98 Octane between Port Augusta and Perth?

Submitted: Thursday, Aug 25, 2016 at 21:36
ThreadID: 133309 Views:7955 Replies:8 FollowUps:10
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We'll be doing a trip to WA (Rockingham area) in October when our son moves from HMAS Cerberus to HMAS Sterling.

We'll be taking the Silverado (diesel) and caravan, but son will be driving his WRX Subaru, which runs on 98.

I told him he's welcome to sit in the slipstream of the Bushtracker and I will virtually "tow" him over....but he's worried about stone chips...hahaha

So, I thought I'd see if anybody knows what the likelihood is of us finding 98 along the way? I can take 3 jerrys in the enclosed gennie box on the drawbar of the BT if need be, but still curious.

If anybody could enlighten me, that'd be great.

Cheers,

Roachie
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Reply By: gbc - Thursday, Aug 25, 2016 at 21:48

Thursday, Aug 25, 2016 at 21:48
95 + a bottle of octane booster will get him there. We always had a bottle in the boot of our B4 Liberty for such occasions.
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Follow Up By: Michael H9 - Thursday, Aug 25, 2016 at 22:57

Thursday, Aug 25, 2016 at 22:57
I did the same out there in a Subaru that needed 98. A bottle of octane booster where ever it wasn't available at the pump.
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Reply By: Motherhen - Thursday, Aug 25, 2016 at 23:27

Thursday, Aug 25, 2016 at 23:27
Hi Roachie, the BP at Norseman has 98 RON and does Caltex Coolgardie if you are going that way, Esperance and Ravesthorpe do if travelling the southern route. Most towns in WA should have 98.

Nullarbor Roadhouse mention Premium ULP but no mention of Ultra Premium.
Unless you get definitive answers here, a few phone calls or emails to the Eyre Highway roadhouses would sort it out.

Balladonia Roadhouse has BP Ultimate (98).
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Reply By: Ron N - Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 00:27

Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 00:27
Roachie, the last reliable 98RON heading West, is BP Ceduna. I have information that Caltex at Penong has 98RON, but can't confirm that. A call will sort that out.

Nullarbor to Caiguna roadhouses only stock 95RON - apart from BP Eucla, which has 98RON. The BP Eucla shuts at sundown.
Eucla also has considerably cheaper fuel than Border Village, it's worth the short drive to Eucla.

Balladonia has 98RON at horrendous prices (like most things at Balladonia).
Norseman (193kms on from Balladonia) has the next reasonably priced 98RON.

NullarborNet is a useful site.

NullarborNet

Cheers, Ron.
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Reply By: Member - Roachie - Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 06:19

Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 06:19
Thanks to everybody....your responses have been great and have put my mind at rest.

Cheers,

Roachie
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Reply By: Dean K3 - Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 12:20

Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 12:20
choose careful mate has a wrx (now built in a rally car) brought it across for forest rally as family car other car towed the older wrx rally car (since binned and used engien for a hill climb think he has 4 of the damn things) and got a belly full of water instead of fuel from one of the more remote places can't recall exactly where though wa side mundarabilla or cocklebiddy ?

suggest if you got a few extra jerrys take along 100l if possible that hopefully get him across the paddock run -all depends what his idea of cruising along is though and yes they do have unmarked patrols out in west side of border so forewarned if either of you open it up across -think they even have a unmarked wrx as well now northam nearer to me certainly has

and its Stirling base spelling wise -us sand gophers always make it hard for eastern staters
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Follow Up By: Member - Roachie - Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 15:05

Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 15:05
Thanks Dean.... good info, especially about the cops. However, Jarrod will probably be following me. I'm restricted to 100k/h, being a Heavy Vehicle and I've only just bought a 5w handheld GME UHF so we can stay in touch....so 5klm would about max he will be likely to get ahead of me if he decides to do that.

Sorry about the spelling stuff-up. I'm sure I spelt it like that in another post (on another site) and a sand groper corrected me saying it was "Sterling", so I give up; I'm usually quite pedantic about getting spelling correct!!! hahaha

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Follow Up By: 9900Eagle - Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 17:40

Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 17:40
Gee your vehicle must be heavy, from memory the heavy vehicle speed limit starts for vehicles over 20t something gcm.

Just have a check as I can't remember the exact weight.
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Follow Up By: Member - Roachie - Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 17:58

Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 17:58
May be different state to state....but as I understand it, anything over 4500kg has to have Heavy Vehicle plates and then they can be "captured" by the point to point cameras for example.

However, I will make some enquiries. My plated GCM is 11,117 but I usually hit the road at around 8,100kg.
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Follow Up By: Ron N - Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 19:08

Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 19:08
Roachie - In W.A., the open road speed limit is 110kmh for all cars and trucks up to 12,000kg GVM.

However, once you couple a trailer or caravan to any car or truck, the speed limit of the combination in W.A. is 100kmh.

In W.A., the speed limit for heavy commercial vehicles with a GCM over 12,000kg - and buses & coaches with a GVM over 5,000kg - is 100kmh.

In the city and suburbs, you must give way to the public transport buses (the green ones) indicating to pull out of bus bays. They all have signs on the rear reminding you of this law.

Merging laws have been changed recently, along with road markings. Formerly, merging lanes had unbroken lines and you were not allowed to merge until the unbroken line ended.

Merging lanes now have a broken line, and you are allowed (and encouraged) to merge promptly over the unbroken line, exactly as with regular road marking lines.

The merging vehicle is to be brought up to speed with the traffic it is merging with, and then to be moved across the broken line into the main lane, as quickly as possible.

You are encouraged not to wait until the merging lane is ending before commencing your merging movement.

As always, the vehicle in front has right of way - provided your merging (or lane-changing) move doesn't make the vehicle behind brake heavily, and there is room to slot in between vehicles in the lane to the right.

Drivers Handbook - W.A.

W.A. Merging rules

You'll find a lot of W.A. drivers are pretty bad drivers, with a regular lack of lane-change indication, failure to use or incorrect use of indicators at roundabouts, and tailgating and aggressive driving a regular habit.

Cheers, Ron.
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Follow Up By: Member - Roachie - Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 19:22

Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 19:22
Hmmmm...thanks again Ron. Maybe the other drivers might be a bit more careful when they see the size of my bullbar!!! hahaha
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Follow Up By: 9900Eagle - Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 20:01

Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 20:01
Ron, I remembered a bulletin I read a while back so I just had a look and found it.
Heavy vehicle speed

Sorry Roachie and Ron I had a look at caravans and it does state max of 100kph.

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Follow Up By: Ron N - Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 20:32

Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 20:32
9900Eagle - The authorities can't even agree on what constitutes a "Heavy Vehicle".
On the Main Roads W.A. website, it states (correctly) that a "Heavy Vehicle" is a vehicle with a GVM of more than 4500kg!

See Part 2, Section 12 of the W.A. Road Traffic Regulations, 2014.
(MRC = Mass Rate for Charging = GVM).

W.A. Road Traffic Regulations - 2014

Cheers, Ron.
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Follow Up By: 9900Eagle - Saturday, Aug 27, 2016 at 05:23

Saturday, Aug 27, 2016 at 05:23
Yes, the NHRV and the states don't seem to be able to agree on 1 rule for all states.

I do sympathise with WA over their stand on driving hours due to the long distances involved in the state.

One of the worst offenders in the area of trying to get one rule for all states is Victoria. Pity, but I guess it has been going on for years because some state bureaucracies just can't compromise.
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Reply By: Dean K3 - Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 20:40

Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at 20:40
I can 100% confirm max towing speed regardless of vehcile gvm is 100 kmph and they do enforce it. I follow abit on twitter TEG and soem of the happy snaps they have of the radar units are mind blowing

merging onto a freeway is a joke I avoid them whenever possible they say get upto speed of freeway well often merge lane will be faster than the freeway (its usually a largest carpark around and the speed limit of 100 is usually at the merge point not up the intersection down onto the freeway so trundle at 60 until 100 sign and then have to floor it to getup to speed or hard on brakes to be slow enough take your pick

they also have a few fixed cameras on both mitchell freeway (north side of perth) and kwinana freeway (southern side) same goes for roe hwy down near canningvale (industrial area) then goes to Kwinana freeway which I suspect will be part of route your taking the direct transport right at norseman upto coolgardie left towards southern cross

few places between coolgardie and southern cross one can do a overnight a few kms off highway if your wanting to free camp karalee dam north 7kms and boondi both nice spots then closer to southern cross is a main roads 24 hr stop over but sits too close to hwy so noise is a issue

UHF 40 as oversize loads due traverse Gt eastern hwy between merredin and coolgardie often get off road to let them pass
AnswerID: 603875

Follow Up By: Ron N - Saturday, Aug 27, 2016 at 00:04

Saturday, Aug 27, 2016 at 00:04
Yep, Deans on the ball - there's 5 fixed cameras on the various freeways that get you from behind - and about 30 red-light cameras scattered around the suburbs.

Be aware that all of the red-light cameras, also record speed through the intersection - to catch people speeding up to beat the lights.

These are set to go off, as soon as the amber light comes on. Ask me how I know this! LOL

However, all is not lost - the WAPOL are kind enough to supply a list of mobile speed camera locations - but not the PRECISE location - for every day of the week!

Speed Camera locations - W.A.

Cheers, Ron.
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Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Saturday, Aug 27, 2016 at 17:41

Saturday, Aug 27, 2016 at 17:41
Gday Roachie,
I run an app on the phone called Fuel Map. Just looked up 98 octane across the nullarbor and according to the app 98 is available at:
Caltex Penong was $1.38 for 98 octane ten days ago, Liberty Nundroo, Mogas Nullarbor roadhouse had 98 octane for $1.67 9 days ago, BP Border Village, Caltex Eucla, Mogas Mundrabilla, Mogas Madura, BP Cocklebiddy, BP Caiguna, BP Balladonia.

We use the app to check where we'd like to buy fuel. In any case, running ULP in a vehicle designed for PULP is not the end of the world. My son runs 92 octane is his FJ Cruiser that specifies 95+ all the time - the motors have knock sensors etc - you might not get the claimed fuel consumption.
AnswerID: 603899

Reply By: Member -Toonfish - Sunday, Sep 04, 2016 at 21:51

Sunday, Sep 04, 2016 at 21:51
Tell him good luck at garden island
A few friends there
We just left rocko in our wrx
Took a 10 litre jerry and made do with 95 as there isn't any along the nullaboor
I think from norseman back to maybe ceduna
2013/14 around oz adventure bound

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