Driving across the Nullarbor - and back again
August 10, 2007
Balladonia - Kalgoorlie
Today was the end of the Nullarbor crossing. After leaving Australia's, and one of the world's, longest straight stretches of road yesterday, we hit what is probably the second longest, straight afterwards. Less dead wildlife today, too, but there were still a fair few kangaroos about. There was also a stretch of roadworks - the first we encountered for the whole trip. There were 45 kilometres of them all up, speeds alternating between zero while waiting for the guy holding the stop sign to wave us through, to 40km/h on gravel, before speeding up to 60, 80 and finally 110km/h before reaching the next slow section. It added a little time to our trip but nothing too drastic. Heading through Fraser Range we passed what is the world's largest eucalypt forest. Parts of it showed signs of recent fires, with new growth at the base of kilometres of bare, blackened dead trees.
We arrived at Norseman, the first town of any size we hit since leaving Ceduna, all those days and kilometres ago. Norseman is the town where you head either south, to head for Esperance, or north, towards Kalgoorlie. We chose the latter, and just out of town were huge, flat basins of smooth dirt, the dry beds of Lake Cowan and Lake Lefroy. Apparently somewhere out of town is a place you can go land sailing on a large salt flat - it was featured on the TV show Getaway earlier this year. Another thing we noticed on the road into Kalgoorlie were all the mines - every few kays you saw a side road leading to another mine. You definitely got the feel that there is a hell of a lot of money to be made out here.
Eventually we arrived in Boulder Boulder, the twin city of Kalgoorlie, and had to stop at the first traffic light since Whyalla. After finding some accommodation we set out exploring the town, particularly the mining aspect that is so dominant here. We visited the museum that, as per our luck so far, had a fair section under refurbishment. Fortunately there was still plenty more there to see. Such as...
...The Kalgoorlie Superpit. An open-cut gold mine, 3.5km long, 1.5km wide, 400 metres deep. At the lookout, you can see the huge dump trucks carting 225 tonnes at a time being absolutely dwarfed by the size of the pit.
The pit was started in 1989 when Alan Bond consolidated the existing mining operations in the area, allowing the pit to be dug. It is expected to last until 2017, when it hits 600 metres deep, and 3.8 kilometres long. Just some mind-boggling numbers there, and the size of the pit is overwhelming. It is truly something that has to be seen to appreciate the size of it.
August 11, 2007
Kalgoorlie - Perth
Fuel Stop 1: Kalgoorlie
42.3 Litres, $1.329/l (Regular): $56.22
Distance 430km Economy: 9.8l/100km
Fuel Stop 2: Perth
53.53 Litres, $1.287/l (BP Ultimate): $68.89
Distance 599.5km Economy: 8.9l/100km
One of the longest legs of the trip today - nearly 600 kilometres. A little rain in the morning, but the cloud cleared in the afternoon to a sunny arrival in Perth. This section was fairly uneventful. A good quality road, albeit in that coarse-chip bitumen that is loud as hell with my tyres. One feature of the road is the water pipeline that supplies Kalgoorlie-Boulder from Mundaring Weir in Perth. It was a pretty major engineering project at the turn of the last century, and is the only reason the town of Kalgoorlie can exist as it is today. Before that, there just wasn't enough water to sustain any decent population. Lunch was eaten at Kellerberrin, along with a driver change for the remaining part of the trip of around 250 kilometres.
One of the best investments we made was $14 for a compact street directory of Perth and surrounding suburbs. This made finding our way into town, and to the accommodation we booked, so much easier than driving around blindly, asking for directions. It also came in handy for getting around on subsequent days in the city. I would highly recommend the purchase of one of them, if you don't have a GPS unit to use.
We have made it! Driving around four thousand kilometres across three states and three time zones, to be in one of the world's most isolated capital cities. Time for a few days' rest to look around.
August 12, 2007
Rest Day - Perth
No driving today except for into the city for a bit of an explore. We wandered through the CBD streets, which were dead at the time; being a Sunday, the shops don't open until noon. Our walk took us up a bloody steep hill to Kings Park and the botanic gardens, finally we went along the river bank back to the Ferry Terminal, where we booked some tickets for the Ferry to Rottnest Island.
August 13, 2007
Rottnest Island
A trip on a couple of boats today - firstly from the Barrack Street Jetty in Perth to Fremantle. About an hour's cruise, down the river past all the flash houses and even seeing a couple of dolphins as we were leaving the jetty. At Fremantle we went past the docks area, past the huge box-like form of a car carrying ship that was unloading. A bunch of Hyundais, along with some grey-market import Supras, Evo Lancers, Skylines and even a Mitsubishi Delica van (with some huge wheels and jacked up suspension, in case the standard Delica wasn't top-heavy enough) were parked in the holding yard alongside the ship.
Changing boats from the river ferry to a bigger catamaran-type boat, we made the 18 kilometre trip to Rottnest Island. Once there, we hired a couple of bikes and rode completely around the island. It is a very scenic little spot, with great coastline, beautiful blue water, rolling hills and a heap of lizards sunning themselves on the roads. We even saw some quokkas!
The roads were rather peaceful, since there are no cars on the island apart from maintenance vehicles and some buses. In all, we ended up riding nearly thirty kilometres around the island. We slept well that night.