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After bidding farewell to our three days of luxury at Lisa's and our $106 food shop (Greg had his first near miss driving the wrong way down the street) we headed in the direction of Kalgoorlie. Lisa very helpfully gave us her map and step by step instructions to get out of Perth, predictably Katy dropped them straight out of the open window, good job Lisa had go to know us and had highlighted the map as a Plan B. Yay!
After a brisk 600K (375 miles) drive we ended up at our first destination Kalgoorlie. Being almost the hours of darkness we set up camp for the first time. Katy not being an avid camper was horrified at the chosen location which was basically a clearing at the side of the road. Darkness fell and Katy's fear really set in whilst Greg gleefully cooked the meal of rice on his little cooker (gas burner). After being eaten alive by mossies in the night, Katy was the pround owner of a dot to dot on her bum cheeks and woke Greg up at 6am to tell him!! As our 'clearing' did not have a shower, toilet or sink, we got down to our first baby wipe shower.... As it was a sunday and the middle of nowhere, nothing was open in Kalgoorlie, but that didn't stop us, we visited the Super Pit, the chemist, loads of drunk abo's and Greg brought his new pots to cook with as Wicked only supply one. Then we pretty much left to visit Esperance 400k (250 miles away) it was on the beach afterall.
Driving into the National Park, Greg assured Katy that we would have enough diesel to make it, then we realised how far the camp site was.. enter happy-i-told-you-so-Katy... As Greg wouldnt let Katy drive at all that day he had a massive headache as a result we were in bed by 6.30pm it was dark by that point so we figured it was ok. Two hours later Katy woke Greg up needing a chaperone to the toilet as it was well dark, the rest of the night on the hour this was repeated (to be fair I am very scared of the dark, the solar lights in the dark did not help nor did the Ocean noises). Believe it or not we were up bright and early, deciding to make the most of the National Park (and having no diesel) we went for a 4 hour trek/walk. Very nice view and scenery that probably wont show on camera, just take our word for it, also the beach had the weirdest sand ever, it was very hard and salt like. Anywho we soon realised our fitness was appalling (and pretty much still is) half an hour into trip we saw a sign which warned of swarms of bees.... (Gregs second fave animal/bug). .Miles from help Katy heard said swarm approaching fast and only being able to picture signs from My Girl shouted to Greg to run like Forest which we both did up a 35 degree incline. After thankfully reaching the end of our walk we decided to walk back along the road as we didnt want to meet the bees again (and still a little tired from our run).
Before setting off again we stopped off for some rations, Greg pulling the campest ever shopping basket, deciding that he was actually wasting away, Katy put him on a strict diet of eating absolutely everything!
The first proper meal we cooked in Sally was the best Curry you have ever tasted, washed down with Wheat Beer (WTF) which tasted like cack. Katy had to wake Greg up that night as he farting incontrollably in his sleep and in no uncertain terms told his to go and have a sh*t. This being one of our first experiences on a compost toilet which to you normal people with normal toilets is essentially a hole in the ground with a toilet seat on it... and this one had half a door thanks to what looked like shot gun holes..
Next few days we drove and drove and drove... in very straight lines, with no radio or cds, or anything to look at, although we did have our trusty companion Norman the Gnome, also the odd road train which was pretty disappointing, although slightly frightening as Ozzies love to get right up your arse then swerve to overtake. Due to the lack of entertainment Greg had major issues relaxing as a passenger (nothing to do with my driving before anyone mentions that..).........so Katy plied him with sweets and set him challenges (making sandwiches, finding s tuff etc) until he finally crashed and burned from the sugar high. Fearful of running out of fuel across the Nullabor we stopped at a little place called Mundrabilla FYI very cheap fuel and water if you're ever in the area. Driving across the Nullabor worried we were going to fined for quarantined vege we threw possibly offenders namely carrotts out into the bush...The road was a little hazardous what with turning into emergency airstrips, huge eagle type birds, large kangaroos (dead), unsurprisingly the fuel station miles from anywhere housed some very strange hillbilly type folk.
Nullabor took us roughly 4 days to drive across and there was literally nothing around and the most exciting part of the drive was any sort of curve in the road (but hey it was funny and we would probably do it again).
First sign of civilisation we decided to stop for the night at a place called Fowlers Bay, we should have realised this was a mistake when we hit the bumpiest bone shaking road ever.... so bumpy Norman fell off his perch and the wipers were coming on! On arrival we realised our mistake fully as there was NOTHING the main boast of the 'Town' was a long pier... Following the advice the next morning from a loud ugly English man called Mick, we hit the gravel road doing 80km as apparently we would feel no bumps. Katy a little nervous at drifting in her 4x4 soon got into the swing of it. On route to our next stop Greg spotted a Police truck doing a swift U-turn after passing us, and yep you guessed it we got pulled over... Thankfully he hadn't been drinking or taking any Class A in the last 48 hours, and we were sent on our merry way. Stopped off at a place call Mount Remarkable (quite unremarkable) rather than pay to stay somewhere we took the traveller way and sandwiched ourselves between a railway line and a main road.
Next day 150K later in Adelaide we realised we had left one of our bed cushions on the roof of the van -obviously shocked to find it wasnt still on the roof, we quickly mastered a web of lies to feed Wicked for when we returned Sally. Being a Sunday we had free parking and the second bonus of the day was stuff was actually open. Did what we do best and went shopping, trainers and pants for Katy and boardies for Greg, and as always a visit to the pound or rather dollar shop saw us walking away with a whole host of crap.
Adelaide was actually quite a cool place although very enthusiastic shop assistants and too many mullets.
Struggling to find somewhere to stop that night we cheekily stopped at a carpark right next to a caravan park (dont judge we are travellers) Katy has usual woke up at the crack of dawn about 6am, but later realising with daylight saving it was 5am whoopsy. Forntunately we were the only ones awake, as we turned to find a load of geriatrics working out (putting us to shame) we hurridly got dressed and left for Kangaroo Island (KI).
Spent two nights on KI having not done any research didnt even realise this place existed before looking at the map.. but well worth the effort. Enjoyed it thoroughly saw loads of stuff including, pelicans (huge), fairy penquins (cute), Seals (massive and v.playful), Koalas (sleepy), remarkable rocks and loads of lush scenery. However we do need to clear our conscience, as we didn't have enough change to put in the honesty box to see the Koalas owing them 90c, and simply did not want to pay the National Park for their side of the road camp. DONE.
Stopping a a place called Beachport again a side of the road rest area, Katy was horrified to have cows staring us down metres away in the next field, Greg however was finding it increasingly funny watching Katy brush her teeth every morning as it was impossible for her to spit...
Upon a recommendation from Lonely Planet we headed to Mount Gambier promising a dormat volcanoe and an ultra blue lake, on arrival its should have been called Lump Gambier although to be fair the lake was very blue, couple of snaps later we were done.
Coming to this part of Oz we knew we had to drive the Great Ocean Road it didn't disappoint exceptionally picturesque and mountaneous would have been even better if Greg hadn't stopped at every single lookout so now we were navigating these very sharp corners in the dark! Stopped at Apollo bay, happy for the first shower in 4 days and the fact we were going to give ourselves the day off from driving. Donned our first pair of shoes in weeks and walked the 2k to town did this 3 times during the time for our stay making the most of walking. Apollo Bay was probably the prettiest place so far, cute little town surrounded by mountains and rainforests. Although it did then rain and we subsequently spent $20 on magazines and spent the rest of the reading them!
On the drive out of Apollo saw all the famous sites and Greg papped his heart out!
Hitting Melbourne was the biggest culture shock in the world had a few issues navigation a few harsh words were exchanged fear not we got over it. Gave up looking for free parking instead settling for $34 for 2 hours!!!!!!!!! As we only had limited time we only picked on a few things, sushi bars everywhere, huge amount of ethnic diversity that we hadn't seen anywhere in Oz and we genuinely thought we were being stalked by a photographer so if you see us in a Magazine let us know!
Katy's navigational skills took a dramatic turn for the worst, got safely out of Melbourne then landed us in the middle of some random national park on dirt roads approaching darkness, eventually we came out the other side and Katy brainwashed everyone (herself, Greg and Norman) into getting a well deserved Dominoes Pizza. Passed through a couple of towns with Pizza places but not the Dominoes we were by now craving. evenually rocked up at a place called Traralgon (try pronouncing it) where us two fatties enjoyed a large pizza each and garlic bread! Stopping at the next rest area, seeing as it was raining and our close proximity to the river, katy kindly woke Greg at 4.30am fearing Sally was sinking, a quick start and rolling back a metre proved this was not so....
Next morning we were both very indecisive as we couldnt see anything on the map between where we were and Canberra. Greg eventually decided on a drive between two mountains..........feeling tired 2 hours into HIS drive, Katy kindly took over 20k later it turned into a dirt track that turned into a very steep incline....a cliff face on one side and sheer drop on the other we adopted speeds of 20km an hour... thankfully we arrived at a camping ground next to Snowy River. Where Greg wasted no time in building his first camp fire, Katy hating the darkness, complete stillness and isolation went to bed at 8pm, leaving Greg to polish off the wine and tend to his fire. At this point we were both chuffed we hadn't planned our trip as we would never have ventured up the Snowy Mountains, our complete randomness is working for us.
Once we were finally out of the mountains we heading straight for Canberra, for all you thickos thats the capital, as luck would have it we got free parking although we were centrimetres from scraping sally in the multi story. Gregs hangover was hardcore kicking in so he had to have a KFC (whos the princess now???) We had every intention of completing a walking tour of the city but the hail put a stop to that so we whizzed round all the sites in the car (Capital Hill, Embassies, Croquet Club) Katy snapping as we drove. That night we ended up sleeping in a paddock paying $25 for the priviledge at a caravan park in Goulburn. The trailer trash was quite frightening , but the showers were nice.
After another stop we decided to head into Sydney to find out where we would be dropping Sally off. This really wasn't as easy as it sounds, having a map does not mean you will find what you are looking for especially with Katy giving it "its not on my map" every 5 mins or being accosted by one way streets. Deciding our friendship was worth more than the wicked depot, so after 6 hours we called it quits vowing to return early the next day.
Our last night in Sally was awesome, not only did Katy win $50 by anhialating Greg at Gin Rummy, but Ace Ventura himself made friends with a Possum and a Kookaborro.
Giving Sally back should have been sad but we were both a bit worried about giving her back minus a cushion, they actually werent that bothered and gave us back our $3000 bond with out any fuss.
Really glad we opted to drive as opposed to flying as we saw a shed load more of Oz (along with our lack of planning), now looking forward to our eastcoast...
Hugs and Kisses...we realise we are sooooooooooooooo far behind on our blogs, but you should be happy we are enjoying it.
love.
xx
(Ps we did think we would have loads of pics to upload but Genious Boy wonder has wiped all the pictures...........So Sorry this will very boring to read if you have read this far thanks.........we will try harder for next time. )
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Sue Barnard
non-member comment
Excelllent Read
Hi Ya sounds like you are still having fun... although tempers a bit frayed at times he he !!. Shame about the pics. Remember we have the CD you sent home...don't suppose we can puit pics on for you....well we meaning Zoe or Dad xxx Love Mumsie Sue xx