7163
Door: Devils Uncle
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Paul
20 April 2011 | Australië, Perth
That's the amount of kilometers I have been driving in a Mitsubishi Challenger (being my brothers old car) the last 17 days. It is from Whyalla across the Nullarbor to Perth and via the south of Western Australia across the Nullarbor again back to Whyalla. And then I don't count the 215km up and down to Tumby Bay for the Triple J's One Night Stand event (4 Ozzie bands performing).
On the 4th of April I left Whyalla to pick up my travelmate Chris (29, German girl) in Port Augusta. From there it was heading west for a very long time. Until Ceduna, the closest main town on the eastern part of the Nullarbor, we stopped at Venus Bay and Streaky Bay. Two towns with nice views but nothing to much special. In Ceduna we picked up some extra information and the surely needed resources as our next supermarket (or at least what you could call it) would be in Norseman, some 1250km west. And then we were off for a hell of a ride.
The Nullarbor is the common name of the part of the Eyre Highway between Ceduna (South Australia) and Norsman (West Australia) as it is across the Nullarbor Plains, worlds biggest single piece of limestone (200 000 square km and 1100km at its widest point) and more important to know being a treeless plain for most of it. When you travel the Indian Pacific (the railway service between Adelaide and Perth) you will be able to see the biggest part of the treeless plain. While driving it via the Eyre Highway you only will travel this treeless plain for about 27km. But that is still very impressive. Looking towards the horizon in all directions and not being able to spot 1 single tree, just vegetation that just reaches about knee height. The Nullabor as a drive has about 10 roadhouses (I mean petrol station, a motel and a camping) and 3 towns (I mean more than a petrol station, a motel and a camping) which includes Ceduna and Norseman. So imagine yourself how many times you see a building at the side of the road. Many backpackers prefer to fly to Perth with the excuse "there is nothing to see!" which is a bit true, but the journey itself makes you realize how big Australia actually is and what I experienced the best the beauty of unspoiled nature and magnificent views both inland as well over the Southern Ocean, specially at Eucla and Madura Pass.
It took Chris and I about 3 days to cross the 1250km (plus detours), but mainly because we weren't in a hurry. Near Pennong we stopped at Cactus Beach which has a nice surf beach and a few beautiful salt lakes on the access road. Later on we spend the night in Fowlers Bay, a small town at the ocean surrounded by many high sand dunes. Here we saw a group of 22 Mercedes Benz Fuel Cell cars on a test/promotional world trip (in 125 days, not a bad job I would say) all with German registration plates. Next day we tried to drive as much kilometers as possible only stopping at the special roadsign at Nullarbor (the roadhouse), Head of Bight (whale season lookout spot) and at two lookouts at the Great Australian Bight (marine park) until be almost reached Caiguna. At this parking about 30 minutes form Caiguna we met Robert and Ken (a trucker with a oversize load, being a mining trailer, and his pilot, being the car driving 1 km in front of the oversized load warning oncoming traffic) who were on their way to Port Hedland (which they planned to reach about 4 days later). Had a few beers as well as some good laughs before getting some sleep. Our last day at the Nullarbor contained the 90 Mile Straigth, it's with a lenght of 146,6km Australia's (and regarded the worlds) longest straight stretch of road without a single turn. After driving for half an hour you realize you got another 100km to go before you can say: "Woohoo a bend!!" When we reached Norseman it started raining, which we saw coming for hours, so our original plan to head south for Esperance and Albany was changed to getting to Kalgoorlie, the mayor mining town at the Golden Mile (guess what they are mining for). Robert and Ken offered Chris a ride to Broome so heading for Kalgoorlie helped her to take the offer so here our ways seperated again.
After I spend some time to resupply myself with some food and drinks I visited the Super Pit lookout. It's located at the top of the worlds biggest gold mine and I can say: "Damn it is big", I think my whole hometown fits in it. Those big huge dump truck you only see at mining sites just looked like dinky toys. But 7th of April for me is not remembered for visiting this town. Just before I was heading out of town I did get the message I had become an uncle for the 3rd time. My sister gave birth to a girl, called Loes, so you can imagine with what kind of a grin I drove around the last few hours on the road, heading towards Southern Cross.
After a nice night I drove via Southern Cross and a very long dirt road towards Hyden to visit Wave Rock. Well it's not the official name of the rock, but one of its features carries that name. Near Hyden there are 2 rock formations like Uluru (but many, many sizes smaller) of which one is best known as Wave Rock. First I took a visit to the other one (the Humps) where there was also a cave (Malka's Cave) containing Aboriginal rock art (mainly hand prints). Nice walk over the rocks with some great panoramic views. Wave Rock is a 12 meter high and 100 meter long piece of the main rock looking like a wave that is about to break, which is a stunning view. I couldn't stay to long as I still had to drive about 250km towards Perth. When I reached Brooketon I called it a day as it was getting to dark to drive safely.
So one day later than planned I managed to reach Perth, just about 6 days and 2998km after I left Whyalla. I spend 2 nights here and met up with friends I made in Adelaide (including one which I met for 3rd time already, without knowing about each other being in Perth). Perth itself is a small state capital with lots of things to offer but I limited myself to the WA Museum, Fremantle Prison, Fremantle Markets (where I bought myself a bargain, a didgeridoo for about $100,- where elsewhere you pay $175,- to $250,- for the exact same one, well same type I mean) as well as the Perth city centre (including Kings Park). Unfortunatly Perth CBD looks a bit like a construction site at the moment as there are many road works going on as well as there are new buildings being build. Best place I visited was the Fremantle Prison as it is turned into a museum after having served as prison from 1855 till 1991 so it gives you a good insight of prison life for over almost 150 years. Very good and cynical tour guide as well.
After a few days Perth I headed north to meet up with Jenny (19, another German) which would travel back with me across the Nullarbor if the guy that agreed to buy her car didn't pull out on the last moment (but we didn't know that yet at the moment we met). After the brief meeting I continued heading north visiting Gummaling, New Norcia (a Spanish Benedictine monastic town), Lancelin (with a lot of sand dunes and some nice beaches) before reaching the Pinnacles Desert at the Nambung National Park. This site is really beautiful as all where you can look you see limestone pinnacles that sometimes reach more than 2 meters of height. Here I witnessed on of the best sunsets I experienced in a very long time. After spending the night in Cervantes I headed towards Perth again visiting the Gravity Discovery Centre near Gingin. The centre is focused on the science about gravity and its relation with space exploration and the origin of the universe. It has a 1km walk to Pluto which makes you realize how big our solar system is. A 1km walk with every planet and its most important moons on a pedestal at its distance from the sun on a scale of 1km towards Pluto having Earth within the first few 50 meters of walking. After this visit I went to Yanchep National Park for a short walk around the dried up lake. Here I saw heaps of Kangaroos as well as heaps of Carnaby's Cuckatoos which are black ones with a white tail. The day after I would return to the park for the 9,2km Ghost House Trail walk which took me about 3 hours plus the walk on the access routes. After the walk I returned to Yanchep Lagoon Beach where I took a swim in the Indian Ocean. I spent the night before at Fishermans Hollow, just around the corner. After the swim heading to Perth at Bennion Beach to meet with Jenny again. So back in Perth I spend the whole day getting some stuff for the trip back and waiting for Jenny to arrive back from dropping her car, only to get a phone call from a very agitated Jenny telling the already mentioned reason she could travel along. So I decided to leave on my own as finding a travel partner heading east was already hard and then needing to find one within a few hours would be impossible.
Getting out of Perth is a hell as they don't use roadsigns that help you getting out of the city easily, but I managed it. Heading south towards Margaret River with a stop for the night in Rockingham. Just around noon I arrived in Margaret River where I visited a chocolate factory (which was a bit disappointing for what they had to offer next to their shop, which was one window with a view at the production area), Surfers Point (one of the best surf beaches of WA) and Lake Cave. This cave was nice as it was located in a doline which for reaching its entrance you had to walk down about 300 stairs and inside being one big chamber with a lake in it. When I got out of the cave I enjoyed my ride towards Walpole where I stayed for the night on my way to Albany because of the nice forest drives. The next day wasn't as nice as I hoped as I woke up with rain. I first visited the Valley of the Giants with its Tree Top Walk (highest point 40 meter above the forest floor), but compared to the walks I did at the Tahune Forest 3,5 years ago in Tasmania these weren't as good. At Tahune you have more walks to do and you can spend the whole day walking, while here you only have 2 short walks. Nevertheless I had to get to Esperance at the end of the day anyway so couldn't spend to much time here. I reached Albany around noon and I think it is a nice town to stay if you had more time than I had and if it wasn't raining. So of to Esperance some 500km further east. While driving in typical Dutch weather I suddenly saw a typical Dutch mill just north of the Stirling Ranges National Park. Took a closer look and it turned out a Dutch family build it after moving to Australia some 30 years ago. The Lilly is the name of the flour mill and it is a (working) replica of "de Lelie" which is located in Puttershoek (the town where the man of the family originally is from). And around 19:00 I finally arrived in Esperance, the town of Australias best beaches. Well being dark I only could found out the next day. And that next day started with rain again (how ironic, skipping it 12 days ago due to rain). Headed to a lookout in town first before heading to the Cape le Grand National Park. In the park I headed to Lucky Bay where I found out they weren't lying. White beaches and crystal clear water! How beautiful would it look if there was a clear blue sky above it? At this beach I was surprised by a Kangaroo eating a fish head, it's something that even Australians don't see everyday. Then of to Thistle Cove and Hellfire Bay (where I took a sample of the sand) before getting to Le Grand Beach. At this last beach I had the option to drive back to Esperance 60km over the road or taking the short cut via the beach. Easy choice driving a 4WD so I took the 22km beach ride towards Wylie Bay, after all you can't do that every day and it was a nice drive as well.
Arriving back in Esperance I knew I had a long drive ahead of me. Up north to Norseman and then a right turn onto the Nullarbor. The same day I managed to reach the 90 Mile Straigth about 250km from Norseman. The next day I drove about 13 hours and 1000km to get within 4 km of Ceduna (stayed outside of the town because you can't sleep in your car inside town boundaries) while having short stops at both 90 Miles Straight signs, the Caiguna Blowhole, the Madura and Eucla Pass lookouts and the Telegraph Station near Eucla. That was a long day! And I almost had two Wedge-tailed Eagles against the bull bar as they decided to fly of from behind a bush just before I passed that same bush, I only saw them so close once before (at Kangaroo Island). One last nice thing about the Nullarbor I want to share is that it contains the worlds longest golf course. 18 holes (par 72) over 1368km between Ceduna and Kalgoorlie. 7 holes at consisting courses and 11 at the roadhouses.
After picking up my Nullarbor certificate I headed towards the Gawlers Ranges as a short detour to Whyalla. Located in the north of the Eyre Peninsula it is a great remote park with great driving tracks. As I had enough time left I took one the 4WD tracks to get to the eastern entrance of the park. Haven't seen any car at all, only wild life and some tough places to get past. Easy track to make a milkshake. When arriving at the eastern gate I took the direct route towards Kimba some 93km to the south-west. And after a nice milkshake (well I think I earned it) I took the last stage towards Whyalla reaching the 7163km mark when I parked at the driveway.
And imagine yourself, the next day I leave for Uluru (via Coober Pedy) which is another 1358km one way.
https://picasaweb.google.com/paulvanderwielen/7163#
On the 4th of April I left Whyalla to pick up my travelmate Chris (29, German girl) in Port Augusta. From there it was heading west for a very long time. Until Ceduna, the closest main town on the eastern part of the Nullarbor, we stopped at Venus Bay and Streaky Bay. Two towns with nice views but nothing to much special. In Ceduna we picked up some extra information and the surely needed resources as our next supermarket (or at least what you could call it) would be in Norseman, some 1250km west. And then we were off for a hell of a ride.
The Nullarbor is the common name of the part of the Eyre Highway between Ceduna (South Australia) and Norsman (West Australia) as it is across the Nullarbor Plains, worlds biggest single piece of limestone (200 000 square km and 1100km at its widest point) and more important to know being a treeless plain for most of it. When you travel the Indian Pacific (the railway service between Adelaide and Perth) you will be able to see the biggest part of the treeless plain. While driving it via the Eyre Highway you only will travel this treeless plain for about 27km. But that is still very impressive. Looking towards the horizon in all directions and not being able to spot 1 single tree, just vegetation that just reaches about knee height. The Nullabor as a drive has about 10 roadhouses (I mean petrol station, a motel and a camping) and 3 towns (I mean more than a petrol station, a motel and a camping) which includes Ceduna and Norseman. So imagine yourself how many times you see a building at the side of the road. Many backpackers prefer to fly to Perth with the excuse "there is nothing to see!" which is a bit true, but the journey itself makes you realize how big Australia actually is and what I experienced the best the beauty of unspoiled nature and magnificent views both inland as well over the Southern Ocean, specially at Eucla and Madura Pass.
It took Chris and I about 3 days to cross the 1250km (plus detours), but mainly because we weren't in a hurry. Near Pennong we stopped at Cactus Beach which has a nice surf beach and a few beautiful salt lakes on the access road. Later on we spend the night in Fowlers Bay, a small town at the ocean surrounded by many high sand dunes. Here we saw a group of 22 Mercedes Benz Fuel Cell cars on a test/promotional world trip (in 125 days, not a bad job I would say) all with German registration plates. Next day we tried to drive as much kilometers as possible only stopping at the special roadsign at Nullarbor (the roadhouse), Head of Bight (whale season lookout spot) and at two lookouts at the Great Australian Bight (marine park) until be almost reached Caiguna. At this parking about 30 minutes form Caiguna we met Robert and Ken (a trucker with a oversize load, being a mining trailer, and his pilot, being the car driving 1 km in front of the oversized load warning oncoming traffic) who were on their way to Port Hedland (which they planned to reach about 4 days later). Had a few beers as well as some good laughs before getting some sleep. Our last day at the Nullarbor contained the 90 Mile Straigth, it's with a lenght of 146,6km Australia's (and regarded the worlds) longest straight stretch of road without a single turn. After driving for half an hour you realize you got another 100km to go before you can say: "Woohoo a bend!!" When we reached Norseman it started raining, which we saw coming for hours, so our original plan to head south for Esperance and Albany was changed to getting to Kalgoorlie, the mayor mining town at the Golden Mile (guess what they are mining for). Robert and Ken offered Chris a ride to Broome so heading for Kalgoorlie helped her to take the offer so here our ways seperated again.
After I spend some time to resupply myself with some food and drinks I visited the Super Pit lookout. It's located at the top of the worlds biggest gold mine and I can say: "Damn it is big", I think my whole hometown fits in it. Those big huge dump truck you only see at mining sites just looked like dinky toys. But 7th of April for me is not remembered for visiting this town. Just before I was heading out of town I did get the message I had become an uncle for the 3rd time. My sister gave birth to a girl, called Loes, so you can imagine with what kind of a grin I drove around the last few hours on the road, heading towards Southern Cross.
After a nice night I drove via Southern Cross and a very long dirt road towards Hyden to visit Wave Rock. Well it's not the official name of the rock, but one of its features carries that name. Near Hyden there are 2 rock formations like Uluru (but many, many sizes smaller) of which one is best known as Wave Rock. First I took a visit to the other one (the Humps) where there was also a cave (Malka's Cave) containing Aboriginal rock art (mainly hand prints). Nice walk over the rocks with some great panoramic views. Wave Rock is a 12 meter high and 100 meter long piece of the main rock looking like a wave that is about to break, which is a stunning view. I couldn't stay to long as I still had to drive about 250km towards Perth. When I reached Brooketon I called it a day as it was getting to dark to drive safely.
So one day later than planned I managed to reach Perth, just about 6 days and 2998km after I left Whyalla. I spend 2 nights here and met up with friends I made in Adelaide (including one which I met for 3rd time already, without knowing about each other being in Perth). Perth itself is a small state capital with lots of things to offer but I limited myself to the WA Museum, Fremantle Prison, Fremantle Markets (where I bought myself a bargain, a didgeridoo for about $100,- where elsewhere you pay $175,- to $250,- for the exact same one, well same type I mean) as well as the Perth city centre (including Kings Park). Unfortunatly Perth CBD looks a bit like a construction site at the moment as there are many road works going on as well as there are new buildings being build. Best place I visited was the Fremantle Prison as it is turned into a museum after having served as prison from 1855 till 1991 so it gives you a good insight of prison life for over almost 150 years. Very good and cynical tour guide as well.
After a few days Perth I headed north to meet up with Jenny (19, another German) which would travel back with me across the Nullarbor if the guy that agreed to buy her car didn't pull out on the last moment (but we didn't know that yet at the moment we met). After the brief meeting I continued heading north visiting Gummaling, New Norcia (a Spanish Benedictine monastic town), Lancelin (with a lot of sand dunes and some nice beaches) before reaching the Pinnacles Desert at the Nambung National Park. This site is really beautiful as all where you can look you see limestone pinnacles that sometimes reach more than 2 meters of height. Here I witnessed on of the best sunsets I experienced in a very long time. After spending the night in Cervantes I headed towards Perth again visiting the Gravity Discovery Centre near Gingin. The centre is focused on the science about gravity and its relation with space exploration and the origin of the universe. It has a 1km walk to Pluto which makes you realize how big our solar system is. A 1km walk with every planet and its most important moons on a pedestal at its distance from the sun on a scale of 1km towards Pluto having Earth within the first few 50 meters of walking. After this visit I went to Yanchep National Park for a short walk around the dried up lake. Here I saw heaps of Kangaroos as well as heaps of Carnaby's Cuckatoos which are black ones with a white tail. The day after I would return to the park for the 9,2km Ghost House Trail walk which took me about 3 hours plus the walk on the access routes. After the walk I returned to Yanchep Lagoon Beach where I took a swim in the Indian Ocean. I spent the night before at Fishermans Hollow, just around the corner. After the swim heading to Perth at Bennion Beach to meet with Jenny again. So back in Perth I spend the whole day getting some stuff for the trip back and waiting for Jenny to arrive back from dropping her car, only to get a phone call from a very agitated Jenny telling the already mentioned reason she could travel along. So I decided to leave on my own as finding a travel partner heading east was already hard and then needing to find one within a few hours would be impossible.
Getting out of Perth is a hell as they don't use roadsigns that help you getting out of the city easily, but I managed it. Heading south towards Margaret River with a stop for the night in Rockingham. Just around noon I arrived in Margaret River where I visited a chocolate factory (which was a bit disappointing for what they had to offer next to their shop, which was one window with a view at the production area), Surfers Point (one of the best surf beaches of WA) and Lake Cave. This cave was nice as it was located in a doline which for reaching its entrance you had to walk down about 300 stairs and inside being one big chamber with a lake in it. When I got out of the cave I enjoyed my ride towards Walpole where I stayed for the night on my way to Albany because of the nice forest drives. The next day wasn't as nice as I hoped as I woke up with rain. I first visited the Valley of the Giants with its Tree Top Walk (highest point 40 meter above the forest floor), but compared to the walks I did at the Tahune Forest 3,5 years ago in Tasmania these weren't as good. At Tahune you have more walks to do and you can spend the whole day walking, while here you only have 2 short walks. Nevertheless I had to get to Esperance at the end of the day anyway so couldn't spend to much time here. I reached Albany around noon and I think it is a nice town to stay if you had more time than I had and if it wasn't raining. So of to Esperance some 500km further east. While driving in typical Dutch weather I suddenly saw a typical Dutch mill just north of the Stirling Ranges National Park. Took a closer look and it turned out a Dutch family build it after moving to Australia some 30 years ago. The Lilly is the name of the flour mill and it is a (working) replica of "de Lelie" which is located in Puttershoek (the town where the man of the family originally is from). And around 19:00 I finally arrived in Esperance, the town of Australias best beaches. Well being dark I only could found out the next day. And that next day started with rain again (how ironic, skipping it 12 days ago due to rain). Headed to a lookout in town first before heading to the Cape le Grand National Park. In the park I headed to Lucky Bay where I found out they weren't lying. White beaches and crystal clear water! How beautiful would it look if there was a clear blue sky above it? At this beach I was surprised by a Kangaroo eating a fish head, it's something that even Australians don't see everyday. Then of to Thistle Cove and Hellfire Bay (where I took a sample of the sand) before getting to Le Grand Beach. At this last beach I had the option to drive back to Esperance 60km over the road or taking the short cut via the beach. Easy choice driving a 4WD so I took the 22km beach ride towards Wylie Bay, after all you can't do that every day and it was a nice drive as well.
Arriving back in Esperance I knew I had a long drive ahead of me. Up north to Norseman and then a right turn onto the Nullarbor. The same day I managed to reach the 90 Mile Straigth about 250km from Norseman. The next day I drove about 13 hours and 1000km to get within 4 km of Ceduna (stayed outside of the town because you can't sleep in your car inside town boundaries) while having short stops at both 90 Miles Straight signs, the Caiguna Blowhole, the Madura and Eucla Pass lookouts and the Telegraph Station near Eucla. That was a long day! And I almost had two Wedge-tailed Eagles against the bull bar as they decided to fly of from behind a bush just before I passed that same bush, I only saw them so close once before (at Kangaroo Island). One last nice thing about the Nullarbor I want to share is that it contains the worlds longest golf course. 18 holes (par 72) over 1368km between Ceduna and Kalgoorlie. 7 holes at consisting courses and 11 at the roadhouses.
After picking up my Nullarbor certificate I headed towards the Gawlers Ranges as a short detour to Whyalla. Located in the north of the Eyre Peninsula it is a great remote park with great driving tracks. As I had enough time left I took one the 4WD tracks to get to the eastern entrance of the park. Haven't seen any car at all, only wild life and some tough places to get past. Easy track to make a milkshake. When arriving at the eastern gate I took the direct route towards Kimba some 93km to the south-west. And after a nice milkshake (well I think I earned it) I took the last stage towards Whyalla reaching the 7163km mark when I parked at the driveway.
And imagine yourself, the next day I leave for Uluru (via Coober Pedy) which is another 1358km one way.
https://picasaweb.google.com/paulvanderwielen/7163#
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