Nullarbor.....

Nullarbor. Comes from the latin meaning “No trees”. I guess so – there actually are trees from time to time, adjacent to the highway. I think the original description was for the railway, which crosses the middle of the “treeless plain” a bit to the North of where we are here. Anyway, it is long and flat. One of the early pieces is a straight stretch called “90 Mile Straight”, which is, as advertised, 146.6 km long. The longest in Australia. So, there must be a longer straight stretch somewhere else, but I don’t know where. The thing that makes it less impressive is that most of the way across is straight, so an hour and a half of not turning the wheel doesn’t seem as great an accomplishment. It is about 1200 km of pretty straight road, from Norseman in WA to Ceduna in SA. We had anticipated this part of the trip for some time, particularly the issue of being well prepared for the extreme heat and long distances between services of this long road. Well, the weather solved the heat problem. On the first day (we spent two days and parts of two others, driving across) it was 3 degrees when we got up. Although it was sunny, I don’t think it cleared the low 20’s, for really quite a pleasant day. Day two, in this area where it never rains , it rained. Well, not very hard and kind of on and off, but it was very grey and showery. Windy, too, but every day for the past couple of weeks has been very windy. The main downside of the weather was the impact on our photos of the Great Australian Bight – would have been more spectacular in bright sunlight. We have a couple of hundred kms left tomorrow, at this time, but no problems, so far. Sylvia has a tea towel saying “I crossed the Nullarbor”. If we have problems tomorrow, I guess I will modify this before I post it.
Road Kill
In the last 16000 kms we have seen a lot of road kill. The most common victim of the roadkill is the kangaroo, but possums, emus, feral cats, feral camels, dingos, and the occasional Canadian in a rented campervan (well, I hope not) also get spread across the highways here. Most of the kill is, understandably, outside built up areas, but not so very far outside. Because the ‘roos are nocturnal by nature, most of the slaughter takes place at night. Since we don’t drive at night very much, we have not yet hit one. Some areas are worse than others. In Queensland, particularly in the outback, we think the body count exceeds one per km. There are great stretches without much road kill, but the Nullarbor is one which has quite a lot, and they tend to be the very large ‘roos. Most of them are killed by road trains (see photo in earlier post). You will recall that there was an an initiative to repatriate residents of the mental hospitals in Canada a few years ago, and the asylums were, by and large, emptied. They did something quite similar here, but they managed to get most of them jobs driving road trains. These monsters take their slice right down the middle, if it suits them, and do not swerve for man or beast. Or Canadians in camper vans. One of the photos shows three unfortunate ‘roos that appear to have bought it all at the same time. Should not play on busy roads, I guess.
Map
I have enclosed a photo of a marked up map, showing our route to date. The black line is, more or less, the route – starting from Sydney and heading North, then West. The green dots are the places we have stayed, sometimes one night, typically two, and as many as four in the same place. It will be my plan to update it again as we go along.
Photos
The other photos are of the Nullarbor Plain, and the Great Australian Bight.

Life in the van

Day number 54. That is magic, because we now have 54 days left. So, we have been taking our time in the SouthWest of Western Australia, the part of the country with the “Mediterranean” climate. Our time in Perth was a little spotty weather-wise, with one really cool day. We had a couple of cloudy days after that, but the weather has been good the last three days, 9 or 10 in the morning, warming to 22 or 24 in the afternoon. We have not been laying on the beach much in the past few days. However, we have been doing quite a bit of the birds and flowers thing, and have taken a slew of pictures. (One of the problems with digital cameras, amplified by the fact that we have two of them. We actually have downloaded everything to this computer, and backed up the first couple of thousand on DVD and mailed home. One for September is probably there now, and the October one we will mail in a week or so.) We are currently camped for a couple of days in an ecopark in the Stirling Ranges (a smallish mountain range North of Albany) and have booked guided walks for both birds and wildflowers. It is really nice here just now, and we are hoping the weather holds for a couple of days, not sure we have enough warm clothes packed for the hills if the weather gets ugly.
We had run out of bushflies along the coast, but they are back in force now that we are back inland a bit. I think they multiply here because it is an ecologically protected area. A good place to spray a tanker load of DDT, perhaps.
I have included some van-related photos:
Cooking. Sylvia has done more cooking in the van than anticipated. This is partly due to the fact that decent commercial dining facilities have been less available than I first thought. We have not found as many of the old-style bush pubs within walking distance of where we park as originally thought. Of course, disconnecting the van (pulling the power cord, and moving the sink drain bucket) is pretty simple and we have done a bunch of that. Anyway, the facilities include a two-burner propane stovetop, a microwave oven (assuming we have power, and we almost always do) and a pretty decent little fridge. Cupboard space is limited, but we manage to store about a week’s worth of food at a time.
Eating. We do eat in the van a lot, more as a matter of convenience than anything else – quite comfortable. We also have a folding table (besides the little one attached to the outside of the van) and chairs, so eat beside the van sometimes.
Sleeping. Have to make the table down, of course, but lots of room otherwise. There is about a two-foot gap between the bed and the cupboards (which the smaller vans don’t have), which is important if you have to get up during the night.
The other photos include me at Leeuwin point, where you turn the corner if you are sailing around Australia. Or driving, for that matter. And, another bird – the New Holland Honey Eater. If there is no bird picture, but a map of OZ, you will know I got around to photographing the map before I found high speed internet. Not sure when I will get a chance to upload this. This is actually internet access here, but much to slow for this type of exercise.
We went touring a bunch of wineries a couple of days ago. As much as we are fans of Australian wines, the Western stuff hasn’t won us over yet. Of the 20 brands/varieties we sampled, we bought only one rather expensive Merlot. Might have it tonight with prawns feattucini – even if a white would be more appropriate.

Flowers in her hair, flowers everywhere

We are now in the Southwest of Western Australia, well known for wildflowers at this time of the year. So, since there are fewer exotic birds (although still a few) to photograph, Sylvia has been chasing wildflowers with her camera. We have enclosed a few for this update. I will try to list them (and post them) in alphabetical order:
Acacia tree – one of many varieties, clusters of yellow flowers
Banksia tree – blossoms look like corn on the cob
Camphor myrtle – little purple flowers
Christmas tree – yellow and green flowering tree
Flame Gravillea.

The other thing that has changed is the weather. After six weeks with nothing but blue skies and temps in the 30’s, we hit Perth and the weather changed. So, two of the last four days have been cold and wet – afternoon temps in the mid teens. So, now instead of making sure the fan is set up before we go to bed, we make sure the duvet is in place, and fight over it all night. Things are very green here, and we intend to spend the next ten days or so in this corner, before moving along the Southern Coast.

South of the tropic again

As we work our way down the West Coast, I will include one more beach picture: Jansz Beach, out of Exmouth. I include it because of the pristine nature of the beach and the fact that we were the only ones there!
RVing, Australian style
We spend nearly every night in a private campground or "Caravan Park". We could camp for free on some of the beaches, or just out in the bush, but opt for the power to run the fridge (and M/W) and the showers that they all provide, and the swimming pools that some provide. So we meet many of the people who frequent these places. Many are the "grey nomads" – retirees who have hit the road, sometimes on a full-time basis. Not unlike our "Snowbirds", going back and forth to Arizona, these people go North in the winter and back home for the summer. Naturally, the ones we have met most recently were from Perth, and places on the Southern West Coast, where those we met in the Northeast were almost all from Melbourne, although reluctant to admit it. Some are doing the same around Australia loop that we are, but think we are in a mad dash doing it in four months (I still think that is ample time) and they spend years doing it.
The major difference that you would notice is in the RVs. Most of the Caravans (‘vans, as opposed to the camper van we are driving) that have been around any length of time are quite small, 15 to 18 feet long, with a low profile "pop-top" to make them easier to pull. This is important as most of them are pulled by cars – Holdens and Ford Falcons, probably about the size of a current model Malibu at home. There aren’t a lot of hills, which is just as well, as these things do not really have a lot of power, and tend to overheat a lot. These older caravans and the newer ones that are of similar style do not generally have bathrooms on board, and depend on the same bucket and caravan park system that we do.
Some of the newer units coming out are a bit larger, and are more likely to have bathrooms, and more likely to be full height, not pop-top. These are pulled by SUVs, like the Toyota Land Cruiser (certainly the most popular vehicle in the Top End and outback). Some are bigger still, like current units in Canada, and they are pulled by North American pickups, when they can get one. We have seen a few fifth wheels on the highway, and, as near as I can determine, they are North American built for the Australian market. Some of them are pretty big, and do not fit the current version of the caravan park. They have to be pulled by North American pickups. Many of these are Ford F250s, although there seem to have been some problems with them, and the source apparently has dried up. One person I talked to has an F250 made for the Australian market(right hand drive), in Brazil. I did spot a truck nearly identical to ours: a Silverado HD2500 with the Duramax diesel and the Allison transmission. I talked to the owner of that one – they are not imported RHD, but are imported and converted. I asked the cost – a new one is $A130K. Most of the tow vehicles and RVs cost about twice what they do in Canada.
Anyway, most of the units we have seen that do have bathrooms have the ability to dump gray (bath) water, and they generally let it go right on the ground in the campground. If they have a toilet, they are cassette (porta potti) toilets, and require special dumping provisions that not all ‘van parks have yet.
Anyhow: We are in Geraldton as I am writing this, and will probably proceed to Perth (pronounced "Puuth") tomorrow. The temperatures are moderating as we move South – the high today was in the mid-Twenties, down from the high-Thirties we experienced further up the coast. The weather has been cool and wet to the South, but forecast for the next few days appears to be for warmer weather. Our plan was to chase Spring down the coast, and that seems to be working out. We crossed Capricorn yesterday, with some sadness. In five weeks in the tropics, we did not see a cloud in the sky. (We do not count the shower that lasted for about ten minutes in Kunanurra, as we were in the pool, and already wet.) Speaking of forecasts, the forecast for tomorrow in Hobart, Tasmania, is for a high of 13 degrees and snow in the mountains. It has a month to smarten up before we get there – that is clearly unacceptable.
So, to the photos:
I didn’t mention the flies. The Australian National bird is the bush fly. They crawl in your nose, in your ears, walk on your eyelids, and generally drive you nuts. They have not been too bad coming across the Top End, but we were cautioned to expect more as we move South. Today, Sylvia put her hat and net on, as they were getting a bit much at lunch time
Janszen Beach – already mentioned at the outset
The red dust is the road into 80 mile beach. As you can tell by looking, it is in pretty decent shape, the grader having just gone by.
Us crossing the tropic on the way South
Snorkler Sylvia at Turquoise Bay. Both got a bit sunburned that day.
I will call this one a wrap. Must find some place with decent internet speed to post it – most likely in Perth in the next day or two.

On the Indian Ocean

Oh, no! We are a third of our way through our holiday. The good news is, we have half of the driving behind us – pretty much according to plan. We have about 10000 km left to complete the loop, and abut 70 days left to do it in. You do the math. Should be a bit of a saunter from here on in, not that we have pushed that hard to get to the West Coast. I would say that driving around Australia is a bit more of a task than driving around either Portugal or Ireland, our two most recent circumnavigations.
We were familiar with the long lonely roads in Queensland and Northern Territory from earlier trips, and thought it might be a bit different in Western Australia, but it really isn’t. There are still long stretches between any evidence of human habitation (200km +) and straight stretches that go on for tens of kms (the longest in Oz is actually 147 km, but we haven’t done that one – yet). It is nothing to drive for 15 or 20 minutes and not meet another car. Anyway, the enclosed photo of the Great Northern Highway is typical. We expect to see less and less of the long distances between towns as we move down the coast, although there will be more across the South Coast.
I will take some photos of the functioning of the van – our routines are getting pretty well established. It is not large, but is still quite a bit bigger than some others we see on the road and in the Caravan parks. I am grateful that I can at least stand up in the thing.
We have enclosed some beach photos: one of Cable Beach at Broome – with swimmers on it. Water temp that day was 28 degrees (and, yes, that is Celsius), one of 80 mile beach, so called because it is apparently that long – did not walk it.
The birds included this time are a pair of red-tailed black Cockatoos – we were lucky to catch them posing together in a tree near where we were camped.
The lizard is a frilled lizard that Sylvia chased down and photographed. A bit of a story behind that one.

No room for bungling here...

Well, we did stay in Kununurra for four days – rather liked it there. That is a bit of a relief, as our reception in Western Australia wasn’t that great. We “reprovisioned” in Katherine, Northern Territory, before we set out for the long run to Kununurra, which included a couple of hundred dollars worth of groceries. When we hit the border, there was a quarantine check for which we were unprepared. The slime balls confiscated all of our fruit and vegetables at the check station, so our first stop in Kununurra was a grocery store. I am sure that the otherwise unemployable who cleaned us out retrieved our stuff (still in the bags from the store) as soon as we went out of sight. I hope he choked on the oranges in particular.
Anyway, the highlight of the stay in Kununurra was the side trip into the Bungle Bungles, a spectacular set of mountains straight to the South. There are a number of ways of accessing the Purnalulu National Park. Among them is not driving in with a rented camper van. There is a road, but too rough for the likes of our Toyota. So, we flew down, then went to the various points of interest in a 4x4 van. We did not buy the plane in the photo, although we may have made a payment or two on it. I managed to do the hiking involved to go into the Cathedral Gorge, (about 5 km roundtrip) with the help of my hiking poles and Sylvia’s able assistance in the rough areas. If you think she was only assisting to protect her income source, in case of an unfortunate slip, you can abandon that line of thinking – I took a joint form of pension, so her security is covered.
I did not do the other hike involved. Although shorter, the hike into Enchida Gorge, is up a dry creek bed, walking on rocks – something my wobbly feet probably would have trouble with. It was also about 40 degrees, and much of the trek was in the open sun. So, I stayed back and Sylvia went. We drank a lot of water that afternoon.
The low point of that trip was on the way back - a family of four was in the plane with us, and the kids were eating candy and pop all afternoon. No sooner were we on the plane than first one kid got sick, then the other, then their father. It wasn’t a rough flight, although quite warm. Anyway, we made it (about and hour and 15 minutes) without barfing, but not much appetite that night. It was an expensive outing, but we think it was good value, and recommend the experience to anyone
Speaking of appetite – we have been eating some meals out, and some in the van (or immediately adjacent to it). We have probably eaten more “in” than out, and have eaten very well. Sylvia has prepared some remarkable meals, with only a two-burner stove and microwave oven to work with.
We are now on Cable Beach, just North of Broome, looking out over the Indian Ocean, on Australia’s West Coast. More on that in the next update.