Hello all!
A bit over a month ago I
asked for advice on my proposed trip from
Perth to
Sydney... and got it! Armed with this and some creativity of my own, I started my trip on Monday, 14 February, and finished up on Sunday, 6 March.
1) Australia is beautiful
I stood knee-deep in the water at a beach and dolphins swam a meter away from me.
I took a hike around an island and discovered a
penguin hiding under a bush while he molted.
I walked on a beach of fine white sand and watched the sun go down and the full moon come up.
There is a repeater big enough to live inside, which I did for two nights. I ate lobster that had been caught the day before down at
the beach, and saw birds and plants that I had never seen before.
I stayed by the banks of the
Murray River and saw and heard more cockatoos in one place than I have ever seen or heard in my life before.
In
Sydney, I had a kookaburra alarm clock.
2) Nobody lives there
This was my opinion from
Perth through about
Bathurst. Across the Nullarbor - more or less the main highway between WA and the eastern half of the country - I was meeting a car coming the other way every two or three minutes, and somebody came up behind me maybe every 15 minutes. Here at
home, I live near one of the five Interstates that link east to west; two lanes each direction and busy around the clock.
2A) They all live in NSW
This was my opinion after I drove from
Bathurst into
Sydney at about 16:30-17:00 on Friday. :)
3) Three weeks was probably not enough time.
Several people from the previous thread are free to say "I *told* you so" at this point. :)
A more detailed write-up, with photos, is probably forthcoming. Right now, here is a quick list of where I actually ended up staying.
14-15
Perth
16 Bunbury
17
Albany
18 near
Bremer Bay
19-20
Esperance
21
Norseman
22-23
Eyre Bird Observatory
24
Nullarbor Roadhouse
25
Streaky Bay
26
Port Lincoln
27
Port Augusta
28
Berri
1
Griffith
2-3
Bathurst
4-5
Sydney
The total was something
well in excess of 3500 km. The second RV (see below) turned over 30,000 km on the 90 Mile Straight, and it had about 33,500 km when I returned it in
Sydney. I can work out the exact total from my fuel receipts, which I haven't added up yet.
It only took 2 RVs to finish this trip. :) The first one I got in
Perth and it worked OK until the night of the 19th; mechanically it was fine but the house air conditioning quit. The rental company was unable to rouse someone in
Esperance to fix the A/C, so I drove to
Norseman and they sent a guy with a replacement RV (from
Perth!) to meet me.
Both RVs were VW Crafter/Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis, 5 cylinder turbodiesel, clutchless 6 speed transmission. The first one was a four-berth, with the big box behind the van cab and the second bed over the cab, and 100 kW engine. Protip: Putting the right amount of air in the tires helps turn 18l/100km into 15l/100km. The second one was a two-berth; basically a long wheelbase high roof van, without the big box; 80 kW engine.
Conclusion: I have to come back some time and do
Darwin-
Adelaide. Plus some other trips. :)
I got a lot of useful advice and tips from this
forum. Thanks!
MattR