Sunday. 21/12/2008

We had been counting down to this day. Yesterday we had stocked up on provisions and packed a few things, but this morning it was pack-up time. Zebbie was put in the truck in her 'nest', while everything else was poked in the van somewhere. Lyn took the gate access card back, and by 8.30 we were on the road again.

It did not take long to leave the city behind, and get back to the 'bush'.

Our first interesting stop was at Meckering. It was a very small settlement now, but many years back had been the centre of a serious earthquake and ground movement.

The photo shows the section of rail line that was across the fault line.

There was a small visitor area, and a very lovely rose garden that was the memorial cemetery. There was some old machinery there too, including this Fordson tractor.

It was a very nice setup for travellers. Highly recommended.

We finaly pulled into a rest area about 68km from Southern Cross for the night. It was highly recommended by our neighbours in Perth, and they were right. There has heaps of space, and you could get well back from the road.

We set up our Selec TV dish, and also had perfect internet coverage. Lyn watched a movie, while I prepared this update. A great place to stop with all the comforts of home.

Even had a quite nice sunset, and when the sun was down, the stars were out in a perfectly clear sky. Great to be out of the city smog.

Monday. 22/12/2008

Our first stop for today was Coolgardie.

Very much a town relying on its past, and doing it very well.

This park in the middle of town had quite a collection of old mining gear. There were also many well presented old buildings.

Kalgoolie was quite an interesting place. Reminded me of Bendigo quite a bit. The main street was very busy with some places we would have liked to look at, but there was no close parking for our size rig, so we kept on going. Drove around to a supermarket we could park near and got some supplies, but they had no fresh bread shop.

The GPS unit was very handy here. Getting us around in the strange town with ease.

We had heard about the "Superpit" in Perth, so went found it in the GPS list, and pressed "GO".

We soon were entering the well signed lookout, with plenty of room for large rigs. They have just dug down from the top to the gold ore layer that had been mined by tunnel in the past, and now extract the ore without going underground.

The hole is HUGE. The trucks you can just see in this picture of part of the hole are those giant 120 ton tippers. There is a steady procession of them climbing the roads out of the pit.

This shows a closeup of one of the working levels. You can see the size of the trucks better here.

We then went into Boulder to get some bread. It was obvious we were in the poor end of town, so we got the bread and headed out of town to make our lunch.

It's not often we actually pass something on the road, but today was one. We caught up with this long ore train heading into Norseman, and started to overtake it as it ran alongside the highway. This picture is of it crossing a salt pan on the left of the road.

We had been saving filling with fuel until Norseman as we were going to the small Shell station in town to spend our money. They had been good with us when we came through last time, and we wanted to support them again. When we got there, the main diesel pump was out of order, and the place hardly looked open. We just had to drive out and go to one on the highway, where we filled all our tanks, including the generator, and water. Lyn was in charge of the water fill, and did end up with a litle water on her glasses, but the tank was full.

We had intended to stop at a spot sixteen k's from Norsemen, but when we got there it was not very inviting. The road had been improved and the stopping sites had been cut way down. Had to keep on going until the next one at about 79kms from Norseman.

It was much bigger, but someone was already near the back, so we parked close to the road at the front. There was hardly any traffic, so it was no real inconvenience.

Had trouble finding the satellite through the trees, so just gave up as Lyn said she did not mind not having TV, so it ended up being quite an early night.

We have accumulated a couple of faults in the van that are giving us some headaches. First, there is a leak in the top of the fresh water tank. Most likely a breather port is off, but to get at it means removing the bottom cover of the van. Not too hard but time consuming. Then the valve control for one of the grey tanks is stuck open. Once again, to fix it is to remove the bottom. So far we are surviving with them. Just using the main cap to keep the grey water in, and not filling the fresh tank full.

To add to our repair list, I feel the generator is running a bit too rich. Most likely the vibration from so much travel has loosened the adjuster. We'll have to get it looked at.

Tuesday. 23/12/2008

We were up with the sun, and on the road again early.

Today's travels were just toward the border. Nothing but three roadhouses and scrub. There had been rain recently, and it was surprising to see green for most of the way. In some places there were pools of water by the road.

When we stopped to cook dinner, there was a figure in the distance. It turned out to be a coat that had been put over a bush. We walked up to it and had a look. Someone had writen on it to leave you signiture, and a few had left messages on the jacket. They were all in 'text' speak, so it must have been young backpackers.

The green was mainly spikey desert grass. From a distance it looked just like a paddock, but I'm sure stock would not much like it.

Yesterday, we found a newish tennis ball at one of a rest stops, so today we have been using it when we stop to bounce to each other to get our limbs moving again. Its working out OK.

All day we were driving into a head wind. At times it was quite strong. Through one patch of scrub there were trees blown over and many large branches blown off and lying in the ground. It seemed quite recent, so they must have had some very strong winds. Luckily we missed those.

It was a tiring day from the early start, and by three o'clock we were looking for a spot to stay. Was heading for one past Madura, but 25 ks before Madura we saw a great site, and pulled in. We had it all to ourselves, so started to set up.

This time I was determined to get the satellite TV going. With Lyn watching the screen and giving instructions out the window, I worked the dish and sat finder. Time after time I had what should have been the satellite, but nothing inside.

Checked and rechecked the bearings. Moved the dish clear of this tree and that bush. Finally fed the wires a different way and then it worked. Put it back the old way and it still worked. Not sure what was going on, but we had pictures for the night.

While I was getting the dish right, it looked like a storm was approaching, but in the end it never came over us.

Since we had plenty of time, we cooked a good meal with curried onion gravey sausages and mashed spuds with cheese.

After all the trouble with the dish, there was nothing much that Lyn liked on TV, so it might be another early night to help adjust to the changing time zones.

Wednesday. 24/12/2008

On the way toward Eucla, after the descent to the lower plain, we came across this shoe tree. It was about a k before the bottle tree, on the opposite side of the road.

People had left one of a pair of shoes or thongs on, or around the tree. Some had names and dates written on the soles.

It was interesting reading the shoes. Some of them seemed really good.

The bottle tree had more bottles than when we last saw it. Many around the base as well.

A bit further toward Eucla was a glove tree too, but we did not stop for that one. It had about half a dozen gloves on its branches.

This time we stopped at the view sight over the Great Australian Bight that we did not see last time. The sea was not very rough at all, and a beautiful colour of blue. The only down side was the wind. It was blowing a gale from off the sea. It had been affecting our travels all day.

The fuel gauge had been dropping like a stone. The side wind on our van was really adding to the drag, and even keeping a lower than usual speed, the fuel consumption was way over normal.

Originally we had thought to camp overnight at this spot, but with Christmas day being tomorrow, and not knowing what roadhouses would be open, we decided to continue to Nullabour station and get a top up of fuel.

From the roadhouse we continued up the road on the Nullabour Plain looking for a place to stop, until we found this great spot just after the Head of The Bight.

No one else was likely to stop here, and it had great flat ground. We had phone and internet coverage, and we set up the satellite TV for the night, and then made a good meal for tea. The wind was still strong here. I even had to put the rear jacks down to keep the van stable.

So here we are - Christmas Eve on the Nullabour Plain - with all the comforts of home, and this sunset out our window.

Thursday. 25/12/2008

Christmas Day

It was a very quiet night. Practically nothing on the road, just the wind. Again we had the site to ourselves.

As we were getting ready to leave this storm came up. There was a roll of cloud from horizon to horizon with lightning in the main section.

The rain started as we were just getting in the truck.

The storm overtook us, and over the next 50km petered out a lot, but we did have overcast sky's all day.

We'd calculated our diesel to Penong, where there is a major roadhouse. Without the head wind of the last two days, we were able to make much better speed, and the fuel gauge was getting very near 'empty' as we drove into Penong.

You guessed it - the roadhouse was closed for Xmas!

Everyone had gone to the pub opposite for Christmas dinner. The roadhouse would reopen 8am tomorrow.

While we thought about our options. The main one being to set up camp behind the roadhouse and wait. The fuel gauge started to rise. We were stopped on a slope, and more fuel was draining from our second tank into the main. I closed the valve between tanks, and it looked like we would have enough to get the 72kms to Ceduna.

Off we set, watching the gauge, and driving to save fuel. Within 20 km's, the gauge was back at empty, so we pulled up on the wrong side of the road, to use the road camber to drain more fuel between tanks. Another slow and careful trip just got us the rest of the way to Ceduna.

A major refueling took place at the first open servo. Calculations showed that since Norseman our average had been way down at 5.0 L/km.

While at the servo, we got some chips for dinner, then drove into town and ate them on the foreshore, while feeding the seagulls.

Then it was off for a walk out the jetty. No one was about the town at all. We seemed to be the only ones anywhere.

The town itself was rather nice. Pretty gardens and a pleasant atmosphere.

The rest of the day was uneventful. We stopped for the night near Wundinna, and set up camp by the road side.

Like the rest of the day, there was hardly any traffic at all. It was a very quiet night.

Friday. 26/12/2008

Boxing Day

Woke up to this sunrise out my bedroom window. At the other end of the van, we could see a car that had pulled in sometime during the night for a rest too. He had gone before we were packed up to go.

In the wheat town of Wundinna itself we saw this nearly-finished monument on the side of the road, oposite the silos. It was being made ready for Australia Day

We stopped at Kimba - a town that had impressed us last time - and it did so again. It was the most decorated christmas town we had seen, as well as having the best facilities for visitors. The Lions park is a must. They even have magazines to read while you relax in their pavilions, or have your BBQ in the provided shelter.

Unfortunately, the IGA was shut, so we could not patronise them for supplies, but Lyn did purchase some treasures at the Big Galah.

Our next real stop was Whyalla. We went to the shopping plaza and got some groceries, and had a bit of a look around the town. We were not very impressed, and to top it off, went down to the beach, only to find ouselves trapped in a maze of traffic calming in the carpark. It was a real nightmare trying to manouver our truck and van through that mess. We were so anoyed that we just headed out of town as quick as possible. We won't be back.

Port Augusta was the next stop. Not a lot open, but we both got some extra undies at Target, and had a walk up the main street.

Stopped for the night at a roadside bay near Port Germain. You can just make out the long jetty in the photo.

In the other direction we can see the lights of Port Pirie

It was drizling rain and quite humid when we went to bed.

Saturday. 27/12/2008

We both had a poor night's sleep, and were up very early and watched a bit of TV before getting organised.

We arranged to meet Chris and Jeff from our time in Darwin on our way through Adelaide, and so headed directly for the chosen rendezvous site. It was good to see them and get the gossip of their trip and Adelaide. Made us consider coming back here for a while as there is work available. Just another choice to make.

After our meeting, we headed out of the city. The country was very dry, and even the city gardens were mainly brown. We saw many changes on the trip toward Mount Gambier. Most of them things that had closed, but a few new additions. Poor old KiKi was a ghost town now.

We stopped for the night at site 122 from Camps4 book, 12km. south of Keith. There were fields of Lucerne either side of us.

Sunday. 28/12/2008

What a busy road! Of all our overnight spots, this one had the most passing traffic.

When we set off this morning we were only a couple of hours from our destination. Passing through Padthaway we saw this flock of cute metal sheep.

The closer we got to Mount Gambier, the colder and wetter it became.

By 11.00am we had arrived at my sisters where, in between showers, we set up camp for our stay here. It was wet, cold and windy. What had we let ourselves in for!

We leave Mount Gambier toward Queensland - click here to follow.

Return to previous page - click here for our time in Perth.