Normally I can't get home fast enough when I hit that final stretch, but for the first time ever, I was devastated. I just wanted to keep going and going!!!! There's so much more we haven't seen and it seems so unfair that I have to work another whole year or two just to save up enough leave to do so.
We have basically done a "tasting plate" of the western half of Australia, with just a few parts missing. The parts that have wineries and stuff..........we have all of that at home.........maybe another adventure!
Kilometers = 13,034
Diesel = 2,391
Cheapest Diesel = Warragul & Port Wakefield, SA @ $1.51p/l
Dearest Diesel = Yuenduma on the Tanami Road @ $2.45p/l
Average price p/l = $1.87
Total Fuel Cost = $4450.00 (this may have been a bit lower if we had remembered to put more air in the tyres. We let them down when we first hit the Gibb River Road....They were flat for about 5,000km's and really should have been pumped back up at around the 1400km mark when we got to Derby ;-) It also didn't help that we carried a boat on the roof for the whole trip!!!!
Breakdowns = 0
Repairs = minor
- missing/shredded trailer plug - fell out and dragged along the ground on the WA side of the Tanami Road
- rear indicator lens rattled loose on the WA side of the Tanami Road
- front indicator lens on bull bar and rear tail light rattled loose on the Gibb River Road
- 2 bolts on drivers side step sheared off on the Magpie Jump-up
- Stripped screw on Barbara's stovetop wind deflector.
- Midgey bites to my arms, legs and face.......even GM copped a few this time ☺
- 2 broken fingernails
Barbara dancing along behind the beast coming up Magpie Jumpup
Things that were totally unplanned!
- I put on weight :-/ even with all those corregations in the road.....must've been all that delicious camping food................and the wine maybe ;-)..................and my cellulite is still there damn it!!!!
- GM has come home looking pretty swell also ;-)
- The Flying Doctors crossing our fairway ☺
- Having lunch in Geraldton with Steven & Jen ☺
- Having all those whales frolicking around on just the day we were passing by☺
- We only yelled at each other a couple of times, which for those of you who know us well will come as one hell of a shock ;-) and we are still talking and happy to see each other even now.....go figure!!!!
- Whilst sitting by the campfire at Karls Lagoon watching a scorpion that was attracted to the bright flames meet it's fiery end, a frog landed on my foot ☺ it was a really cute little frog but it still scared the crap out of me when it landed ☺why do critters have to find me so damn attractive???
- Central Australia was warm one day and freezing the next, but the wind was bitterly cold when it came, and the nights were just freezing!!!! More noticable being in a tent than when you're at home.
- You can't hear the Magpies singing in the middle of the night when you're sitting in your house
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| Walcott Inlett Travel Instructions |
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| More Walcott Inlet Travel Instructions |
Observations
- Once you get to the other side of Port Augusta, you seem to become a member of an exclusive club where everyone with a caravan or camper trailer waves to you. It was rare that a Winnebago driver would wave though, so we figured you probably have to be a bit of a wanker to have one. There were exceptions, but I figured they must have originally started out with a camper trailer or campervan :-) GM spent 6 weeks trying to perfect his wave, some of which were fantastic, but made him look like such a bogan ☺
- Even the truckies would wave to me, and rarely waved to GM ☺
- The aboriginal communities were disturbing. Some, like Halls Creek have had a big clean up and seem to be friendly and charming, but others like Yeundumu are dark and bubbling just below the surface. There is a lot of rapes and abuse committed and some of these communities have been closed because of the violence. Most are extremely isolated, which could be part of the problem.
- The government regulations regarding alcohol sales seem to be a step in the right direction, but only seem to apply in the far North West and Uluru. You can't buy a bottle of wine when you buy your beer or scotch which was a wee bit annoying, as we had to go to 3 different bottlo's to get our supplies. On the positive side though, at least we could still have a glass of wine with dinner ☺
- We did the right thing and got our permits to cross aboriginal land. You pay for this in the NT but it costs nothing in WA and I think most people disregard this law. Not once did we get asked to show these permits though.
- Eu de Campfire, our daily perfume ☺ you can't smell it on anything until you get home, we must have reeked wherever we went!!
- We encountered very little rubbish, other than in the aboriginal communities, until we reached Canarvon. From there all the way south there were empty stubbies and cans everywhere.
- The hotter it is, the more Willy Willies! and some of them were big suckers ☺
- We didn't get have any sleep in our eyes after the first couple of days on the road ☺ It struck me between Geraldton and Kalgoorlie! How clean the air must be over the west!!
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| Bachsten Bush Camp Details |
People we met along the way (who I can remember) ☺
- Alyce from Warnambool
- Aaron & Michelle from Adelaide
- Trent, Christa, Phoebe, Morris & Felicity from Winchelsea
- Rudy from Oasis Tours in Coober Pedy
- Dave, our Mala Tour Guide
- Matt, our Mitchell falls Pilot
- Graham & Kate from Cranbourne South, our fellow Mitchell Falls passengers
- Alan & Bronwyn from the Gold Coast
- Kim from Mt. Elizabeth Station
- Cass & Amy from Perth
- Peter& Janet from the Bachsten Bush Camp
- Neil from Darwin
- Chris, Wendy, Kevin & Sue from South of Perth
- Frank & Adelle from Traralgon
- Pat & Peter from Mt. Elizabeth Station
- Terri the cook and her husband Andy - Mt. Elizabeth Station
- Matt, Kate, James & Rosie - Guests at the Station
- John the Croation, Peter the Italian & Bill the Irishman from South of Perth
- Suraya our pilot for the Horizontal Falls
- Tiny & Wangai our camels from Cable Beach
- Red Dog from Dampier
- Salvassa & Boyfriend, Wazza (from Mirboo North), Marcus, Russell & Geoff from Karratha
- Woof from Newborough
- Grant & Meredith from Sale
- Ray & Robyn from Bunbury
- Mark & Alek, our tour guides in Exmouth
- Steven & Jen from Geraldton
- Ray our guide for the Kalgoorlie/Boulder Superpit
- Garry & Viv from Queensland - our golf buddies
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| Our Eco Tour....highly recommend this! |
The places we loved the most
- Uluru
- Serpentine Gorge
- The Tanami Road
- Kununurra
- Mt. Elizabeth Station
- Bachsten Bush Camp
- Karls Lagoon
- Bachsten Falls
- Wren's Gorge
- Windjana Gorge
- Broome
- The fantastic spot off the road with the great big rocks between Karratha & Exmouth
- Exmouth and the Ningaloo Reef ☺
- Kalgoorlie
- The Nullarbor
- The Murray River
Next major trip to be planned will probably be in 2015.........Cape York to Darwin with a quick visit across to hike into Mitchell Falls, back down to Uluru so that GM can finally climb it now that his back is better and maybe a hike around Kings Canyon and the Olga's as well ☺ There is so much to see and so little Annual Leave!!
Cheers!
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