Springbok747 From Australia, joined Nov 2004, 4387 posts, RR: 13 Posted (6 years 3 months 2 weeks 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 4726 times:
Wohoo my first non-av trip report...enjoy
Vehicle: Holden Commodore Equip, 2005
No of passengers: 3
Left Perth on 26 February at 07h00
Mount street, Perth
Perth Skyline
Swan Bell Tower in Perth
Main street in Coolgardie - 555kms from Perth
The "tourist area" in Coolgardie - an old mining town in Western Australia
Onward to Kalgoorlie - main street in KGI
The statue of Paddy Hannan, the guy who first found gold in KGI
Kalgoorlie Hotel - established 1897
The Superpit - the world¡¦s largest open cut gold mine, can be seen from space - its also on google earth.
The superpit in all its glory
A CAT dump truck carrying ore
Close up of a dump truck on market day in KGI
(Note the hot chick operating the camera in the foreground )
Leaving KGI on 28 February
Eyre Highway to Adelaide - This is Norseman, 200 kms from KGI
Still a long way from Adelaide!
Warning signs at Norseman advising people to carry water (722 kms from Perth)
Balladonia Roadhouse (one of the typical Nullarbor Roadhouses - 915 kms from Perth)
This is also where pieces of Skylab fell in July 1979
The Skylab "museum" at Balladonia roadhouse
Welcome to Balladonia - in the middle of bloody nowhere!
Watch out for road trains!!
A real live road train (not a very big one though)
Between Balladonia and Caiguna Roadhouses, the Eyre highway forms the longest stretch of straight sealed road in the world. Too bad the sign was vandalized.
One of the many RFDS emergency airstrips found along the route.
Caiguna roadhouse (1100 kms from Perth)
Cocklebiddy roadhouse - one of the many typical roadhouses along the way.
Madura roadhouse (1255 kms from Perth) in the middle of nowhere
The road from Madura towards the endless nullarbor plain
Quarantine checkpoint at the WA-SA border.
The WA SA border. The time also changes here.
WA SA Border village - our overnight stop (1470 kms from Perth) including the Rooey 2 kangaroo statue (the most horrible statue I have ever seen).
Our accommodation in border village ($65 for the night for 3 people, not bad)
The entire accommodation at border village
The restaurant at border village
The different time zones at border village roadhouse. Border village is 45 min ahead of perth and 45 min behind SA time
Border village roadhouse
Our room in border village
The endless nullarbor - view from our room
The great Australian bight seen from the road as it passes through the nullarbor national park. Did not see anything not even UFOs
The world's longest cliff face (800 + kms) at nullarbor national park
The warning sign at cliff edge, there are no fences.
The endless nullarbor plain
Heading towards the nullarbor roadhouse
Nullarbor roadhouse in the middle of nowhere
Inside the nullarbor roadhouse - had a good cup of coffee
Encountered a Ferrari on the Nullarbor plain
Typical Eyre Highway roadsigns
Entering Ceduna (1930 kms from Perth)
Port Augusta - The end of the Eyre Highway 2nd March
Entering Adelaide - end of the drive
Not really a part of our trip, but some views of the KGI airport:
Inside the terminal building at KGI
Getting pretty close to all the action (even though its only a 734)
Well thats it! Gotta say I really enjoyed this trip, and it was awesome to experience hundreds of miles of nothingness. And I drove the entire distance
People say that you need to carry fuel, water etc when driving PER-ADL (or ADL-PER), but we found that to be totally unnecessary, as fuel, water and great food was available every 200-300 kms at the roadhouses. Also, there is a lot of traffic on this road, so its not as isolated as some websites make it out to be!
Oldman55 From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 1519 posts, RR: 38 Reply 2, posted (6 years 3 months 2 weeks 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 4712 times:
Great report Springbok; but i think that drive would put me to sleep. Haven't seen you in chat for quite a while.
too bad most of us get too soon old and too late smart
QANTAS077 From China, joined Jan 2004, 5751 posts, RR: 48 Reply 4, posted (6 years 3 months 2 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 4691 times:
Madura pass has to be the most spectacular landscape in Australia, i did the same trip without going on to Kalgoorlie back in september, though we continued on to Melbourne which is an absolute killer.
JetsGo From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 2971 posts, RR: 5 Reply 7, posted (6 years 3 months 2 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 4674 times:
Absolutely amazing. I would kill to do what you have just done. I went to Sydney/Brisbane/Gold Coast a few years ago, and loved it, but still want to see the real Australia. I hope to go back sometime in the future. Could you by chance show us a map of Australia and the routing in which you took? What were the temperatures like? Also, I gotta ask you, just how fast did you take it on that 90 mile stretch of road?
QANTAS077 From China, joined Jan 2004, 5751 posts, RR: 48 Reply 9, posted (6 years 3 months 2 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 4655 times:
Quoting ANCFlyer (Reply 6): What is the Quarantine Station for?
due to west australian isolation we have our own fruit & vegetable issues that differ from the rest of the country, you can take food from west to east but not east to west.
Quoting JetsGo (Reply 7): just how fast did you take it on that 90 mile stretch of road?
roads are all speed limited to 110KPH including the 90mi straight, they do aerial speed patrols right across the outback so it's usually ideal to stick to the limit.
it's the open space and isolation! i'd pack up and move out there without hesitation. the most common site on the road side is dead kangaroo's, on our trip over the 3 trailer semi cleaned up a camel about 100meters in front of us! it's also extremely dangerous to drive those roads at night due to the kangaroo problem...wise to have a roo-bar on the front of your car.
a true friend is someone who sees the pain in your eyes, while everyone else believes the smile on your face.
you'd be surprised mate, they actually don't hop out of the way of all things! i read somewhere that the light stuns them and they just stay put...it's a "law" down here that you don't swerve if you're doing 110kph and there is a roo in your path.
a true friend is someone who sees the pain in your eyes, while everyone else believes the smile on your face.
Chi-town From United States of America, joined Sep 2000, 970 posts, RR: 6 Reply 17, posted (6 years 3 months 2 weeks 1 day ago) and read 4551 times:
Very interesting! Great report. I have never seen pictures of Australia before. Reminds me of the Southwest US. (Arizona, New Mexico, SE California) I would love to visit one day. BTW, what kind of car do you have?
Tom in NO From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 7194 posts, RR: 40 Reply 19, posted (6 years 3 months 2 weeks 1 day ago) and read 4535 times:
Nice pics, Springbok.....looks like an interesting trek.
Quoting ANCFlyer (Reply 6): I've taken long haul road trips like that, California to DC, Arizona to DC, DC to Alaska (twice), the longest about 6000 miles.
We're planning a 4,300 mile roadie in late May through mid-June.....New Orleans to Steamboat Springs (brother-in-law) to San Diego (my brother and his family) to Phoenix (wife's cousins) back to New Orleans.
And no, Chevy Chase is not our travel advisor
Tom at MSY
"The criminal ineptitude makes you furious"-Bruce Springsteen, after seeing firsthand the damage from Hurricane Katrina
Queso From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 20, posted (6 years 3 months 2 weeks 1 day ago) and read 4525 times:
Quoting Springbok747 (Thread starter): Well thats it! Gotta say I really enjoyed this trip, and it was awesome to experience hundreds of miles of nothingness.
Thanks for the TR and especially the pictures! It makes me want to visit Australia that much more! A lot of it is very similar to the area where I live in Western Texas. Looks like so much fun!
Springbok747 From Australia, joined Nov 2004, 4387 posts, RR: 13 Reply 21, posted (6 years 3 months 2 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 4501 times:
Quoting JetsGo (Reply 7): Also, I gotta ask you, just how fast did you take it on that 90 mile stretch of road?
Speed is limited to 110km/h, and they really do enforce them! In fact we came acrossa police car on the 90 mile stretch, but those guys were doing 100...so had to give them a wave and overtake them.
Quoting LTU932 (Reply 16): How long did the drive from PER to ADL take?
3 days, but we took it nice and slow, stuck to the speed limits, stopped at all the interesting places etc
ScarletHarlot From Canada, joined Jul 2003, 4673 posts, RR: 59 Reply 23, posted (6 years 3 months 2 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 4488 times:
That is pretty darned cool. Makes me want to go back to Australia. We only drove from Canberra to Melbourne, but I was glad to see some of the countryside on the ground and not all from the air.
The isolation reminds me of Northern Ontario, where you can go hours and see nothing but trees and rocks - and ANC, moose too.
I call it a bambi basher. (first deer you hit, it pays itself off)
25 777ER: Never read a driving report on here before. I could be doing a cross country driving trip in the USA in August, might do a trip report on that. Its th
26 QANTAS077: just watching the final quarter of grand final again! still the best 30 mins of football i've seen! even better for having been there.
27 Overlander: Thanks, very interesting trip. I would have loved to have done the drive myself when I was there recently. I travelled to Perth on the Indian - Pacifi
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. I must do a driving holiday across Oz myself one day.
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