Crossing the Nullarbor

29 Mar 2007 06:17 - Australië

Hello there,

Because I planned to do so many things and I haven't seen that much of Australia yet ;P I left Millicent on Friday (23-3-07) to go to Perth. Before I left Margo and Allan's place everyone (Kerryn, Mark, Bethany, Peyten, Lyndelle and Brenton) came to say good bye. Unfortunately Allan left to go to work that morning and I got up too late to see him, but he called me from his office to wish me safe and happy travels. Brenton and Lyndelle gave me a set of drawings that James had made for me :)

From Millicent I drove to Balaklava (about 500km north-west) to find a place to sleep. I think I left Millicent just in time because it rained the entire day! In Gawler I had to use someones shed to shelter in while I cooked my dinner (Margo's pasta :D ). The next day I drove to Ceduna (via Port Augusta) where I had some noodles on the beach and watched the sunset. Sunday I finally started crossing the Nullarbor, this is a 1200km long plain without any trees. Which is a problem when you need to go... It took me two days to cross the Nullarbor Plain and on my way I nearly managed to hit an emu... Please don't ask how I managed not to see that bird coming. During the trip the landscape around me steadily changed from bushland to a, surprisingly green, open plain and then back to bushland. While I was driving (which was most of the time) I've seen kangaroos, lizards, eagles, parrots an emu :S and above all, an awful lot of road trains. Along the way I stopped to look at several lookouts over the Great Australian Bight Marine Park and the view was spectacular. But apart from those stops I just kept driving from one road house to the next.

Monday I arrived in Norseman where I had a choice of three routes to get to Perth. One was a detour via the north, the other a detour via the south and the final option was a direct route via Hyden. The only problem with the direct route was that it was a 300km long unsealed road... Because I didn't feel like taking a big detour and because I wanted to see "Wave Rock" in Hyden I took the dirt road. The road turned out to be in pretty good condition and I managed to average about 90km/h. After driving for about 170 kilometres a stopped to eat and allow my car to cool down and spent the night under the stars. The next day I drove to Perth. The landscape had changed again and the last stretch before reaching the city went trough beautiful rain forest.

As soon as I got to Perth I parked the car in the botanical gardens and started walking trough the city. Perth actually reminds me of Melbourne, just a little bit less chaotic. After eating a kebab I went back to the car and drove to one of the suburbs to sleep.

And that's about all I have to say at this point. While I'm in Perth I'll try to prepare for the rest of my journey (make bookings etc.) before making my way north.

Here's a couple of little facts about my trip:

- Since I left Millicent I've travelled 3220km (and that's about the shortest route)

- My car's accelerator pedal not only controlls the engine, it operates the volume of the stereo as well.

- 5 cassettes is NOT enough music for this trip (I would have been glad to hear even Celine Dion at one stage...)

- Road trains don't just drive in a straight line (at least, the last trailer doesn't) and they do not stop.

- Emu's are masters of camouflage.

Right, that's all for now. Greetz from Perth everyone!

Bart