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| Another shot from the window this morning |
This is going to be a confusing day, timewise. We keep converting from SA time to WA time and we're already confused by the time we leave. Whatever time that is.
Stopped just down the road at the SA/WA Border village and topped up with diesel. Like Nullarbor Roadhouse there is loads of water laying around. The girl in the shop says it pretty much rained from Wednesday through to last night.
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| Will the embarrassment never end for St Kilda - another naked photo of Roo |
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| So Perth 1,452k + London 17,517k + + couple of hundred to Liverpool - mmm quite away to go in the next month |
It's been a weird summer here as well, only 3 days over 40, and they were all on consecutive days, 45, 49 then 52 degrees! Glad we weren't here for that. But that's much fewer hot days than normal for them. In another similarity with the Nullarbor Roadhouse there is some serious price gouging going on and diesel is $1.85.9 per litre.
In preparation for the fruit/vegetable checkpoint we had put the bed up this morning, here's an extract of the conversation leading up to that decision:
STEVE:
- “Di, I think we should put the bed up today. Everyone says that the border control people want to go through every cupboard in the van and it will save having to lift the mattress for them”
DI
- “Let's just leave it till we get there, if they need to get in we will worry about it there”
STEVE
- “But Di, it's such a pain to lift and everyone says they always go through the van”
DI
- “ Well I don't think we need to do but if you insist, YOU can make the bed up again tonight”
STEVE
- “ Thank you dear, I knew you would understand, it will be much easier”
Here's the extract of the border crossing:
“Hello folks, got any fruit and veg”
“Nope got rid of it all in preparation”
“No, potatoes or onions?”
“Nope”
“No honey?”
“nope we heard you couldn't bring that across. Just wanted to check though, is wheatgerm and muesli ok to bring across?”
“no problem, can I have a quick look in your fridge and kitchen cupboard?”
“no worries”
Man looks in fridge and cupboard.
Steve thinks to himself “look under the bed, look under the bed”
Man says “thanks folks, have a nice day”
Steve thinks to himself - “When will I ever learn?”
Short drive down the road and we get to Eucla and signs saying “Diesel $1.65” per litre. Bugga.
The drive out of Eucla is very reminiscent of our drive though Arizona, with the plain on one side rising to a plateau on the other.
Readers note: “stop being a pretentious prat Stephen”
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| You don't get the Flying Doctor landing on the road in Arizona though. |
I'm guessing that the view is very different to normal through here though, it's all very green and just a glimpse of the red earth underneath.
It would appear that people get bored on this road, a lot, as there is an abundance of road art. OK I use the term art loosely. Basically every 20 kilometres or so a tree has been “decorated” in a particular theme, one tree is festooned (love that word) with caps, another with t-shirts, then stuffed toys, plastic bottles and my personal favourite, women's underwear.
Editors note: Just to clarify that is not “I prefer women's underwear” that is “that tree was my favourite”
Then, 90 km's before Madura, which would have to be the exact dead centre of the middle of nowhere, there peddling towards us, into a head wind, a lone cyclist. I'm all for people having a passion, and following their dream and all of that but I'm really not sure at what point that seemed like a good idea. I'm also thinking now, at what point did it stop seeming like a good idea.
Readers Poll:
Has anybody ever attempted something like this?
Maybe in another large country,
like say the United States of America
Clue: Are your initials DL?, is your first name David?, surname Leary?
At Madura we stopped at the roadhouse and grabbed an ice cream, and bumped into a group of about 10 motorcyclists on their annual pilgrimage to Phillip Island for the World Superbike race. Even with a motor on their bikes these guys were questioning the distance to travel.
Editors note: “Does anyone under 50 own a motorbike these days?”
Still confused about the time we arrived at our intended stop of Caiguna at roughly, too soon o'clock. We also arrived about 40 years after there had last been any maintenance done on the caravan park. A quick check of the map and the sun convinced us we could make it to our next intended stop of Fraser Station, 100 km's short of Norseman. So, taking over the wheel from my trusty co-driver off we headed. It's going to be a record breaking day today in terms of kilometres travelled.
In a side note, in the next stretch of road, from Caiguna to Belladonia we saw more road kill than for the rest of the trip combined. I'm thinking the animals out here need a road safety campaign aimed at them (as opposed to the 50 ton road trains that seemed to be aimed at them at the moment).
Tripped on through Belladonia, although if you're passing this way anytime soon, it looks a much better option to stop than Caiguna.
Ninety kilometers later we arrived at the Fraser Ridge Station Caravan Park, recommended by Action Girl at Fowlers Bay and another guy we met on the road. Quite a pleasant little spot but nothing to get too excited about.
Mind you it's a fair way better than Caiguna Roadhouse. It should actually be called the Fraser Ridge (used to be a) Station Caravan Park though as apparently they haven't run sheep or cattle for quite sometime. The new owners are looking at the possibility of restocking but apparently it's going to cost over $400,000 to get started. If I had a job I would have offered to chip in. The property itself is a good old fashioned Aussie hobby farm something like 25 kilometres wide by 160 km's long, roughly 400,000 acres. In Europe they would call it Belgium.
So after our record breaking day, over 600 km's it was time to settle in for wine o'clock and then dinner. As soon as you make up the bed Steve!
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and watch the sunset of course
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