Author Archives: rohan

WOW – Facts and Figures

Posted on 30 September, 2011 by rohan

Number of Days Away
54 (7-August-2011 to 29-September-2011)

Number of Different Campsites
33 (SA: 7, NT: 8, WA: 17, VIC: 1)

Total Distance Travelled
Falcon: 15660 km
Commodore: 15712 km
The extra 52 km travelled by the Commodore would be the result of the distance of a return trip between Endeavour Hills and Glen Waverley.

Number of Towing Days
33 (Falcon: 19, Commodore: 14)

Number of Non-Towing Days
21 (of this, 15 involved less than 100 km of non-towing distance travelled – short day trips, etc. The other 6 days involved longer day trips where more than 100 km were travelled)

Distance Towed
Falcon: 8300 km (approx.)
Commodore: 7100 km (approx.)
The remainder of the distance would be non-towing distance (day trips, etc. without the van attached)

Weather
Rainy Days: 7
Some Cloud (But No Rain): 14
Cloudless Days: The rest (including 28 days in a row without a cloud to be seen!!!)

Fuel
Economy – Both cars had approximately the same fuel economy, so here are the Commodore’s figures which can be used as a guide for both cars.

Overall: 10.15 litres per 100 km
Towing: 12.66 litres per 100 km
Non-Towing: 8.41 litres per 100 km

Total fuel used – 1601.54 litres for the Commodore.
Average fuel price (based on total spent divided by total used) – 160.3 cents per litre for the Commodore.

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Photos, Videos and More Photos

Posted on 30 September, 2011 by rohan

A grand total of 7604 photos and video clips taken over 54 days…
Digital Pictures: 7485
Digital Video Clips: 92
Film Camera (Underwater Disposable): 27

Yes, we must be crazy!
Enough said.

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Campsite Collection #4 – Esperance to Home

Posted on 30 September, 2011 by rohan

The final instalment of our holiday campsites – along the southern coast from Esperance in WA to home sweet home in VIC.

Esperance - there are some absolutely amazing beaches along this stretch of coastline (I imagine this amazement would be magnified significantly were the weather more suited to being at the beach) but despite this, I felt that Esperance seemed somewhat 'tired', as if it were in need of a spruce up or revitalisation of some sort - the caravan park we stayed at was no exception, but certainly not the worst place we stayed.


Caiguna - the photo doesn't really show any detail, but basically we are stationed in the backyard of the Caiguna Roadhouse (ie. behind a service station)! Not exactly luxurious surroundings - the sign on the door to the amenities made me laugh though... "Please keep door closed to keep out the snakes and flies"!


Eucla - just 12km on the WA side of the border with SA, this little town sits atop a bluff with a magnificent outlook over the Great Australian Bight. However it's position in the midst of the Nullarbor Plain means it struggles in terms of its supply of fresh water, hence $1 for a 5 minute shower was indication of its ongoing struggles.


Ceduna - until we arrived here, I had only ever heard about Ceduna in terms of its extremely high temperatures during summer. Now I can see why it never gets a mention about anything else - there's really not much going for it. The caravan park has not a blade of grass in it and is surrounded by chain mesh fence topped with 4 feet of barbed wire - it appears the town has its share of problems with the locals to deal with.


Port Augusta – we stayed at the same caravan park as the first time here at the end of Day 2 of out trip. I recall taking the photo of the campsite, but it seems to have gotten lost for the moment amongst the thousands of other pictures we have taken.

Bordertown - our last night on the road and we get the largest site we've had all trip! The entire grassed area you can see in this photo was our site - we were very tempted to start up a tennis match and a game of soccer before dinner, but the impending wet weather caused the games to be cancelled and an early tea was taken instead.


Home - strangely, nobody was all that keen on one last night in the van...

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The Loop Closes

Posted on 28 September, 2011 by rohan

Yesterday we passed through the same intersection in Port Augusta that took us north, seven weeks to the day, along the Stuart Highway towards central Australia and beyond. This time, however, we entered the intersection from the West on the Eyre Highway, thus ‘closing the loop’ on our ‘Way Out West’ around Australia holiday.

It’s certainly been an unforgettable adventure, one that has filled our senses with:
- incredible sights (a 40 tonne whale fully breaching less than 100 metres away at Coral Bay; the sheer immensity of Uluru as it fills your entire field of vision; blindingly white sands and turquoise waters around Esperance; a brilliantly bejewelled night sky in the outback;);
- interesting smells and tastes, not all of them good! (the eclectic mix of smells and tastes of Mindil night market in Darwin; sulphuric gases of Mataranka thermal pools; the salty tang of pearl meat; the unmistakeable whiff of a ‘long drop’ bush toilet);
- amazing sounds (the rumble of thunder rolling across the Nullarbor Plain and out to sea in the Great Australia Bight at Eucla; the guttural roar of a 15 foot saltwater croc attacking its prey in Darwin; freight trains at night as they rumble by on their journey from the Pilbara mines at Port Hedland; the crunch underfoot of a dry salt lake in South Australia; the deafening silence of a Karijini night).

And these lists are endless.

Our experiences have also evoked a gamut of feelings and emotions in all of us: enthusiasm; joy; exhilaration; happiness; awe; sadness; wonder; frustration; anger; fear; exhaustion; sympathy; affection; thankfulness; satisfaction.

We’ve also seen some interesting and often thought provoking place names along the way: Iron Knob; Oodnadatta; Turkey Creek; Paraburdoo; Donnybrook; Pygery; Cocklebiddy; Grass Patch;  and let’s not forget to mention the hundreds of names in the southwest of WA that end in ‘up’!

So, as we make our way south from Port Augsuta, skirt around the city of Adelaide, then turn east and make our way along the Western Highway into Victoria, we reflect on the unforgettable time we have shared and the memories we have made and, before we know it, we have arrived at the final destination on our journey, a little place simply called… home.

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Sunrise/Sunset Collection #2 – Alice Springs to Albany

Posted on 23 September, 2011 by rohan

Here’s the latest instalment of sunsets and sunrises. Enjoy.

Darwin - Taken at Mindil Beach while we were at the Thursday night markets.


Darwin - Mindil Beach again.


Mathison Rest Area - 105km west of Katherine. This is probably the most vivid colors we've had for a sunset so far. Unfortunately the foreground scrub didn't really enable us to get the best shot we could.


Kununurra - Taken during our scenic flight over the Bungle Bungles - not exactly at sunrise, but not long after it! What we are actually flying over is Lake Argyle, currently 7 times the size of Sydney Harbour!


Kununurra - taken from a local lookout called Kelly's Knob, which is right near the centre of town.


Mary Pool Rest Area - about halfway between Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing, this was one of the busiest rest areas we have stopped at, certainly the largest. We estimated there were at least 30 vans here the night we stayed. As for the sunset, it was pretty good wasn't it!


Derby - this is a famous local boab, called the Dinner Tree, which is the subject of a thousand sunset photos a night (we certainly contributed our fair share on this night).


Broome - taken from the top of the stairs, after our sunset camel ride along the beach.


Broome - taken the next night. Sarah and Matilda had a ball playing on the beach as the sun sank into the sea. One of my favourite shots.


Cervantes - for a few seconds, Matilda was 'holding' the power of the solar system in her hand...


Cervantes - shortly after Matilda relinquished her immense power and decided to play in the sand.


Busselton - not quite sunset time, but not far off. I like this shot, taken from the famous Busselton Jetty, of the storm moving in from the right.

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Campsite Collection #3 – Port Hedland to Albany

Posted on 21 September, 2011 by rohan

Port Hedland – I was tempted to write here that the camp site at Port Hedland was so bad that I simply refused to take a photo of it, but the truth is I simply forgot. Mind you, the place we stayed wasn’t exactly the height of luxury. Our original choice of accommodation – Cooke Point Holiday Park – which looked quite nice from the little we saw of it at the front entrance – was actually booked out for powered sites (in Port Hedland??? Really???) and we had to settle for the only other accommodation available – a place called Blackrock Caravan Park. It too, was (nearly) full to overflowing… with permanent residents, all of whom work in the mines or refining plants in and around Port Hedland. All we could get was an unpowered site (but we used a spare power point connected to the swimming pool shed anyway). Needless to say, there was a constant noise associated with the comings and goings of the shift workers, and our site was right near the front entrance (not to mention the freight trains that rumbled passed with a blast of their air horns just across the road from us)! Thankfully, we only stayed for the one night and we were on the road and headed for Karijini the next morning.

Karijini National Park - about as "bushy" as our camping has been so far. No electricity or water and the sites were far enough apart that we felt a certain amount of seclusion & remoteness (the only luxury we were afforded was the 'long-drop' bush toilet - you can see it in the background of this picture).


Tom Price - electricity, water and grass... all were luxuries after the recent overdose of red 'pindan' dust. Unfortunately, this was also the only caravan park in town, and they charged accordingly!


House Creek Rest Area - just when we thought we were past the worst of the red dust, we stopped here, Red Dust Central (and it was still quite hot, too). Another crowded rest area (as were all the rest areas we have stayed at barring Lake Hart) so not much room to spread out. But in the end I guess you get what you pay for - in this case, nothin'...!


Coral Bay - this lovely part of the world has a VERY "Seaspray in the Summer" feel to it. And apart from the bore water and very salty sea water, you could easily spend lots of time here.


Nerren Nerren Rest Area - hot, dusty (albeit no longer red dust) and a really smelly bush toilet... not the nicest place to spend an evening. Add to this, it was the first time all trip that we were really infested with mozzies.


Cervantes - not the worst place we've stayed, not the best either. At least they had some decent music playing in the ablution block (just why they were playing piped music into the amenities block, I have no idea).


Perth (Karrinyup Holiday Park) - now we're talking! Back in the big smoke again (relatively speaking) and we're provided with some decent amenities, a decent site (although their "grassed site" did lack a lot of grass), and the toilets had WATER in the bottom of them and they FLUSHED!!!


Bunbury - home of the wild weather. Thankfully we were staying in relative comfort, despite the wind and rain (the little blue building on the right of this picture is our own private ensuite), which enabled us to stay an extra night and reassess our itinerary for the coming few days.


Albany - probably the best kept, in terms of presentation, campsite we've had on the trip so far. Note all the guy ropes... it's windy, and forecast to stay that way!

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QUIZ ANSWER: Road Signs

Posted on 21 September, 2011 by rohan

The winner of the Road Signs quiz is… FLOODWAY.

FLOODWAY

Of the 5 different road signs I listed in the quiz (and the reason I put this quiz on to the blog) FLOODWAY would out-number all the others added together – I have been simply stunned by the number of FLOODWAY signs I have seen – hundreds and hundreds of them – easily the most seen sign on the trip so far. All I can say is that if all of these FLOODWAY areas were in flood at the same time, Australia would be at least one-third under under water!

PARKING/REST AREA – this is probably the second-most seen sign (in its various forms) but well down on number compared to the FLOODWAY signs. There are of course many rest areas for travellers along the road due to the vast distances people travel between destinations.

The GRID sign is next. I would estimate that they are in similar number to the PARKING signs, but obviously nowhere near the top of the list.

The STRAY ANIMALS signs have been numerous, but would come in fourth on this list of signs. With regards to the distance displayed on the signs, it’s very haphazard, with one sign saying “STRAY ANIMALS NEXT 230km” and 50km down the road, there’s another one saying “STRAY ANIMALS NEXT 78KM”. Go figure.

The last sign listed (DRIVE ON LEFT) was really only included because I think it’s a funny sign. We only saw about a dozen or so of them, but they made me smile each time I passed one. Mind you, the number of foreign tourists we saw in their rented Britz, Appollo, Maui and Wicked campervans between Adelaide and Darwin was amazing, so I can see why the signs are needed.

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QUIZ ANSWER: Photos

Posted on 21 September, 2011 by rohan

Thanks everyone who took a guess at how many photos we have taken – however it looks like everyone has under-estimated our abilities with the old ‘box brownie’, although Bec seems to be getting close to the ball park with he estimate of 4500+.

The actual number of photos & videos taken up to and including our whale watching tour at Coral Bay is a whopping 5695 !!! (5668 digital images and 27 photos with the underwater camera)

Poppa, I liked your theory in regards to calculating your result, however you seem to have neglected to factor in two key ingredients (particularly when used in combination): Emma and motor drive…!

Anyone think we can crack it for 10000 by the end of the trip? (we’re currently at just under 7000)

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Sunrise/Sunset Collection #1 – Melbourne to Alice Springs

Posted on 14 September, 2011 by rohan

One thing I was looking forward to before we left on our trip was the amazing sunrises and sunsets that would likely be seeing, set against all manner of exotic outback landscapes.
Here’s the first set of pictures in this series – Melbourne to Alice Springs.

Pentland Hills - less than an hour into our journey, and Matilda snapped this beautiful sunrise over Pentland Hills, near Bacchus Marsh, as we left Melbourne behind us in the rear view mirror and headed out on our Way Out West adventure.


Sunrise over the rail yards at Port Augusta. Taken from our caravan park. The very northern tip of Spencer Gulf is in the foreground.


Lake Hart - 45km west of Pimba (ie. the middle of nowhere!)


Lake Hart


Another beautiful Lake Hart sunset, this one with a storm coming across from the left with the setting sun on the right.


Just after sunset, looking over Lake Hart. Hard to believe the above four images were all taken within an hour or so - amazing!


Anna Creek Station - the hub of the largest cattle station in the world (28,000 square kilomteres, the same size as Belgium in Europe!!!). Number of staff they employ to keep this mammoth station operational? Just 10.


King's Canyon - sunrise on the day we went for our canyon walk. Looks like a beautiful day on the way (and it was!).


King's Canyon, the following morning - even better than yesterday!


Ayers Rock - sunrise from the campground lookout on the morning of Emma's 40th birthday


Ayers Rock - a few minutes later, after the sun made its daily appearance


Later that evening (Emma's 40th Birthday) we started our 'Dinner Under The Stars' evening (officially called The Sounds of Silence) by watching the sun setting on Ayers Rock...


...and The Olgas


Ayers Rock - after the sun had set. This was the view from our Dinner Under The Stars table


The Olgas - the view from our dinner table for Emma's 40th birthday


Alice Springs at sunset - as a town it did nothing for me at all. As a setting for watching the sun go down, Anzac Hill is not a bad vantage point.


Another sunset view over 'The Alice' from atop Anzac Hill

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QUIZ: Road Signs

Posted on 11 September, 2011 by rohan

Another quiz!
This is probably more of a guessing game than anything you can work out mathematically, but hopefully will get you thinking a bit anyway.

Which of the following road signs have we seen the most in our travels so far?

Add your guess/selection by filling in the comments.

FLOODWAY – this is an interesting sign to start with… this sign represents areas of the road which are subject to flooding, which has been a bit weird considering we have travelled through the remote desert-like terrain of outback Australia (think “I love a sunburnt country”) but there are still FLOODWAY signs to be seen. Thankfully, no floods have been spotted at this time of the year.

PARKING/REST AREA – These signs take on a few different designs (Truck Parking, Rest Area, etc.), but essentially they all mean the same thing… somewhere to take a break along the vast distances that people have to travel through the Aussie outback.

DRIVE ON LEFT – You’d be amazed at how many foreign visitors there are criss-crossing the country in their rented campervans and winnebagos – the majority of them come from places where they are used to driving on the ‘other’ side of the road. These signs provide a friendly reminder for our foreign tourist friends.

GRID – The GRID sign represents a cattle grid across the roadway, designed to keep cattle within certain areas of cattle stations, many of which are very large (thousands of square kilometres in size) and have the main highway running through them. This sign was first spotted just a couple of kilometres north of Port Augusta, and just seem to have continued ever since. But the question is, how far apart have they been?!?!?

STRAY ANIMALS – This is a very important sign as it provides a warning for drivers that cattle &/or wildlife may be straying across the highway… a timely reminder when you consider the roadkill that you see as you drive along. You certainly don’t want to come across a stray bullock or roo at 100km/h, no one would win that exchange.

The answer can be found here.

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