Storing a vehicle and temporarily leaving the country
There are a number of self-storage companies that you can hire a garage from to store a vehicle. Look at link Kennards Self Storage and similar companies.
Exiting with a vehicle
Describe the paperwork requirements and process at the border to exit.
Overland Essentials
Vehicle Insurance
Insurance requirements
Yes or No if insurance is mandatory, and what kind is acceptable.
Cost of insurance
State the price of insurance and a time period.
Where to purchase insurance
Describe where insurance can be purchased.
Driving license
State the kind of driving licenses required. i.e. International Driving Permit.
Driving side of road
Australians drive on the left side of the road, the same as in Britain.
(also state if a vehicle with a steering wheel on the opposite side can be legally driven)
Mandatory items in vehicle
State any mandatory items that must be carried in the vehicle.
(i.e. safety triangle, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, etc.)
Roads
General Road quality
In the cities, the roads are generally reasonably wide as most Australians own cars as their primary form of transport. One way streets certainly exist but aren't as commmon as they are in denser cities like Hong Kong. Road quality within the cities (particularly in the suburbs) can be variable - Sydney and Melbourne in particular are some of the largest cities by area in the world and funding to fix pot holes is stretched thin.
Between the cities, the freeway system that links the big cities on the east coast (Melbourne to Sydney for example) is generally very good. Between smaller towns, there are generally paved two-lane highways that are decent. As you get more remote though, expect to deal with dirt roads - the outback of Australia is extremely large and not densely populated, and as such a large proportion of Australia's road network is dirt or gravel.
Road signs
Briefly describe the overall quality & existence of road signs for directions and hazards.
In the cities, road sign quality is pretty good - one thing to watch out for is speed limit signs though. The speed limit changes extremely frequently and speed cameras are common.
Quality of signposting decreases as you travel to more remote regions - on the major highway/freeway networks it's generally very good with signposts frequently educating you as to what's ahead, how far to go, whether there's petrol etc. On more remote roads you'll probably find town names and not much else.
Toll roads
In cities, toll roads are unfortunately quite common and very expensive - to get over the Sydney Harbour Bridge is around $3.60 AUD
