Roadtrip - The Outback of Australia

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Dear followers,

I'm very tired, but I still want to post a new update about this thrilling road-trip to the outback of Australia !

I started off with packing 'my bag', because I was only allowed to take a carry-on backpack of 7kg with me. I rushed to the stores, bought a backpack a drinking bottle, new sim-card(other provider with better signal in these outback area's and some handy equipment. Easter holidays were kicking in, so I had to hurry to get the materials.

Printed out all the documents of the navigation, attractive tourism spots, ...

On paper: The complete trip was 1400km and 19 hours driving, with 5 fuel refills.
Actual trip: The actual trip was 1900 km and 26 hours driving, with 3 fuel refills.

After this I was fully prepared for the trip, I thought... **

(Easter) Monday

Got up very early, took a taxi to the airport and I was on my way to Adelaide.
When I arrived I went to the rental car dealer and picked-up a shiny pearl red Mitsubishi Lancer, it wasn't going to be an easy ride...

I first made a pit-stop at a local supermarket, luckily it was open on this public holiday ! I bought all the essentials: Bread, 5L water, cheese, banana's, snacks, sun cream, ...

Adelaide would be my end-destinations so I went straight on to the Barossa Wine Valley, had a drive through the different vineyards and tasted some of the local made wines. I ended up buying a spicy tasting red-wine: "Shiraz Shiraz Shiraz".

The day was still young after the delicious tastings, so I drove off another 350km to Mildura. The landscape I came across was miles of pleasure.

I parked the car on a supermarket parking, stretched my legs and bought a fisherman's head for better sun protection. When I came back the rear bumper was scratched...No note behind the windscreen wiper, day one hasn't finished yet.
I didn't felt like paying the 500$ insurance excess fee.

I was quite annoyed by this incident and saw a hitch hiker on the road. Normally everybody advises you not to pick-up any hitch hikers, but I was already annoyed with the previous accident, so I thought "lets get some good karma again". I asked 'David' (lifter), if he could spare me some fuel money. He actually had to go to Mildura so I was his saving angel, due to it being a public holiday and being in the middle of nowhere, there was no public transport and he would otherwise need to walk 320km to his girlfriend being pregnant. I told him about the incident that occurred earlier, he said he knew a good painter which could fix it up completely. He gave me the details of automotive painter, topped up my car with fuel and I delivered him straight in front of his door.
He was very grateful for this 300km+ lift.

It was getting late so I searched a spot where there was still some light and not to busy. Went in the back of my car covered some windows and went for a sleep. Near the dessert temperatures are 38°C-50°C during the day and -10°C at night. I hadn't had much sleep that night... but it was enough to keep me going the next day.

Tuesday

In the morning I went to 'Big W', it's a big whole seller, I bought a knife, a sleeping bag,


I brought the car to the automotive painter, it would be ready around 17:30. This gave me the opportunity to discover Mildura in a different way, so I went for a walk through the city.
Tasted the locally brewed beers from Mildura. Afterwards I went for a relaxing moment to the park with a nice sunny sky, next to the big river of Mildura. I was able to refresh a little at public toilets and washing basins.

The second night, I went to the same sleeping spot and when I just arrived, 2 aboriginal guys, where annoying me around my car.
"Where did you get the car from, ...?"
"Could you roll down your window ?"
"Where are you from ?"

I had my knife with me, but then I couldn't sleep on that spot. Luckily they just requested 2$ for a drink, which I slipped through the window.

Wednesday

I woke up early for a long drive, I calculated it being a 8 hour drive, it ended up being a 11 hour drive. Because I really wanted to visit the Kinchega National Wildlife Park, I went through rough gravel roads, dirt roads, sandy roads and had a drive through the 4WD track for miles and miles, with my rental 2WD sedan.
My bumper came loose and I refitted it back, without any damage.

But the car definitely, had it's beating. It only got stuck once, I had to choose, drive over a dead kangaroo carcass or go through very deep sand, and because the speed was to low it got stuck. There are not much people on these roads, but I was very lucky that there was an SUV with 2 persons inside and an off road biker, to push me out.

After this awesome, but exhausting experience of the day, I finally arrived at Broken Hill, the city famous for movies like "Mad MAX", "Badlands", Tom Cruise movies, ...
It was getting late when I arrived so I searched a quite spot and slept in the car again. In Broken Hill it was even more scary to sleep in the car, the criminality over there is very high.

Thursday

The next morning I woke up early and went to all kind of lookouts suggested by the GPS and took a lot pictures for you all 😉.

At the end of the day I played a game of pool in a bar and met a Fitness Coach "Joel", he isn't originally from Broken Hill, but he is a raised and born Australian Citizen. After introducing myself and when he heard my plans , I was allowed to sleep at his place on a air mattress and took a shower before I went to bed.

Friday

We both got up very early around 5:30, there was a moment of silence and a dawn ceremony for Anzac Day. I didn't expect that so many people would actually show up for this ceremony, but it was a huge crowd ! After the ceremony was finished I drove of to more lookouts and the city Silverton, where the oldest mine is situated. Each day they plan a guided tour around 10:30. I had to quite a long path again and didn't leave in time (10:07), because I was still enjoying the awesome views on the lookouts. Luckily with a "little" higher speed on the dirt roads, I managed to get there in time.

The guided tour costed me 30$, but we had a full explanation about the plants (hop plants, special flower for make-up for cooking ladies) that are planted for the miners, history around the mine and then we all received a helmet and a light, we ended up walking through 10%!o(MISSING)f the mine with a nice entertaining and informative guide !

Around 11:30, after this guided tour, I headed back to Broken Hill. There was a new ceremony planned around noon. The ceremony was executed very formally and the crowd was enormous again, showing there respect for the victims of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps(ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

After this last ceremony everybody went to the bars for a good dinner and drink. Around 2 PM, the "two up-game" started in one of the bars.

Two-up explanation:

Two-up is a traditional Australian gambling game, involving a designated 'Spinner' throwing two coins or pennies into the air. Players gamble on whether the coins will fall with both (obverse) heads up, both (reverse) tails up, or with one coin a head, and one a tail (known as 'Odds'). It is traditionally played on Anzac Day in pubs and clubs throughout Australia, in part to mark a shared experience with Diggers through the ages.

The game is illegal on all the other days in whole Australia except for Broken Hill, they have an official licence for this game and it is played weekly on every Friday.

Thanks to taking a lot of risk and some heavy gambling in this game, I won the car's bumper cost back. I lost money, but eventually was making enough profit.
And every gambler has to know when to stop 😉.

Joel offered me to stay another night at his place, I took a long rest, because it was another exhausting but awesome day that passed by.
In the morning I took a shower again and offered him to pay for a Dinner or Lunch, but he didn't wanted anything in return. I am very grateful for his hospitality!

Thank you Joel, you are a very cool guy!

Saturday

I went to visit more look-outs, had a nice lunch, got pulled over by the police. Routine check for Driving Licence and another breath analyser test.
I got a warning, always carry your corresponding licence with your international one or you'll be fined with 500$ !

At the night I had to stay busy, because sleeping in the car wasn't a real option. The bank was closed, and a deposit ATM machine required the money to be put into an envelope, otherwise the machine didn't accept the money. So I was carrying a lot money, with me.

To be safe I dressed up nice and went to the nightclub, had some drinks and danced myself through the night. People were acting strange and apologising in an extreme way to me.
Even if they lightly bumped into me...

When the nightclub closes a guy came up to me asking me "How much ?"
I was really confused ? He said: "people talk, you are a drugs dealer ay". => that is why this big though farmers and miners where extremely apologising to me and girls where frightened.^^

So I ended up staying in this nice country town for 3 days.

Sunday

Straight after the nightclub (3 AM), I went on my way back to Adelaide. (6 hours drive)
It was very dark and dangerous because of potential wildlife and bad visibility.
I was to tired and after 1 hour and 30 minutes driving, I felt myself slightly swerving off the road. So I went to the nearest stop in the middle of the dessert next to the road, and slept in the driver seat with my knife very close next to me. I then drove off again and the sun already started rising around 6 AM. After 2 hours of driving I got tired again and took another rest, but this time as long as I needed it (I ended up sleeping 2 hours next to the road on a rest spot).

I arrived in Adelaide around 1 PM and there was so much traffic in the city due to an ongoing event. I was happy to find a underground car park and proceeded on foot.
Adelaide is known for it's tall buildings and a lot churches and statues are present. I also prepared my bags, because Monday, my flight to Sydney was scheduled around 7 in the morning.
So I had to be in the airport around 5 !

The flight back to Sydney was a good flight, no delay, I was back in Sydney around 11 AM.

I hope this blog, pictures, video's, ... could provide you all with the feelings I experienced during this trip.

Words can't describe how beautiful and stunning this trip was.

Regards,

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Maxim

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Comments

[Quentijn]

Busy bee
Not wasting any time I see. :o Nice trips and even better pictures! Have fun!