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Published: September 20th 2007
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Not content with driving 4000km in 2 weeks in Queensland, we flew to Perth to prepare for a another 8000km on the West Coast. This was made easier by the knowledge that our friend Emilie would soon be joining us for a month of exploring and long road trips. We needed a car that was up to the job. Somehow, we ended up with Geraldine! A 1994 4.0Li Ford Falcon Wagon that for all of her faults, we grew to love. She became such a personality that it was hard not to. Lynny and I jumped into purchasing her rather hastily as she was ridiculously cheap and came with some much needed camping gear. The catch was that we would need to spend a little money on her so that it would be easier for us to sell at the end. We decided to do this as we travelled and Geraldine turned into a project that we were determined to make money out of or at least get our money back, once the trip was over. Emilie had a special bond with Geraldine too, she named her and spoke in French to her when Lynny and I were not around. Geraldine
Evolution!
This was a lot of fun .... I dont think prehistoric man would have worn a baseball cap though! was happiest, just after we had spent some money on her and downright moody when we drove her for 8 or 9 hours along the long remote roads. She displayed her displeasure in various ways. She would randomly hit us over the head while we tried to get things out of the boot and refuse to switch on her internal lights until after we had shut her doors! We had a puncture one day too and when she was really pissed off, she tried to shed her front bumper at high speeds, but we sorted that with some brilliant plastic clips. We tried to use her headlights as camping night lights one night and after 2 minutes she began frantically flashing them in a strop ...... Im not joking!
The West Coast is vast and the further you drive North, the more remote it gets. Blobs that look like they might be towns on the map turn out to be just a petrol station. The whole coast line has stunning beauty without the commercial high rised overkill that is typical of the East Coast. We camped every single night except for 3 occasions. One of these was particularly memorable.
The Pinnacles
Weird place this .... limestone formations poking out of a small desert. They look wicked at sunset. We stopped at a small town called Northampton as it was getting near sunset and we found a bed in a huge stone building that was previously a convent. We were shown to an old room of bunk beds that I guess were once used by the nuns. It had a creepy feel to the place and we were in hysterics when Emilie opened a door looking for the bathroom and was greeted instead by a large stained mirror incorporating Mary praying and looking down at her!
Some of our camping spots were incredible, most notably in Cape Range National Park, where we had a spot amongst just 6 other tents only 20 metres from the small beach. The sea was like a calm pond caused by the Ningaloo reef system just 100 metres out to sea, we could see (and hear) the waves crashing against it from the beach. When we got there we made comments such as 'we might never leave'. At night, the sky was unreal and kangaroos hopped around at sunset. We managed to commit 4 days to it. We would have stayed longer but with only a bush 'dunny' as facilities we felt we really
Childish but had us in stitches
Can you spot what some witty fellow has added to this landscape?? needed a shower, some food supplies and to continue our drive North. As we were camping all the time, certain things became very imprtant to our day. They were: Designing and preparing each meal (we ate some seriously good food considering we only had a tiny camping stove!) and watching sunset. Being on the West Coast, the sun always sets over the ocean and made for spectacular viewing (with a beer on the beach) almost every day.
We occassionally met some fellow backpackers in the more touristy places but most of the time, we were accompanied by 'Grey Nomads' as they are known over here. People who upon retirement, sell their home and buy a mobile one to travel around Australia for the rest of their lives .... and why not! Some would modestly settle for a 4x4 and a nice caravan. the rest, however, would take mobile homes to a whole new level. It was not uncommon to see a massive fully converted coach (like a rock band would use) complete with all mod cons and pulling a large trailer which their 4x4 vehicle would sit on. They even have satelite dishes and we saw one with a
wind turbine installed on the top!!
I think I have rambled for long enough. We had a blast travelling with Emilie and the photos, as always, do a better job than me though they never really do the places enough justice. One other thing to add, and this will probably only be amusing to Emilie, Lynny and I. When you spend that long in a car, on straight roads with hardly any other drivers to distract you, you start to go a little bit crazy!
Ps. No comment from Lynny cos she's just too damn lazy! ;-)
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Nick
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Good to hear from you guys again. Sounds like a blast. Not sure I would be brave enough to do a trip like that having watched "Wolf Creek" - a must see if you haven't already. Life ticks on in the UK, off to France for the weekend then back to the grindstone for eternity!