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Our hosts at Kalamunda, Perth
Jack and Sandra who took us in for over a week while we sorted out the issues surrounding the quarantine inspection of the Hillman. Sunday 4 July 2010 - Independence Day!
We have left Perth, three days ago, and here we are now camping on the outskirts of Broome, a town on the northern side of Western Australia, with Port Hedland some 680 kilometers to our West and Derby to our North East some 220 kilometres away. We have been on the road for three days and covered close to 1200 miles in that time. The Great Northern Road, which we have been driving on, is for most parts an excellent road but boy, do you miss the odd bit of traffic. We have driven miles without seeing anyone at times, and then we have been held up by enormous extra wide loads on the road, usually machinery and trucks associated with the mining of iron ore here in Western Australia which seems to be a major industry for this country. I should also mention the amazing road trains so called because these galactic monsters hauling up to four trailers at a time towing tankers, or minerals of sorts, really are a sight to behold. As were the incredibly long iron ore trains that stretch for well over a 1000 meters. John and I
Perth War Memorial
This memorial is on a beautiful site in the Henry Park, Perth, overlooking the Swan River and the city. were flabbergasted when we saw the length of the goods train at Port Hedland.
Broome was for many years the world’s largest producer of mother of pearl. It is also famous for having one of the world’s most famous beaches, Cable Beach, as well as a crocodile farm with around 4,500 animals.
The weather has now changed. Having left Perth in beautiful but cold weather, we have driven into a sub-tropical climate, in its winter time when the weather, while warm, can be pretty unpredictable. Throughout our first night it rained and as morning came the wind got up but as I write, we are dry, and very comfortable. The tent is turning out to be a real boon giving us room and comfort when we need it. I am also happy to report that the tent is extremely waterproof!
The Hillman too, has gone well. Two great guys, Barry and Murray, gave up some of their spare time from their normal job to check the car over and give it a thorough service, including changing the front brake pads, plugs, points and giving the engine what I hope will be its final oil change before we
get to Sydney.
Impressions so far are that the country is massive, its desolate nature clearly provides a real hostile environment for humans to be stranded in some of the more remote areas and there is likely to be many more discoveries in respect to the mineral wealth that this country has.
We have met up with some great people, who have come over to us during our stops at Road Houses (our British equivalent of Service Stations except nearly all of them offer accommodation because of the distances travelers over here make by road). On our first night, a real cold one, spent camping since leaving Perth, our neighbours were a couple, Cliff and Grace, both well into their sixties and retired, returning home two hundred kilometers south of Perth. They joined us for the evening and heard some great tips and stories of their time on holiday. I guess the best advice for us and anyone coming over to travel by road in these remote areas given by Cliff and Grace was not to travel at night; the road kill over on these roads is very severe, with different types of kangaroo and cattle killed regularly by
vehicles travellng these highways, as we witnessed in a number of places. I am glad to say, so far, that John and I have not had any incidents of that nature!
Communications is a problem in these parts. We have lost mobile contact during our journey, only establishing links once we get very close to a township. Also, while internet is in these parts, there is still a lot of work to be done to achieve the connectivity that we have enjoyed in India and other parts of Asia. So we shall see how long this takes to get down loaded onto the travel blog.
For folk who are wondering what our itinerary is for the remaining days on the road, we will be leaving Broome tomorrow, Monday, and will take three days to reach Darwin (arriving 7 July). We will have one day in Darwin (leaving on 9 July) and head south to Daly Waters for an overnight stop, and then on to the Mt Isa/Cloncurry area to overnight and then a further night before reaching Townsville on 11/12 July. There, we will turn south down the Bruce Highway to reach Maroochydore within two days, arriving there
Barry and Murray
Thanks to these two guys, our car has been performing beautifully since leaving Perth. to see my good friends, Bob and Glynis Railton, on either the 13th or 14th July. After two nights at Maroochydore, we will head south to Brisbane, to spend a night there and then on to Sydney, spending a further night on the road, before arriving in Sydney on Sunday 18 July. This itinerary gives us driving distances when moving between camp sites, of 4-500 miles a day, except for the final day, arriving in Sydney late morning, having camped somewhere south of Port Macquarie on the way to give us 3-4 hours driving into Sydney. We hope our friends from the Australian Hillman’s Club, especially the Sydney Hillman Club, will be able to welcome our arrival there.
I will update you as the opportunity arises over the next few days. This great adventure is drawing to a close - we have now been away from our homes for 14 weeks and while there is so much to beckon one to see, here in this vast and wonderful country of Australia, John and I have to bring this adventure to a close to allow respective programmes to follow on from this adventure, so our aim now is to reach
The Western Australian terrain
This and a few others provide a good account of the type of country we were travelling through. the finishing line! Maybe sometime in the future we will be back to spend many more weeks that are needed to explore the this part of Australia.
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robert ferguson
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What a great trip
Well done guys for combining a worthwhile cause and a personal adventure. I love reading your about your travels.