Hema state map review

Before leaving on our Big Lap of Australia, we spent an extensive amount of time trying to work out everything that we’d need, and what we should leave at home.

Sarah and I agreed to get a couple of big, paper state maps from Hema for the different states that we’d be going through (and didn’t already have), and have been fairly happy with that decision.

We run a couple of different mapping apps (Exploroz and Newtracs), and whilst these are unbeatable for some things, nothing is better than laying out a big, paper map to get a real perspective of where you are, and where you’re going.

Apps work for small tracks, but when you’re traversing the entire country, or zig zagging across an entire state, they become tiresome to use.

What are the Hema State Maps?

Hema are well known for their maps in Australia, and we have a massive laminated one of the whole of Australia back at home, which we used in the years leading up to our departure to work out where we’d like to go, sit back and dream about and to inspire us to get everything ready.

The state maps though, are small pamphlets that Hema make which fold out to a fairly big size map, and it covers each state in really good detail.

Are the Hema State Maps any good?

We quite like the Hema State Maps. They are light weight, can’t break (like a phone or tablet), allow you to see the whole (or large majority) of a state without having to scroll or turn pages, and are nice and detailed.

We need the detail to find out where the national parks are, the major attractions and to work out what sort of route we are going to take.

Having grown up in WA, our understanding and knowledge of other places in different states was woeful when we left (we knew the major towns, but nothing more than that), and the Hema map makes life easier.

We use them for planning out our longer term legs, and look for different highways to get from one place to another. They’re great to make a list of places that look like they’re worth visiting in a similar area, and then we can do the finer research on Wikicamps, by talking to people or looking online.

What do the Hema state maps cost?

These are $14.95 each for the newer style ones, or $9.95 for the older ones. We purchased a number of them for the states that we were totally unfamiliar with, and thought it was reasonably priced, and realistically a small price considering how helpful they can be.

Where do you get them from?

You can get these direct from Hema on their website, but most good 4WD and camping stores also sell them. We grabbed ours from Snowys with free delivery, and they arrived promptly after.

Would we get them again?

I reckon for the price, they are pretty decent. We don’t tend to use them that often, but when we are doing long drives or wanting to leg it across a state, they are extremely useful and greatly appreciated.

Have you used the Hema State Maps? What did you think of them?

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