Driving across the Nullarbor - and back again
August 17, 2007
Margaret River - Albany
Fuel Stop 1: Margaret River
40.18 Litres, $1.369/l (Regular): $55.01
Distance 423.3km Economy: 9.5l/100km
Fuel Stop 2: Albany
39.49 Litres, $1.299/l (Regular): $51.30
Distance 458.4km Economy: 8.6l/100km
Almost four hundred kilometres through the trees today. Quite dense forest, more than we expected in this part of the state. A quick stop in the logging town of Pemberton stood out to me with the fresh, woody smell in the air. A contrast to a later stage in the trip where there was an odd smell we started to notice. First I thought it was time to put on a clean shirt, but later in the day we found it was the smell of the Karri Wattle - basically it smells of piss. We found this out on a little info plaque next to a Karri at the Valley of the Giants treetop walk, although they described it more diplomatically as a 'tomcat' smell. The treetop walk is an elevated walkway, about 26 kilometres out of Walpole, rising 40 metres above the ground at its highest point, putting you up at the level of the tree canopy.
It gives quite a different perspective of your usual forest - it's not often I'm able to photograph a tree from above. Also, following the advice of Bill Bryson in his book on Australia, we did the Ancient Empire walk that takes you around the bases of the trees at ground level. It doesn't have the crowds that the treetop walk has, but it gives an idea of the scale of the Karri and Tingle eucalypts.
Just before 2pm we arrived in Albany, after a bit of lunch in Denmark. The trip took a little longer than we thought because a lot of the roads through the forest were in a 90km/hh zone, due to all the tight curves. It had a side benefit of being a little more economical on the fuel, anyway.
As it was a bit of a whirlwind tour of Albany, with only an afternoon to check the place out, we dumped our suitcases and belongings in the cabin (back to reality after the room in Margaret River...) and bolted down to the main tourist attraction that we knew of, Whale World. The guided tour took us through the rather stomach-churning descriptions of removing the blubber and meat from a 50-ton whale carcass, a process known as 'flensing'. I think the fact that there was a device called the 'head saw' is about enough you need to know, but the tour also had a sound recording of one in action. Apparently working in an abbatoir is far more pleasant than what the conditions were like on the flensing deck.
It wasn't all blood and guts there, however. There was a lot of general information on whales, and a number of theatres inside what used to be whale oil tanks played video presentations of the life of whalers, and a 3D movie about the different species of whales. A 20 metre long skeleton of a pygmy blue whale was on display, along with a whaling ship that was open to wander through made it an interesting, and eye-opening, way to spend an afternoon. I'm just glad as hell we have stopped whaling.
August 18, 2007
Albany - Esperance
Up just after dawn today to have a quick walk down to the beach for the sunrise. Three or four dolphins were swimming just off shore while I was there - a bit of a treat. After breakfast and before hitting the highway we drove down to the Gap and the Natural Bridge, granite formations on the coast not far from the Whale World site. With those visited, we set off for the drive to Esperance, about 500 kilometres. Quite a few road trains today, crawling up the frequent hills we encountered. And we were usually stuck behind them, just after the overtaking lane finished.
There was a lot of farming land in the area, along with a rather prominent nickel mine near Ravensthorpe. Around 3pm we arrived in Esperance, with the intention of booking a boat tour through the Archipelago the next day - there are hundreds of islands just off the coast that would be great to see. Unfortunately the tour was called off due to insufficient numbers. Oh well, that's what happens when you travel in the off season.
As dusk was falling we had a walk along the beach, enjoying the sunset. As we got to the pier there were three sea lions waiting for people to throw them scraps from the fish cleaning bench. We learned that one of them was Sammy, the resident sea lion. He even wandered up onto the beach, to see if anyone threw anything there.
August 19, 2007
Rest Day - Esperance
Fuel Stop: Esperance
51.9 Litres, $1.349/l (Regular): $70.00
Distance 537.3km Economy: 9.7l/100km
As you would do on a driving holiday, if you'd been driving all yesterday, and with 600 kilometres coming up tomorrow, what would you do on a rest day? Go for a drive, of course! Since the boat cruise was called off, we thought we would do the scenic loop drive, a 39km trip that started along the coastline past some of "Australia's best beaches", as the Esperance tourist brochure says. A big call, I know, but those we saw would definitely be right up there. Some sections had beautiful whhite sand, others had some pretty cool rock pools and formations...
A little further up the road was a bay with a rock formation in the water that looked to me like the skeleton of some ancient sea monster or something - a big round hole in the rock looked like an eye socket in a skull. Well, to me anyway; see what you think!
The drive also took us past a wind farm, and the 'Pink Lake', which is pink-hued due to algae growth. Or rather, it should be. Apparently the algae growth is seasonal and the pinkness changes at different times of the year. Maybe they only pump in the pink dye in time for the Christmas holiday season...
Back in town we visited the museum, full of all sorts of random memorabilia, from a complete steam locomotive and tender, pieces of Skylab that fell to earth nearby in 1979, farm machinery, old phones, and an Apple Macintosh (Performa 250) - a rather eclectic collection, to say the least. Finally, we went for another walk on the pier to see Sammy the resident sea lion again, who I'm guessing wouldn't have to do much hunting these days due to all the fish thrown to him. Hopefully people don't feed him hamburgers and crap like that, I didn't see any of that when I was there, just nice wholesome fish guts.