The Longest Road Trip Ever!


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Oceania » Australia » Western Australia » Perth
May 3rd 2007
Published: May 3rd 2007
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Maike's CarMaike's CarMaike's Car

Ford Falcon Station Wagon
I did not spend very long in Darwin; I can’t say I really experienced Darwin, well backpacker style anyway. After the Kakadu tour ended, Kate and I sprung for our own room in the backpackers, we had been on tour for the past couple of weeks, we needed our own space. It was awesome. That night we went out with some of the people on our tour for a night of dancing and craziness. Darwin is pretty rocking on a Sunday night, I was impressed. The next day was a little rough, so we decided to treat ourselves “Princess” style. We were on a beautifying mission of pedicures, hairdo’s whatever was going to make us feel normal again. That night we went for dinner - Crocodile! It was pretty good, some people say it taste like chicken. My take on it, it has texture like chicken but I thought it had a bit of fish taste to it. The meat comes from the tail of the croc because it is the meatiest. Mmmm croc tail…

I have eaten quite a bit of kangaroo so far. We ate it a few times on the Outback tour and I thought it was delicious - it was really tender and tasty. I’ll take a big hippity hop roo over a moo moo cow in this neck of the woods; mind you the baa baa is pretty good as well. (OUCH! I can feel the hateful spears of vegetarians…..)

That night both Kate and I were leaving Darwin. I kind of wish I had more time to explore it. I was suppose to go on a nine day 4WD tour top end Darwin-Broome through The Kimberly, but it had been cancelled due to all the rain they had received. I had to make a decision what to do next. I messaged my friend Maike (Dutch) from the Outback tour to see if she wanted company on her drive to Perth. I caught a 1:40 am flight out of Darwin that was going to get me to Adelaide by 8:30 that morning, Maike would pick me up and we would head out. A simple flight it should have been - instead it was the flights from HELL!!!

I first was to fly from Darwin to Brisbane where I would catch my connecting flight to Adelaide. Sure sounds good, seems silly I have to fly back to the east coast instead of just down the centre of Australia, but whatever. Well the first flight was about 40 minutes late and the seat I had wouldn’t lie back because I was in front of the emergency exit row. No sleep for me! When I got off the plane in Brisbane I rushed to catch my connecting flight, nope they won’t let me on. I am staring at the plane just sitting there - PLEASE let me on! They have to move me onto a flight that is going to Sydney and then a connecting to Adelaide. I am now not going to get to Adelaide till noon - ok what can you do? I get on the flight to Sydney, managed to sleep most of the way, which is only an hour and a half flight. Arrive in Sydney and my connecting flight is delayed. I wonder around a bit, I feel drunk from lack of sleep. I am tired and upset; I need to get to Adelaide. The pilots managed to get us into Adelaide on time even though the flight was delayed. I go to get my bags, Maike is on her
Nullarbor RoadHouseNullarbor RoadHouseNullarbor RoadHouse

Maike and I enjoying a Peanut Butter and Jam sandwhich.
way. Waiting waiting, waiting…no luggage of mine came through. Tempted to jump on the conveyer belt through the luggage area, I opt to go to the customer service desk. I am vibrating, lack of sleep, pissed off, and hungry. I am ready to crack the shits. I talk to the lady and tell her my story; she apologizes and tells me that my luggage is on a flight that will be in Adelaide at 2 pm. My options are either wait or they will deliver it to me. Guess I wait. Well that flight was delayed as well by 30 minutes. GGGGRRRRRR! The best line of the day: “Virgin Blue prides themselves on being the on time airline!” HAHA RIGHT!! Looks like Air Canada has a twin! I could not believe that I just had to fly over half of Australia. Anyway that drama got sorted and off we go across the Nullarbor to Perth.

Stephan from Belgium joined us on our journey. He was only going as far as Albany, so we would travel along the south coast instead of heading right to Perth after Norseman. We drove on the Eyre Highway from Adelaide to Port Augusta on the Eyre Peninsula about 320 km. I was so tired from not really sleeping for over 24 hours that I crashed in the back seat for most of the drive.

The next day we got on the road around 10:30 am. We had a rest stop at Pildappa Rock near Wudinna and then went on to go see the Sea Lions at Baird Bay. Unfortunately we had to book a tour for that and it was already getting late. Luckily we stumbled upon Pt. Labatt just down the road where we could see them lying on the rocks below. We headed to Streaky Bay for the night. The drive has been good so far, very green, lots of trees and vegetation and not to hot in the car. On this day we drove about 450 km.

Today would be a long drive, 600 km. Today we would cross the South Australia/Western Australia border and enter onto Nullarbor Plain. Nullarbor meaning “no trees.” I have to agree they picked a great name for this region. No trees, small shrub type things and really flat. You wouldn’t want to get stuck out here for to long. No shelter from the sun and the road hardly had any other travelers. Today was a big day for Maike, she would try her first peanut butter and jam sandwich. She loved it - who wouldn’t! We wanted to stop at the Head of Bight, beautiful coast line and you can see whales here during their migration. Unfortunately you can’t actually get to it until the beginning of May so we were a little early. We went through a quarantine check at the border; you aren’t allowed to bring any fruit, veggies, seeds, and honey across into WA because of potential fruit flies infestations. We also went through a 45 minute time change (back). We stayed the night at Eucla in a very budget accommodation, no sink, toilet, not even power outlets in our room.

We awoke super early today to get a good start on the day, a huge driving day, 900 kms we would travel. There was another time zone change of 45 minutes back that we went through; we were now an hour and a half behind Adelaide time. We drove the longest straight stretch of highway in Australia (146.6 km) Caiguna to Balladonia. 146 k’s with no bends, not many trees. This was actually the stretch of the drive that we saw the most wildlife. We saw emus, lizards, and a few kangaroos. There were quite a few kangaroo skeletons on the side of the road. Maybe they were backpackers that didn’t quite make it? Lunch stop at Balladonia of peanut butter and jam sandwiches. YUM! Everything at the roadhouse stops along the way were super expensive, $3.25 chocolate bars, $4.50 drinks, etc. We did hit some road construction in this area which slowed us down a bit but there were trees around so it gave us something to look at. We drove to Norseman which is the first major centre since Streaky Bay. Not really that “major” I thought it was a ghost town! We decided to drive on through to Esperance that night. Today Maike tried the nutritious and delicious snack of apple and peanut butter. I am turning her into a peanut butter monster!

It is Day 5 and we will reach Albany today. What shall Maike try today? Peanut Butter and Honey on toast for brekky, my favourite. After a great night sleep in a lovely hostel we hopped back in the car and drove the Great Ocean Drive - not to be confused with the Great Ocean Road. The G.O.D. is 38 kilometres long and takes you by some of the most beautiful coastal scenery and beaches in Australia. We stopped at Salmon Beach to watch the waves crashing down, (the biggest I have seen yet) and Pink Lake - a lake that looks pink depending on the weather and the concentrations of salt in it. The southern part of Western Australia is so beautiful. We really enjoyed this part of our drive, rolling hills, beautiful coast line, tall trees. This area is a big farming community as well. We arrived in Albany just before dinner, driving 500 km for the day. We ran into Ben (UK) who we had met at Esperance the night before. Surprised to see him in Albany, the group of us went for dinner and some drinks.

Day 6 and we are off to Margaret River. Stephan has decided to come with us there instead of staying in Albany. He meant to do fruit picking there but the season has already come to a close. We drove through the Valley of the Giants. Tingle trees known as the Ancient Empire. Some of the trees are up to 16 metre circumference at the base. The trees are not as large as the ones I had seen in Tasmania, I believe these ones grow to about 65 metres. Further along the road at Pemberton there is a tree you can climb to the top of which is 61 metres high. I got probably about 5 metres up it and decided I wasn’t quite ready to go any higher. I came down and waited for some others to come down but it started to rain so I couldn’t go up it. Once we arrived in Margaret River we dropped Stephane at a hostel in town said good-bye and we stayed in one by the beach. Margaret River is a large wine region and very popular with surfers. Many of Australia’s finest wines comes from here. Driving distance for the day: 450 km.

It was just us two girls now. We spent the morning shopping in Margaret River, a quaint little town. Reminded me a lot of Byron Bay on the east coast without all the heaps of tourists. Here I had my best latte in Australia and French toast. Mmmmmmmmm! That afternoon we also went to the fudge factory, cheese and yogurt factory and a winery. We had every intention of going to the chocolate factory but seemed to have missed it. Perhaps it was due to the wine tasting we had just before? We didn’t drive very far today, only about 80 km to Bunbury. This would be my last hostel I would stay in Australia!!!

Today is the day - we arrive in PERTH! It is rainy. This is the only rain we have seen on our great road adventure. The days have been so good to us, sunny and warm. Some days it was a little two hot, but Maike’s car has air con so it was bearable. We got up early to go to the Dolphin Discover Centre to hopefully see some dolphins. The dolphins come in to the beach on most days and you can wade out into the water and have them swim around you. Unfortunately, because it started to down pour we didn’t get to see them. We hung around for a little bit but decided to get going to Perth, another 173 km. It rained the whole rest of the way. We completed the long drive from Adelaide to Perth over 3,400 km and costing $600 for petrol. It was a fun trip, a whole lot of driving but heaps of girl chat and great company. I am going to miss Maike.


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