Articles by Marcus Craft

Is it illegal to park on the nature strip in Australia?Yes, it is illegal to park on the nature strip in Australia. A driver is only legally permitted to park on a nature strip if they stop “at a place on a length of road, or in an area, to which a parking control sign applies and the driver is permitted to stop at that place under the Australian Road Rules; or the driver is permitted to stop under another law of this jurisdiction”, as stated by the Australian Road Rules.And that law applies no matter whether you’re in Qld, NSW, Vic or any other state or territory.Nature strip parking is generally frowned upon, no matter where you reside.A nature strip, also sometimes referred to as a road verge, is the public area of land between a property boundary and the road, and this area is usually covered in grass.In Australia, the local council of the area in which you reside owns the nature strips, but the owner or resident of each property adjoining each nature strip is ultimately responsible for the nature strip and that includes the maintenance of it, such as weeding, nature strip mowing and keeping edges neat where the grass meets the kerb and driveway.No. According to Australian Road Rules (Reg 197):“Stopping on a path, dividing strip, nature strip, painted island or traffic island(1) A driver must not stop on a bicycle path, footpath, shared path or dividing strip, or a nature strip adjacent to a length of road in a built-up area, unless—(a) the driver stops at a place on a length of road, or in an area, to which a parking control sign applies and the driver is permitted to stop at that place under the Australian Road Rules ; or(b) the driver is permitted to stop under another law of this jurisdiction.”As above: you may not park on a nature strip unless there is clear signage permitting you to do so for the period you are parked there, or “the driver is permitted to stop under another law of this jurisdiction” – check with your local council to make sure you have up-to-date information applicable to your specific situation.No, Australian Road Rules (Reg 197) apply throughout the country and if you do park on a nature strip, you may be fined by police or a council ranger. You may be lucky enough to be a rare example of an individual case of leniency, but it’s not worth the risk.Yes, there are penalties for illegally parking on a nature strip in Australia. The severity of those may differ between states, territories and local council areas but, as we all know, it’s not fun to cop a fine.Penrith City Council states that “the penalty for parking on the footpath or nature strip in a built-up area exceeds $257”, and that “the penalty for parking on a footpath or nature strip in a built-up area within a school zone exceeds $330 and 2 demerit points”.The fine for parking on a nature strip in Victoria varies from councils to council, but expect to pay between $110 and $580 for the offence.If you are fined for parking on a nature strip in Noosa Shire Council area, you may cop 20 penalty units. A penalty unit value in Queensland, as of 1 July 2024, is $161.30. That works out to be a total fine of $3226. Ouch.No. Parking on a nature strip is illegal. Having said that, some councils are known to take a more, shall we say, relaxed approach in that they’ll permit you to park on a nature strip without penalty as long as you have written permission from the adjoining property’s landowner to park there. But don’t tell them I said that…This is a tricky subject because you don’t want to cause friction with your neighbours but you also don’t want them parking on your nature strip. Contact your local council and let them know your concerns as soon as you’re aware of the issue. Then hopefully there’ll be a peaceful resolution to the problem.Contact your local council for up-to-date details on this and any other parking-related issues and you’ll, hopefully, stay on the correct side of the law.However, if you’re still asking at this point, “Are you allowed to park on the nature strip?”, or “Is it legal to park on the nature strip?”, then return to the top of this article and re-read it all.

Q: How far can you drive in a bicycle lane? A: You may drive in a bicycle lane for a maximum of 50 metres but you are permitted to do so for only a limited number of reasons, including to avoid obstacles, to turn left, or to enter or leave the road.

Is it illegal to lay down in the back seat of a car while driving? Yes, it is illegal to lay down in the back seat of a car while it’s being driven because if you’re laying down in the back seat while the car is being driven, you aren’t wearing your seat belt correctly.

The 2025 Land Rover Defender 130 is the biggest vehicle in the Defender range.And the P500 variant is the last of the V8s on offer in the line-up with a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 pumping out 368kW and 610Nm.This upper large SUV is big but offers plenty of comfort, refinement and great driving.Which leaves us with the question: is the Defender 130 the best Defender for your family?

Every 2025 Kia Stonic is equipped with the 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine. And that's big news because that engine was, until now, only ever offered in the top-spec GT-Line. Small SUVs offer plenty of urban-driving appeal and carmakers like Kia have fine-tuned their compact vehicles into crowd-pleasing products. But is the new and improved Stonic worth your consideration?

Are wheel spacers legal in Australia? No, wheel spacers are not legal in Australia unless the manufacturer of the vehicle has fitted them to the vehicle in question.

The all-new 2025 Lexus GX line-up is here and the off-road hero of the range is the Overtrail.This big luxury 4WD wagon is based on the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series platform, has a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine, off-road driver modes, a locking rear diff and, on paper at least, it seems like the ultimate adventure machine.But is it as good in the rough stuff as it's hyped up to be?

They sell and sell and sell, they’re so popular they’re ubiquitous on our roads, some of them may never be used on the dirt and yet they’ve all become the people-movers of choice in the 21st Century – but are utes and 4WDs actually any good for families?Utes and 4WD wagons have swiftly become the go-to conveyances nowadays for everyone from city-based families to mumpreneurs, from adventure-sport loving weekend warriors to tech big-wigs.That’s all well and good but are utes and 4WDs well suited to families?Read on.In terms of day-to-day performance, comfort and practicality as family vehicles, utes and wagons are fairly even.Let’s look at some of the positive and not-so-positive factors of both vehicle types.A ute has a lot going for it as a family vehicle and it has one very obvious major point of difference with wagons and passenger cars: its open tray or tub. This versatile load space means that the extent of your packing is not restricted by your vehicle’s roof-line (as it is in a wagon), because the tub doesn’t have one.You can load beyond the top edge of a ute’s tub if needed, and tall or awkwardly shaped loads aren’t a problem either – think flat-packed furniture, building materials, cement mixers, pinball machines … you get the idea.The flip side of that major positive though is that the load is not covered and so it is not protected from the weather (rain etc) and it is not secure (from opportunistic thieves and the like). The remedy to these issues is getting a lockable tub cover that provides protection and security for whatever you choose to load into the tray. However, those solutions mean that the tub then becomes a uniform load space, i.e. you won’t be able to load tall or awkwardly shaped equipment or materials into the tub unless you leave the cover open.There’s a huge variety of OEM and aftermarket tray/tub coverings (hard or soft tonneau covers, roller shutters, aluminium lids etc) from which to choose. Or you can buy an aftermarket canopy to be fixed to your ute tub to protect your loaded gear, and many of those options are lockable and feature-packed. However, a canopy is not an engineered-at-vehicle-origin solution, so while it offers much better security, water- and dust-proofing than having no tub cover at all, it’s no match for a wagon’s built-in load space.But, once again, by affixing a cover to a ute’s tub – whether it’s a tonneau, roller shutter, canopy, or simply a bit of tarp over the top – defeats the original purpose of owning an open-topped ute anyway, because by doing so you’re instantly robbing the ute tub of its load-carrying versatility.In other ways, utes have come a long away over the past decade or so and, though still wearing leaf-spring suspension set-ups engineered to cope with any anticipated work gear or leisure equipment, they are generally regarded as being at least in the vicinity of passenger cars, in terms of comfort, cabin amenities and driver-assist technology.Whereas ride quality and handling in unladen utes was once severely compromised due to the leaf-spring suspension, those issues have largely been addressed if not resolved, and contemporary utes are now generally more composed and predictable on sealed surfaces and corrugated dirt tracks than they once were – even without a load onboard.Wagons also have plenty of positives in their favour as family conveyances, even as standard, and those may make them more appealing than a 2WD passenger car or van in a buyer’s eyes.4WD wagons offer flexibility in terms of passenger-carrying capabilities because a wagon may have five, seven or eight seats.They also, most importantly, offer families based in the city, suburbs or rural areas the peace of mind that a vehicle lacking 4WD, genuine country-tough robustness and decent ground clearance simply doesn’t.Your valuables (people, pets, camping gear, collection of Star Wars action figures etc) are afforded safety and security in a wagon because it is a fully enclosed and lockable load space, accessible from the main cabin.Another plus in their favour: 4WD wagons have coil-spring set-ups, so ride quality and handling is composed and predictable on sealed surfaces and corrugated dirt tracks.Utes and wagons make great choices as family vehicles – hence they’re overwhelming popularity.They’re versatile people- and load-carrying vehicles; they’re comfortable, roomy, robust and offer the driver a peace of mind not possible in a passenger car.You may never take your family 4WD off the actual road, but at least you know you can if you want to.

The Mitsubishi Pajero Sport has always been a quiet achiever in a market full of vehicles that generate more excitement, that have greater cache with the car-buying public, and sell better than the Pajero Sport. It generally moves less than half the units top-sellers such as Ford Everest and Isuzu MU-X move in the same amount of time.

The realm of high-end, high-performance utes is an increasingly competitive slice of the new vehicle market. The latest Ford Ranger Raptor to enter the arena has a V6 engine, an upgraded suspension set-up and drive modes aimed at further bolstering its growing reputation as a built-for-purpose adventure machine.But does the Raptor have serious potential as a touring 4WD?