Detours are simultaneously the best and most dangerous part of the Big Lap. The best because the places you didn’t plan to visit often become the highlights of the entire trip. The most dangerous because every detour costs time and money, and those costs are invisible until you’re three weeks behind schedule with a fuel bill that’s blown past your monthly budget.
The experienced Big Lappers who manage detours well don’t avoid them. They have a system for quickly deciding whether a detour is worth it, understanding what it actually costs, and knowing where the time and money come from. This guide gives you that system.
Every turnoff is a decision. The trick isn’t saying yes or no to every detour. It’s knowing which ones are worth the cost.
The Detour Dilemma
Here’s how it usually plays out. You’re sitting at a campfire and someone says “you HAVE to go to [place], it’s only 200km off the main road.” That sounds manageable. But 200km off the main road means 200km back, so it’s 400km of extra driving. At 15L/100km towing, that’s 60 litres of fuel, call it $120 at regional prices. It’s a full day of driving plus at least one night at the destination, possibly two. So your “quick detour” just cost you $120 in fuel, $40 to $80 in camping fees, 2 to 3 days of time, and the wear of 400km on your vehicle and van.
Was it worth it? Maybe. If the place is genuinely spectacular, absolutely. If it was “pretty nice” and you’ve seen similar coastline or bushland elsewhere, probably not. The problem is you can’t know for sure until you’ve done it, which is why you need a framework for making the call before you commit.
The other side of the dilemma: saying no to every detour to protect your schedule and budget produces a trip that follows the highway and misses everything that makes the Big Lap special. The hidden gems are, by definition, off the main route. You have to take some detours. The skill is choosing the right ones.
The Three-Question Detour Test
When someone recommends a detour or you spot something interesting on the map, run it through these three questions before committing.
1. Is This Unique?
Will you see something here that you won’t see anywhere else on the trip? A stunning beach is great, but if you’ve got 15 more stunning beaches ahead of you on the main route, this one might not be worth a 400km detour. Uluru is unique. A nice waterfall that’s similar to three others you’ve already visited is not.
The higher the “can’t see this anywhere else” factor, the stronger the case for the detour. Places like Karijini’s gorges, the Bungle Bungles, Wineglass Bay, and Coober Pedy have no equivalents on the main route. A “really nice free camp” 100km down a side road probably has equivalents everywhere.
2. Does The Source Matter?
Who recommended it and what’s their travel style? A recommendation from a couple who’s been on the road for 6 months and has similar interests to you carries weight. A recommendation from someone who loves a particular activity you don’t (fishing, hiking, 4WD tracks) is less reliable for your trip. A recommendation from a tourism brochure at an information centre is marketing, not advice.
The best detour recommendations come from people you’ve actually spoken to, who know your setup and your interests, and who are specific about why it’s worth it. “The gorge walk is incredible and there’s a free camp right at the trailhead” is useful. “Yeah it’s really nice” is not enough to justify 3 days and $200.
3. What Am I Giving Up?
Every detour trades time and money from somewhere else. A 3-day detour on a 3-month trip is roughly 3% of your entire trip. On a 12-month trip, it’s less than 1%. The shorter your trip, the higher the bar for each detour should be.
Be specific about what you’re trading. “We’ll have to skip Esperance” is a meaningful cost. “We’ll have one fewer rest day this week” might be acceptable. “We’ll blow our fuel budget by $150 this fortnight” is manageable if you’ve got buffer. Know the trade-off before you make the turn.
When the answer to “is this unique?” is an obvious yes, take the detour. You won’t regret it.
Counting The Real Cost Of A Detour
Most people dramatically underestimate what detours cost because they only think about the extra fuel. The real cost includes four things.
Fuel. The obvious one. Calculate the extra distance (there and back if it’s an out-and-back detour, or the additional distance compared to the direct route if it’s a loop). Multiply by your towing fuel consumption (typically 14 to 18L/100km). Multiply by the local fuel price. A 400km detour at 15L/100km and $2.00/L costs $120 in fuel alone.
Accommodation. You’ll need at least one night at the destination, often two or three. If it’s a free camp, this costs nothing. If it’s a caravan park, add $40 to $80 per night. A 3-night detour at paid camps can add $120 to $240 on top of the fuel.
Time. This is the hidden killer. Every day spent on a detour is a day not spent somewhere else. On a tight itinerary, 3 days means arriving at your next destination with 3 fewer days to explore it, or cutting a future stop entirely. Time is your most limited resource on the Big Lap, and detours spend it fast.
Vehicle wear. Unsealed detour roads accelerate wear on tyres, suspension, wheel bearings, and the van’s chassis. A single rough corrugated side road won’t ruin anything, but if you’re taking multiple unsealed detours every week, the cumulative effect shows up as a maintenance bill later in the trip.
Keep a running “detour tally” in your budget spreadsheet. Track the extra fuel and accommodation for each detour separately from your baseline spending. After a month, you’ll see exactly how much detours are costing you, and you can adjust the frequency if it’s too high.
Time Management: Where Do The Days Come From?
When you decide a detour is worth it, the days have to come from somewhere. Here are the options, from least to most painful.
Your buffer days. If you built 3 to 5 buffer days into your overall plan (and you should have), the first few detours are free. The buffer exists exactly for this. Just keep track of how many buffer days you’ve used so you know when they’re gone.
Shorten future stays. If you’d planned 4 nights in Exmouth, can you do 3 and still see what matters? If you’d planned a week in Broome, can you do 5 nights? Trimming a night from several future stops is less painful than cutting an entire stop.
Compress transit sections. Drive a longer day on a transit section to claw back time. If you’d planned to break a 600km highway drive into two days, do it in one with an early start. This only works on sealed highways where the driving is straightforward and safe.
Cut a future stop. The nuclear option, but sometimes necessary. If you’ve taken 3 unplanned detours and you’re a week behind, something has to go. Cut the stop that matters least to you, ideally something you’ve seen before or can visit on a future trip.
Reduce rest days. This should be the absolute last resort. Cutting rest days to fund detours creates a debt that compounds. One missed rest day is fine. Three missed rest days in a fortnight and you’re exhausted, grumpy, and the detours you took stop feeling worth it because you’re too tired to enjoy them.
Planned Detours vs Spontaneous Detours
There’s an important distinction between detours you planned before leaving and detours you decide on the road. They need different treatment.
Planned Detours
These are the big ones you’ve already built into your itinerary: Tasmania, the Red Centre, the Kimberley, Cape York. Their time and budget cost is already accounted for in your overall plan. They’re not really “detours” in the problematic sense; they’re scheduled legs of the trip.
The risk with planned detours is scope creep. You budgeted 2 weeks for Tasmania and you’re now into week 3 because every day reveals somewhere new. Set a firm departure date for planned detours and stick to it, even if you haven’t seen everything. You can always come back.
Spontaneous Detours
These are the ones that appear on the road: a recommendation from another traveller, a sign pointing to a national park you didn’t know about, a side road that looks interesting. They’re the soul of the Big Lap and the source of most budget and timeline blowouts.
The system for handling spontaneous detours: run the three-question test, calculate the real cost (fuel + accommodation + time), decide where the days come from, and then make a conscious yes or no. The whole process takes 5 minutes. The key word is “conscious.” Most detour blowouts happen not because people made bad decisions, but because they didn’t make a decision at all. They just turned off the highway without thinking about the cost.
Set a “detour budget” for the trip: a total number of unplanned detour days and a dollar amount for extra fuel and camps. When the budget’s spent, you stop taking unplanned detours. For a 6-month trip, 10 to 15 unplanned detour days and $1,000 to $1,500 in detour spending is a reasonable allowance.
The Detours That Are (Almost) Always Worth It
Some detours pass the three-question test so convincingly that they’re worth it for almost every Big Lapper. If you’re near any of these and have the time, take the turn.
Short detours to unique experiences: Side trips under 50km each way to places like the Pinnacles (from the west coast highway), Katherine Gorge (from the Stuart Highway), Wineglass Bay (from Tasmania’s east coast), and Wilpena Pound (from the Adelaide to Flinders route). The time cost is minimal and the experience is unique.
Following a specific, detailed recommendation. When someone says “there’s a free camp 30km south of here on the river, you drive past a farmgate and it’s the second left, there’s a fire pit and the water is crystal clear,” that level of detail usually means it’s genuinely special. Vague recommendations (“it’s nice up there”) are less reliable.
Staying an extra day at somewhere you love. The cheapest and best detour isn’t geographical; it’s temporal. Staying one more night at a beautiful free camp costs nothing (no fuel, no new campsite fee) and adds one of those effortless, memorable days to your trip. When you’re sitting somewhere thinking “I could stay here forever,” stay one more night. That’s the detour that always pays off.
The best detour is the one that costs nothing: staying one more night at a place you love.
- Every detour costs fuel, accommodation, time, and vehicle wear. A “quick 200km side trip” actually costs 400km of driving, $120+ in fuel, 2 to 3 days, and at least one night’s accommodation.
- Use the three-question test: Is it unique? Does the source’s recommendation carry weight? What am I giving up?
- The days for detours come from buffer days first, then shortened future stays, compressed transit sections, or cut future stops. Cutting rest days should be the absolute last resort.
- Set a detour budget (days and dollars) for the trip. When it’s spent, stop taking unplanned detours.
- Planned detours need firm departure dates to prevent scope creep. Spontaneous detours need a conscious cost assessment before you make the turn.
- The best detour costs nothing: staying one more night at a place you love.
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