The Great Aussie Road Trip - Perth to Exmouth

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It started with a bang......................well it didn't start with a bang, but the first significant disaster of our long awaited road trip was a 'bang' as our tyre exploded 174km north of Perth. The next day our radiator burst. Five days after that Harry was dead, or as good as.


I should probably start out by introducing you to Harry. He was our first baby, the first big thing we bought as a couple, so we loved him from the off. A silver 1984 Toyota Hiace, previously used as a work van for a Perth based car spraying company, now converted into a travellers dream. A sink, a 2 burner stove with a grill, 2 batteries to switch between so you never run out, radio that can be played when you aren't driving, 2 fans, loads of storage space. We didn't have to leave the van if we didn't want to, apart from for toilet breaks!

We fell in love when we first saw him and knew he had to be ours. He was a bit older than other vans but did have a reconditioned head gasket and wasn't rusty at all. We also got him checked out and serviced, he was all good.

We did have a niggling problem with the temperature gauge that sort of got resolved but we weren't completely convinced that it was working properly. It seemed ok in the month we had to drive it around Perth though.

We'd set off from Perth with all the excitement and trepidation you'd expect from the daunting journey ahead - 6000 kilometres through some of the most isolated and unpopulated land in Australia, if not the world.

The previous few weeks had been a blur of preparation, goodbyes, meeting friends, dinners out, drink and getting accomplished in Perth what we really should have done earlier during our 3 month stay there.

We'd had warnings from all angles about the dangers of the outback, not in the sense to deter us but more to make sure that we go out there prepared. A spade was the surpising, yet recurring, item of choice that all Aussies mentioned. Why? In the heat of the day you should do nothing - no walking, cycling - and sitting in the van will cook you alive - so you dig a hole underneath the van and wait there until either help arrives or it is cool enough to go searching for help.

We were also warned to knock our shoes out before putting them on as spiders like to live there, and also not to brake if a kangaroo hops into your path but to just stop accelerating. And hope for the best! Driving at night is also a huge no-no, as this is when the roos come out..... even if you have a roo bar they don't exactly bounce.

So this was it, goodbyes completed, and on a miserable day in Perth, rain lashing down and strong winds making the rain horizontal, we set off. On an adventure we together had been waiting for for over a year, and I for 8 years had privately dreamed of driving the entirety of Australia. This was the start of a dream.

Our first planned stop was Yanchep but as our landlady Mary had advised us to take the Great Northern Highway (GNH) we missed this. It was also partly due to the inability of Australians to sign post anything, anywhere, ever.

So we headed out towards the Swan Valley and onto the GNH, turning right and following it on until it joined the Brand highway. We were told we'd feel the romoteness straight way but we didn't particularly, whilst the road was certainly not busy it wasn't quiet either. The was also numerous settlements on either side, lush green fields, hills and of course rain. And there was also the constant reminder that we were indeed driving Australia by the red dirt on either side of every road.


But as we settled in to the expected 4 hour drive to the Pinnacles National Park, disaster struck! With a bang followed by the sound of repeated bangs, something was wrong. As we pulled over to the 'soft' shoulder, onto the red dirt, we both rushed out, Laura straight to the back to tighten up the bike rack - straight passed the mess that was our back left tyre.

I had never seen anything like it - it wasn't just deflated, it had literally exploded and torn the tire apart.

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