference on long west-facing afternoon drives.
- Check the ground before letting them out. Roadhouse asphalt in January will burn paws in seconds.
Rest stops
Aim for a proper stop every two hours: a toilet break, a drink, and five minutes of sniffing to decompress. Keep them leashed at every stop — unfamiliar country, road noise and wildlife make even reliable dogs unpredictable.
Be aware that many highway rest areas back onto bush with snakes and, in some regions, baited areas. Don't let a dog range off-lead in unknown country.
National parks — read this before you plan
Dogs are prohibited in most Australian national parks, including nearly all NSW and Queensland national parks. This catches out a lot of people who've planned a trip around a specific walk.
State forests and some regional/council reserves are often more permissive. Check the specific park's rules on the relevant state parks website before you commit to a route — and have a backup plan for the days you can't take them along.
What to pack
- More water than you think, plus a travel bowl
- Their usual food, measured out — a road trip isn't the time to change diet
- Bed or blanket from home (familiar smell helps enormously in strange accommodation)
- Lead, spare lead, harness
- Poo bags, well beyond what you'd estimate
- Towel — for mud, sea water, and unexpected rain
- Any medication, plus a copy of the prescription
- A basic first aid kit including a tick remover
- A recent photo of your dog on your phone, in case they go missing
- Something to chew during long stretches
If your dog gets carsick
Common in young dogs and often outgrown. What helps: travelling on a fairly empty stomach, facing forwards, being raised enough to see the horizon, cool fresh air, and frequent stops. If it's severe, your vet can prescribe anti-nausea medication — it works well and makes long trips genuinely manageable.
The night before
Give them a decent walk. A dog that arrives at the car already physically satisfied settles into the drive far faster than one going stir-crazy in the back seat.