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…

Norseman

The Kalgoorlie Super Pit

The Super Pit Closeup

An Old Ore Bucket at the Super Pit

The Old Federal Hotel

Kalgoorlie Hay Street Brothel

The Exchange

The Pipeline

The Last Dump along the Great Eastern Highway

Earthquake Damage to Meckering Railway

Meckering Ruin

The Big SLR Camera Store in Meckering

Meckering Tractor

Home with Bert and Daisy

Border Crossing: SA to WA

Travelled 657 kilometres @ 16.8 litres / 100 kms

After a magic night camped on the cliffs of the Great Australian Bight, the next day we reached the South Australian-Western Australian border, which is marked by Border Village in SA and the WA Quarantine Station (which is about as hospitable as Checkpoint Charlie). Border Village had the renowned signpost pointing to many cities across the globe as well as the giant kangaroo, Rooey II. Our stop at Eucla, just next to the border in WA, hosted some real surprises. We visited the Old Telegraph Station built in 1887, which is now gradually being subsumed by the rolling sand dunes. Four inquisitive emus came to say hello and a few white cockatoos were squawking above. We trekked over sand dunes to view the remains of the old Eucla jetty. To Jan’s bemusement, the rather large squid with its  protruding black beak I found washed up on the shore, impressed me almost as much as the jetty.

From Eucla, we drove along the longest straight stretch of road in the southern hemisphere – 90 miles or 146.6 kilometres – and then onto the biggest untouched temperate Eucalypt forest in the world, the Western Woodlands, before setting up camp just before Norseman at Fraser Range Rest Stop.

Often seen as a rite of passage that any self-respecting Aussie would have to do at least once in their lifetime, I do feel that crossing the Nullarbor is a must-do Australian road trip. Some may think driving across it is boring, though this was far from the truth for us. While certain patches were a bit tedious, we found the Eyre Highway contained a kaleidoscope of landscapes including the green farming fields near Ceduna, the treeless plain section where all you see is miles of low-lying scrub to the far horizon, the gentle hilly passes through Madura and Eucla, and the huge variety of trees in the Western Woodlands at Norseman. I fondly recall driving across the Nullarbor with a mate in an 1100 Austin Morris Minor with no air-conditioning back in the sweltering summer of 1978. Whatever time of the year, the Nullarbor shares with you her natural beauty, and the many unique and fascinating landscapes along the way will leave you with an indelible impression.

Jan and Rooey II

Eucla Telegraph Station

Spot the Emu

Eucla Jetty

Eucla Squid

Bert and Daisy at the Jetty

Straight Road Sign on the Eyre

The Longest Straightest Road

Western Woodlands

Setting up Camp at Fraser Range near Norseman

Fraser Range Camp Reflections