Last Monday, was a day I was equally anxious and giddy about, but also dreading to a certain extent. It was the beginning of what would be the most intense drive of my life. The plan was to drive from Adelaide in the southeast of Australia all the way to Perth on the west coast. Our campervan had to be in Perth by Thursday afternoon, so this left me with about 75 hours to cover just less than 3000 kilometres. In the summer months, this would be no problem as you have tons of daylight to aide your driving. In the winter (which it is in the southern hemisphere right now), daylight is limited to the hours of 7:30am to 5:00pm. Most rental companies in Australia will not let you drive your vehicle at night if you are west of Adelaide, as the animals (see: kangaroos, camels, wombats, emus) tend to come out at night and tend to wander onto the roads. Since Leeanna does not know how to drive a manual vehicle, this left me on my own to do the driving, and I felt like a fat-out-of-shape marathon runner preparing for something I had no chance at completing. That morning, we set out bright and early with our eyes firmly glued to the road in hopes of seeing tons of wildlife (and maybe some spear-wielding Aboriginals) on our adventure. Our destination was the town of Ceduna, which with a population of around 2000 people, is the last “major” town before you cross the Nullarbor Plain on your way to Perth. Anyways, we covered the 800 kilometres with no problems and astoundingly I only had to pull over and nap once the entire way. We set up shop in the caravan park for the night, although I was disappointed that all day we saw no signs of wildlife, except for a ton of road kill, mainly consisting of kangaroos and small rodents.
Tuesday morning we were back on the road nice and early again. Today we officially headed out into one of the most barren places on Earth. After you leave Ceduna, there are no towns for well over a day and a half, and the only thing resembling a population is the roadhouse “towns” which are generally every couple hundred kilometres. They usually have a population hovering around five people and usually consist of a gas station, restaurant/bar, motel, and caravan park. The other thing you quickly notice is how much fuel costs. Generally in the major cities right now fuel is about $1.25 per litre. In the outback, I paid as much as $1.80 per litre, which quickly adds up when your van uses 15 litres per 100 kilometres. During the day, we stopped off at the Head of Bight, which is famous for its large population of Southern Right Whales that breed there in the winter time. Unfortunately, the whales had not fully arrived from Antarctica, and there were only a couple that were really far off-shore. Instead of paying to see one whale that was really far away, we just drove about 100 kilometres down the road and took some gorgeous photographs from a free viewing point. We also finally saw some animals that were alive today, in the form of two dingoes (wild dogs). Other than that it was just lots of crows and lots of dead kangaroos that the crows were feasting on! That night, after driving about 900 kilometres, we settled on staying in the town of Caiguna, which was an experience in itself. It was just a truck stop out in the middle of nowhere with a gravel parking lot in the back that they called a caravan park. The bathroom doors had signs warning to keep them shut at all times as snakes were likely to try and get in. Oh, and it said all snakes in the area were poisonous, which made me sleep that much better at night!
The next morning, we couldn’t get out of Caiguna fast enough. Unfortunately for us, the previous day our fridge had conked out and we had to throw out lots of food. Who likes peanut butter and nutella sandwiches for three meals a day!? It’s bad enough that Leeanna and I are both terrible cooks, but without a fridge, we are really pressed to get creative with our cooking, or lack thereof. We drove across the Nullarbor (including one stretch of straight road that was 160 kilometres without a single bend) with little dramas, outside of almost being blown across the road a couple of times by the strong desert winds and me getting nervous every time a road train (see: extra large semi-trailer, usually a dual or triple) would be approaching me in the oncoming lane. I kept having this reoccurring thought that I would get swept in front of one, but luckily this never happened. We pretty much drove straight the whole day, only really stopping in the town of Coolgardie, which used to be a big gold mining town in the 1800s, but was now merely a shell of itself. It was very cool though with its wide main street and old buildings. I love those kinds of towns, like only a history nerd could. After another solid day of covering between 800 and 900 kilometres, we finally settled in the town of Merredin and were only about 260 kilometres outside of Perth.
Thursday morning we drove the last three hours into Perth and could now successfully say we had completed one of the most gruelling drives ever! We dropped our campervan off in the north end of the city and with the help of a kind bus driver navigated our way down to the ocean side suburb of Mandurah that was located about a 50 minute train ride south of the city. This was home to my mom’s long lost friend Zale and her partner Trevor. After being picked up by Trevor at one of the local pubs (always a good meeting point), we made our way back their unit. What awaited us was definitely a unique living experience. Turns out, much of Mandurah’s residences are built around a canal-like system of man-made waterways that empty out into the ocean. Very much like Venice, but instead of old crappy buildings, smelly water, and people everywhere it was the complete opposite. Trevor and Zale had a beautiful three bedroom corner lot that has views of the canals from every room (except the shitter) and lends its self beautifully to activities such as fishing, crabbing, boating, and dolphin spotting. Rough life, yes I know.
Friday morning, Leeanna and I were left on our own as Zale and Trevor both have full-time jobs. Just saying the words “full-time job” is now an effort for me. Anyways the girlfriend and I were left to explore the town and its surrounds. So we hiked it into town and took in all the sights that coastal living affords people. I tried eating tuna today for the first time in my life, and just like with the salmon a few months ago I miraculously survived! That night we took it easy and just stayed in and drank and ate pizza. Definitely two of my favourite hobbies, hands down.
Since Zale and Trevor are both boating enthusiasts, we were naturally going to be spending some time on the boat once the weekend rolled around. Turns out, Trevor owns both a sailboat and powerboat, but it is not currently sailing season, so that left us with the ladder. After driving over to Trevor’s other house in Mandurah (currently under renovation) to pick up the boat, we headed over to the sailing club to get it in the water and then get out to participate in activity known as time-trialing. Basically, it is all about trying to match pre-determined times around a set course and whoever loses the least amount of seconds over the course is declared the winner. During the day on the water, we managed to see a few dolphins which inhabit the area as well as a plethora of multi-million dollar mansions that keep me asking myself where I went wrong in life. I also managed to sneak in a nap in the middle of the 45 minute time trial, as let’s be real I can nap anywhere. All in all, it was a great day out on the water. The boating was followed up by an awards ceremony at the sailing club, which featured us finding out that we won first place out of the fifteen or so boats in the time trials. I like to think that it was mine and Leeanna’s dead weight that made all the difference. More importantly, it also featured alcohol and some tasty food. Unfortunately, a seven-year old child/hellion known as Isabella discovered Leeanna and I and proceeded to harass us for a good amount of time. I was told my nose looked like a pooh-pooh nose, whatever that means. After the sailing club, we ventured over to one of Zale and Trev’s friend’s houseboats for some more beverages before scooping up some Chinese food on the way home. Nothing says convenience like being able to pick-up your Chinese food by boat!
Sunday was scheduled to be another day of boating, which was just fine by me. We boarded the boat a little before lunchtime and made our way down the estuary to a restaurant known as the Ravenswood Hotel. The place was about an hour-and-a-half boat ride from the house, and when we got there, there were swarms of boats, cars, and people. The place was obviously very well-known in the area and I can attest that their burgers were top-notch. After spending a few hours there with some of Trev and Zale’s friends, we made our way back to the house for a nice relaxing evening of television, drinks, and nachos.
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