---
title: "12-Year-Old Drives A Third of the Way Across Australia Alone"
description: "In today's tale from Down Under, one determined and decently-skilled runaway."
date: "2017-04-24"
modified: "2017-04-24"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/9607/12-year-old-drives-a-third-of-the-way-across-australia-alone"
categories:
  - "News"
tags:
  - "Australia"
  - "highway"
  - "kids"
  - "outback"
  - "police"
  - "runaway"
---

# 12-Year-Old Drives A Third of the Way Across Australia Alone

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/04/gettyimages-53074527.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Running away from home is practically a preteen rite of passage. Still, it's kind of hard to compare hiding out at your friend's house with climbing behind the wheel of the family car and embarking on a solo trek across southern Australia. But apparently that's how it's done down under, where police outside the remote mining town of Broken Hill were astonished to pull over a 12-year-old boy who had driven a battered Hyundai Santa Fe [more than 24 hours and 800 miles](<https://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/04/23/20/12/police-arrest-12-yo-attempting-to-drive-solo-from-nsw-to-perth>) in an bid to cross the continent by himself. There's commitment, and then there's complete and utter dedication to the mission.

At around 11am local time on Friday morning, our unnamed hero swiped the keys to his family's little crossover and set out from the small town of Kendall on Australia's eastern coast, a few hours north of Sydney, intending to drive over 2,500 miles to the city of Perth on the opposite side of the continent. He might have actually made it there if it weren't for a little body damage—police say they pulled him over about a third of the way into his journey because an officer spotted the Hyundai dragging its front bumper on the road, allegedly torn off in an unspecified accident.

![message-editor%2F1493047476504-map.png](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1493047476504-map.png>)
**Google Maps**

Now, you may be curious how a 12-year-old driving on public roads and highways for that long escaped everyone's attention, especially considering his parents reported him missing soon after he took off. [According to a service manager](<https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/boy-12-drives-1300km-across-nsw-convinces-service-station-attendants-hes-20/news-story/3675574c074408ed3100298091f33f73>) who witnessed him stealing gas early Saturday morning, he looks to be "maybe 19 or 20" and police added he's about six feet tall. And once he made his way from the densely-populated coast, the roads he would have used [are pretty desolate.](<https://www.google.com/maps/@-31.5624776,144.7013496,3a,75y,276.23h,81.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sHyKIA5OU2NsD6myk2X0Huw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656>) Assuming the bumper incident involved a roadside rock or some unlucky animal, it's not inconceivable to imagine him getting this far.

Even if we feel a twinge of disappointment over his plans being thwarted after such an impressive effort, we're also glad he was stopped. For one, just because he made it that far without a serious accident doesn't mean that streak would have continued. The Australian Outback has some of the world's most dangerous highways, featuring high-speed truck traffic and lots of animals all wrapped up in a completely inhospitable environment with few places for help. [The New York Times points out](<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/24/world/australia/boy-arrest-drive-broken-hill-nsw.html>) that had he kept going, the boy would have had to drive through the Nullarbor Plain, a desert wasteland that most recommend special preparations for crossing. His parents are reportedly "extremely relieved," and he's probably in a world of trouble.

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)