Saturday 27 December 2003
At four minutes past seven in the morning of the Saturday, December
27, 2003 we drove out the driveway toward what we hope to be six or eight
months of touring the greatest places in Australia.
Three hours after turning east on Great Eastern highway in Midland we
made our first stop in Merredin where we topped up with fuel (diesel
was 94.5 cents per litre) and then stopped in a parking bay in the main
highway through the town for the traditional grey nomad essential cup
of tea.
After sitting in an air-conditioned vehicle for three hours it was
a bit of a shock to the system to get out into the heat of the day. It
appears was about 39° in some places we passed through.
At about 90 kilometres before Coolgardie we made our lunch stop in a
truck bay at the side of the highway. The bush flies had obviously decided
to congregate at the same location and thought we had brought their lunch
along. Add this to the fact that it was possibly the hottest part of
the journey we quickly decided that eating lunch whilst driving in an
air-conditioned vehicle was a better option.
At 2:10 p.m. we passed through Coolgardie without stopping. After leaving
Coolgardie we headed south towards our days final destination of Norseman.
On arrival in Norseman in the first thing we saw was a BP service station
advertising unleaded fuel for 112 cents per litre.
After driving around the town we discovered a
Caltex Service Station right beside the caravan park. The price of unleaded
fuel was about 96.9 cents per litre and diesel was only 95.9 cents per
litre. Obviously we purchased our diesel there.
With full fuel tanks we drove into the caravan park where an overnight
powered caravan site cost us $20. Due to water restrictions there is no
grass in the caravan park however it is fairly tidy and the abolition blocks
were clean and spacious.
Although it had cooled down somewhat, it was still reasonably warm on
arrival at 5 p.m. but a glass and a half of a sweet white wine for Pam
and a couple of cold beers for me and life looks pretty good!
All that is needed now is a good feed, a good night's sleep and then we
will be ready for the next leg of our journey, which will take us from
Norseman through to Eucla, just 12 kilometres short of the South Australian
border.
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