The Road Home

Travelled 564kms @ 14.9 litres/100kms and 334kms @ 14.3 litres/100kms

Strong tail winds… finally!

We renewed acquaintances with the WA Goldfields, having lived there for six years in the 80’s & early 90’s. The gateway to WA, Norseman hadn’t changed much. It was an uninspiring town back then, as it is now. We used to say that the best thing about Norseman was that the beautiful town of Esperance was only two hours away. 200 kms north of Norseman, Kalgoorlie was a buoyant town in the 1980s that bristled with confidence, and we were pleased to see that this hadn’t changed. The Super Pit was an amazing sight to behold, and we weren’t surprised to see the positive impact this giant open-cut gold mine located right next to town has had on the town itself. We paid a sentimental visit to our old homes in Campbell and Lewis Streets and other old haunts. Revisiting places that once held our heart and soul through good times and bad left us with a melancholy feeling. While Jan shuddered at the thought of the three years spent raising our babies in Norseman, we both cherished the friendships and adventures. We farewelled Kal after enjoying a delicious lunch at the majestic Exchange Hotel and then hit the 600 kilometre stretch to home along the Great Eastern Highway following the historic and vital water pipeline. An impromptu cuppa with a friend in Merredin, however, turned out to be a night stopover. Gerard showed us the sights around the wheatbelt town, cooked us up a beautiful curry, and we then solved the world’s problems over a red.

We drove the homeward stretch without saying much. Perhaps it was because we were reflecting on the amazing unpredictable journey past or thinking of the familiar road ahead… or perhaps it was because we were just plain tired! A quick stop at Meckering, infamous for its devastating earthquake back in 1968 (the most damaging of all Australian geophysical events, registering 6.8 on the Richter scale) and before we knew it we were home.

Apart from a couple of hiccups with coolant issues (miraculously fixed in Buderim with an $11 small tin of Stop Leak), Troy Touareg behaved remarkably well and drank on average 15.7 litres each 100 kilometres, which is pretty good given he had to tow Dora’s hefty 2.5 tonnes in some difficult conditions.

Australia is an amazing place and we realise that with all our travels. we have still only scratched the surface. In six weeks, we drove around our great island continent, clocked up 14,599 kilometres, and embedded extraordinary memories along the way that will stay within our hearts forever. The unique landscapes from the isolated golden sandy beaches stretching for miles without a soul, the ancient lava tubes created nearly two hundred thousand years ago, to the ever-changing vistas of the Nullarbor. The incredible animals in their natural habitats like the mythical cassowary in the Daintree, tiny rare platypuses in rainforest mountains, giant clams on the Great Barrier Reef and the massive Southern Right whales frolicking in the mighty Southern Ocean. And of course, the amazing people we met along our journey, many with hearts of gold and stories to tell, just like our great country.

Until The Next Adventure…