Tuesday 29th March 2005

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We are off again on another journey to the East and North of this wonderful country. Today we managed to get away from our home in Kalamunda at about 0715 hours after having a small hiccup caused by the other one leaving the interior lights on in the Patrol overnight and the battery losing most of it's charge. However after putting the battery charger on it for a short time and then getting a jump start from another vehicle, we started up and rolled out of the gate for the last time for the next six months.

The first part of the journey between Kalamunda and Mundaring was carried out through thick fog and visibility was difficult. Then from Mundaring there was a considerable amount of road works under way for about the first 20 km.

The trip was pretty uneventful and non stop until we arrived in Merredin where we stopped to fill up with fuel priced at 120.2 cents per litre.. On the road again we continued until we passed through Southern Cross and stopped for lunch on the side of the road around 1215 hrs.

Along the way we were contacted via UHF radio by another caravaner and a good conversation was held. We continued on through Coolgardie and had another stop for a cup of tea at the intersection of the Kambalda Road and the Esperance/Coolgardie Road.

We finally arrived in Norseman at about 1645 hrs where we filled up with fuel at 118.9 cpl. We then booked into the caravan park and after getting organized, met the caravaner's that we had been talking to over the UHF radio. This led to having a few drinks with them and the decision was made that we would all camp off road tomorrow night at a location they know of that is about 60 km West of Eucla.

Tomorrow is another day and we look forward to moving closer to the South Australian border.

As we will not be in GSM mobile telephone range tomorrow night we will not be uploading any information to the web site, however the days activities will be uploaded when we are next in mobile phone range.

Wednesday 30th March 2005

On the road by 0725 hrs and heading east toward Eucla. It was another very still day and very pleasant driving conditions.

After passing through Balladonia and making the turn onto the "90 mile" straight section of road towards Caiguna. (The longest straight stretch of road in Australia) we stopped for morning tea at about 0945 hrs. Then it was off again without a turn in the road for the next 144 km until we passed Caiguna.

The kilometres rolled past as we made our way to Cocklebiddy where we made a short stop before a short hop to a truck bay about 20 km east where we one of us made our lunch whilst the 'other one' emptied 2 x 20 litre fuel cans into the patrol. Carrying this fuel did save a few dollars as it was 156.9 cents per litre at Madura and 165.9 cpl at Eucla.

After lunch we rolled on to Madura Pass where we stopped at the road house so 'one of us' could buy an ice cream, then continued on to Mundrabilla Road House. On the way we passed through an area where it had rained fairly heavily not long before we drove through and it was amazing to see the number of kangaroos drinking water from the surface of the road. We counted about a dozen sitting on the road within about 2 kms and they were not all that inclined to get off the road as we approached. We heard one truck driver on the UHF radio say that he had never seen them so thick during the middle of the day.

We pulled into Mundrabilla Road House where we filled the patrol up with diesel at 129.9 cpl. After fueling up, we found ourselves back on the road with about 70 km to go to Eucla. Due to conditions being pretty warm and we had lost contact with Trevor and co, we decided to continue on to Eucla and stay there with power for the air conditioner, plus the view from the caravan park is worth paying for.

We pulled into the Eucla caravan park at about 1745 hrs after paying the $15.00 fee for the night. After setting up it was a most enjoyable drink to be had sitting outside the caravan looking out toward the ocean. Along the way we had to put our clocks forward 45 minutes so Western Standard time was only 1700 hrs, however it felt like it had been a pretty long day so we believed in using local time when it was bed time.

Thursday 31st March 2005

On the last day of March we were under way out of the Eucla Caravan Park at about 0720 hrs and after only 12 km we passed through the SA / WA border where we had to put our clocks forward another 45 minutes.

We made several stops at lookouts over the cliffs of the great Australian Bight. The first, about 5 km east of Border Village, did not have the steep cliffs right to the water but did provide quite good views of the beach and wide open ocean. Just over 70 km from Border Village we called in to another lookout which was more spectacular with the cliffs dropping down straight into the ocean. We had previously stopped at this lookout on our last jaunt across the Nullarbor Plain in December 2003.

The third stop we made was the most spectacular outlook of the whole drive. This was the one that is often seen on calendars and in magazines, with a view of kilometers of sheer cliffs running to the East until they disappear in the distance. More photographs and video footage was taken here before eventually moving out again toward Nullarbor Roadhouse and beyond.

About 15 km West of Nullarbor Road House we saw a dead albino (white) dingo on the side of the road. We are sure that would not be a common sight. As we arrived at Nullarbor Road House we entered the Nullarbor 'Treeless Plain" which only stretches for approximately 30 km.

We continued on until we had passed Yalata Community Road House before we stopped for lunch. Once again, 'One of Us' prepared lunch with the last of our salad vegetables whilst the 'Other One' put the last 20 litres fuel can into the Patrol. From here we continued on through Nundroo and Bookabie before stopping in Penong to refuel the Patrol. As diesel was 'only' 115.9 cpl (cheaper than in Perth) we decided to refill the fuel containers as well, so after paying $182.83 to the SAFF Fuel Station, we set off on the last part of our journey across the country.

From Penong it was 70 km to Ceduna where we had a very brief stop at the Fruit Inspection point, then continued on through Ceduna, then the last 112 km down passed Smokey Bay and into Streaky Bay.

Although Streaky Bay Caravan Park was extremely busy, we managed to get a very good site to park on for the next three nights and intend to take it easy and put our feet up over that time.