Hema Australia Road & 4WD Handy Atlas Review

What’s in the box

The 13th edition: 224 spiral-bound pages, 185 × 248 mm, with 187 updated maps covering every state and territory. The maps mark 4WD tracks, campsites, caravan parks, rest areas, 24-hour fuel, national parks and points of interest, and there are more detailed maps of the big 4WD areas: Cape York, K’gari (Fraser Island), the Top End, the Kimberley, the Pilbara, Central Australia, the Victorian High Country and the Flinders Ranges. A distance grid, a national park guide, a list of accredited information centres and a full index are in there too.

Quick Specs

Finding your way around

The atlas is easy to get around. Inside the front cover a key map of Australia shows which page covers which area, and the contents list the maps state by state. On the page edges, coloured tabs show the state and its first page (VIC 89, SA 123, WA 161), so you can flick to the right part of the country without the contents. At the back, a full index lists the towns and places.

The maps

This edition has more mapping than earlier ones, in Hema’s newer map style that’s easy to read. The maps show the main roads and touring routes along with the things you look for on a road trip: campsites, caravan parks, rest areas, 24-hour fuel and national parks, with 4WD tracks marked. Being a handy-size atlas of the whole country, the scale is for planning and driving between regions, not for finding your way along a track; for that, Hema’s Atlas & Guides, like the Flinders Ranges and High Country Victoria, have larger-scale maps and track notes. The spiral binding lets it lie flat on your lap or the console.

Size and weight

At 744 g on our scale and 185 × 248 mm, it’s the size of a thick magazine: small enough for the seat-back pocket or a door pocket, and light enough to leave in the car. The trade-off is page size: the same maps are printed smaller than in the bigger editions, so if you want larger print, look at the Touring or Easy Read atlas.

Handy, Touring, Spiral Bound or Easy Read?

Hema makes the Australia Road & 4WD atlas in four sizes. All four have the same Hema mapping and 224 pages; what changes is the page size, so how big the maps and text are printed, and where the book fits in the car. The Handy is the one for a seat or door pocket; the Easy Read is the biggest, with the largest print. Our guide to Hema maps covers the rest of the range.

Conclusion: Hema Australia Road & 4WD Handy Atlas

The Hema Australia Road & 4WD Handy Atlas is all of Australia in a 744 g, spiral-bound book that lives in the seat-back pocket. It marks the 4WD tracks, campsites, rest areas and fuel you look for on a long trip, and the colour-coded state tabs and full index make it quick to find your way around. The pages are smaller than the bigger editions and there are no track notes, so pair it with an Atlas & Guide for the region you’re heading to. I paid $30, and as the backup to offline maps, it’s good value.