This is a summary of our journey from Perth to Adelaide - a trip of
approximately 2,732 km. We drove from Perth city, where my sister lives,
to the Adelaide hills, where our parents live.
Piggy drove wonderfully the whole way, and it was wonderful to be on
the road again (I never thought I’d write this so soon after leaving India) ...
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Perth to Norseman (721 km) - Thursday 8 May 2014
We left Perth at 9 am, and drove 721 km to stay overnight at a (overpriced)
hotel/motel in Norseman, but where they served super yummy fish and chips (yay,
snapper!).
The weather was pretty good, considering that the night before Perth
(and surrounds) suffered from a massive storm with very heavy rain and very
strong winds. Evidence of both was obvious along our drive - lots of
standing water, and the winds were still strong. Nevertheless, the drive
was great! We had fantastic scenery - Australian bush scenery, lots of
gum trees and scrub forest and red earth — very Australian. Neither of us
knew that outside Perth are Western Australia’s grain fields, but we found out
soon enough.
We followed the water pipeline all the way from Perth, but we said
goodbye to it when we turned off the Great Eastern Highway to Norseman.
We saw lots of “road-trains” on the highway. These are
articulated trucks/lorries, with up to 3 or 4 trailers. The maximum
length allowed is 36.5 metres (this from a sign on the side of the highway).
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Norseman to Eucla (712 km) - Friday 9 May 2014
We left Norseman at around 8 am to see how far we would make it.
We’ve always heard that “there is nothing out there”, but we were
pleasantly surprised to see green plant-life (whether trees or scrub)
everywhere. It made for scenic driving.
Good weather as well – still a little water left over from the
storm, but the wind had died down significantly.
Lots of interesting road signs today. Warnings about “stray
animals” (ie. cows and camels), which is interesting because we didn’t see any
fences!! Also a sign indicating that kangaroos, camels, emus and cows are
can wander onto or across the road for the next 190 km (and then another 150
km).
We only saw 3 dead kangaroos, and hopefully we won’t see any more.
Hitting a kangaroo with a car can completely destroy the car. They
are solid animals. They are also the reason we don’t drive at dawn, dusk
or during the dark, as kangaroos are most active at those periods.
We drove over/through 3 or 4 Royal Flying Doctor Service emergency
landing strips. This basically means that a stretch of the highway, on which we
drive, can be used for the RFDS in cases of emergency, because there are no
airports in this remote region.
We drove along Australia’s longest straight stretch of road – 146.6 km (90 miles for our US and UK readers). Pretty boring ... Craig was
tempted to tie down the steering wheel and have a snooze!
We stayed overnight in Eucla, in a (very basic, but overpriced) motel
room which had a lovely view (which included a small section of sea view of the
Great Australian Bight), and which had a take-away cafe from which we purchased
our yummy dinner.
Eucla, just like Norseman, is an overnight/fuel stop in what is
basically an uninhabited area. We read a
brief history (provided by the hotel) of Eucla, and, at its peak, Eucla had a
population of 70 people. The only reason
they lived in Eucla was to operate the telegraph. Today the telegraph is no longer needed (and
I didn’t get an mobile/cell phone coverage), but it is still a good place to
stop when travelling the WA/SA divide.
You can sleep there, eat there, fuel up there, and generally rest there,
before continuing your journey. That’s
what we did in Eucla!
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Eucla to Nuttbush Retreat (941 km) – Saturday 10 May 2014
Yes, we were on the road today for 10 hours, and drove a total of
941 km, and we reacquainted ourselves with that famous Ozzie character: the
fly. Talk about a pain in the butt! Trying to get a fly (or 2 or 3) out of the
car is a huge pain!
I woke at 4.00 am with some awfully itchy mosquito bites
(ggggrrrrr). Craig woke with no mozzie
bites at 5.45 am (ggggrrrr). We then waited
until there was sufficient light to get back on the road again. Although Eucla is 12 km from the WA/SA
border, we had already changed our clocks from WA time to SA time upon arrival
in Eucla (1.5 hours time difference), so that when we hit the road from Eucla
it was aleady 8 am SA time. We thought
it was late enough and bright enough to avoid the kangaroos, but just as we got
on the road Craig saw a kangaroo jumping across the road in front of us. The only other kangaroos we saw were dead
ones (road-kill).
The first 200 km from the WA/SA border was driving through the
Nullarbor National Park. We then stopped
at Nullarbor to have a stretch break and photograph the sign warning of dingoes
(photos to follow). More signs warning of
Kangaroos, Wombats and Camels on the road ahead, as well as RFDS emergency
landing strips, and plenty of road trains as well.
Tonight we are at Nuttbush Retreat, which provides a place to camp or
overnight in various other accommodation.
Nuttbush is a working sheep station and has many thousands of sheep!! They are about to start shearing some 21,000
of them – might take a while.
Piggy continues to perform admirably. Tomorrow onwards to Adelaide!
p.s. just when we were getting reading to go to sleep, Craig got bitten by a centipede! Yes, really. Drive halfway across the world, and get bitten in Australia. Made for an uncomfortable sleep, as the centipede was in the bed!!!
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Opportunity to put up this post, as we are in McDonalds having sunday breakfast. It's mother's day here in Oz, so the place is packed. I hate mother's day, for obvious reasons (those of you who don't know, Craig and I had 3 children, and they all died, for unknown reasons).
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We're in Adelaide now, staying with Mirne's parents for a couple of days. I'm just taking a quiet opportunity to add some photos.
- Craig
Piggy blending in with the Australian red earth.
Artistic shot taken by Mirne of some clouds.
Driving away at 7.30 this morning there was a bit of mist.
