It would appear that I spoke too soon the other day.
A couple of hours after I knocked out that last post, my connection went dead again. Rat f-ers.
The truth is, though, that I couldn't give a flying f--k about the state of my home internet connection- mainly because I have escaped the ochre-hued hell that is the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Yes, my dear e-friends. I am on f-ing HOLIDAY!
We set off yesterday morning at sparrow's fart. For the technically minded, that's about 5.30am in the old money.
It WAS a little earlier than we had planned, but the wifey had been up all night packing and dealing with a screaming baby, and I was well rested and up by about 4am, so we thought, "F-it" and got on the road.
The plan was to drive the 850km (about 530 miles) from South Hedland to Carnarvon on the first day. We intended staying somewhere in Carnarvon overnight, before setting off for the remaining 850km to Perth. We made such good time on the road that upon reaching Carnarvon (at about 1.30pm) we decided to power onwards for another few hours, stopping when we got to the idyllic holiday beach town of Kalbarri.
Kalbarri is a pretty sweet little spot. I last came up here nearly 20 years ago, and while the town has certainly grown a LOT in that time, it still has that small town feel about it.
We liked the look of the place so much that we decided to stay here for an extra night to have a look around. We found a nice hotel at a good price and set up camp.
The drive was pretty smooth. Mary was tasked with keeping Lauren happy and quiet, which left driving duties in my lap. By the time we pulled in to the Kalbarri Beach Resort, our trusty Subaru had covered a little over 1,300km (800 miles) in the space of about 13 hours, including a couple of half-hour breaks and refuelling stops.
Of course, I never ONCE broke the speed limit. I CERTAINLY didn't hit 170km/h at one stage.
Of COURSE not, officer.
Anyway, enjoy the photos. I'll be back whenever I get a chance.
Later.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Road Trip!
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9 comments:
170km/h, is that all your little jap box good for? Ah, who am I to complain, I can only prove thats as fast as I've been, any faster than that and I can't operate a camera at the same time in case the Calais suddenly takes flight. But you know, I'm nowhere near that irresponsible. At all. Ever.
Your road-shots are totally fucking awesome though. As much as you're probably sick of red dust all around it sure maskes an interesting change from what I'm used to looking at!
I love the road shots too! It looks like something out of a roadrunner cartoon, or like the Grand Canyon is around the corner. Have fun Andy!
The photos are fantastic. I have another friend over there and he said that Tim Tams have made their debut here in the US. FINALLY, I say! But where's my vegemite!?
Enjoy the holiday!
Kezza-
The car still had more left in it. I don't know how MUCH more, but more none the less.
I should add that the 170km/h was GPS-measured. It was about 190km/h on the speedo.
But yeah, I have no doubt that the Crumpledore could outrun it on the blacktop. But this morning, we were flying down a heavily corrugated sandy track at 110km/h (overtaking Falcodores that were plodding along at 30km/h with panels and wheels falling off because of the ruts and bumps), pulling nice, predictable four wheel drifts. I'd bet the farm on my Japbox leaving you in my dust down THOSE sorts of roads.
So there. Heh.
Luli-
Yeah, I snapped off a couple of good ones out there. The good thing about driving so bloody far is that you're bound to pass some interesting shit along the way. Thanks.
Sue-
The minute I get home from holidays, I am going to fire off an email to you and work out what I have to do to get a couple of jars of vegemite over to you. I PROMISE.
But you have to check with your post office, and make sure I won't get a visit from the FBI for mailing food. Because I'd hate to have to tell your fine federal government to f-off.
Yay for holiday!!! I like the picture at the bottom, it's very pretty. Have a wonderful time!!
Done that kind of road trip too many times to feel too excited for ya, but know what the Lead Foot temptation feels like once you get south of Carnarvon.
Once snapped an exhaust valve spring in our little aged T18 when suddenly having to dump down from who knows what naughty velocity to about 60ish when a necessary roadhouse appeared on the left.
Those exhaust valves can be NOISY++ at the low revs/speeds, but found that for the rest of the trip back to Perth, as long as we were at a particular rev-range or speed (ie, speeding) the frequency bounce on the valves made it quiet again, but we were certainly head-turners (dreading police attention) when forced to do 50km etc going through Gero ...
Prior to that, just a couple of days earlier that little T18 had taken us from Perth to Onslow in time ratios at least similar to yours Andy ;) ... but it was doing the Carnarvon to Onslow run section at late night which was the most scary.
Roos look twice as big as they really are (we hit one WHEN WE WERE STATIONARY ... we stopped and it decided to jump against the driver's door anyway) but worse than that, bloody cows and bulls everywhere warming themselves on the road as the air cooled.
Thank goodness the scrub is mowed back so far on each side of the road these days. That trip was 2003, but my trips in the mid 90s were not so luxurious on the visibility side of things ... we were more prone to camp at night than drive back then - too stressful, too slow. Still scary camped out beside the road when you hear a road-train coming from what seems like 40km away and you are wondering if he is on no-doze and driving all over the tarmac in a tuned-out hallucinating funk.
Worst bit of road to do in West Oz (other than getting into the Bungle Bungles ... but that doesn't count coz it's rutted dirt) would have to be the Broome/Hedland run in the hot and dry season.
That horrid stretch of boring road is near guarenteed to turn a driver into the not so nice character from "Wolfe Creek", and any female passenger into a cross between Sigourney Weaver in "kill the ugly aliens" mode and the female SPECIES character in "don't come near me" mode ... and woe on any child passengers who happen to remind those sitting in the front that life lurks back there.
I wonder how many divorces/relationship breakups and cases of domestic violence began on that stretch of road ... and how many missing persons are buried under much-graded culverts as a result.
Surely travelling on that stretch of hellish highway would count as mitigating circumstances for any foul discovered to have been done ?
Then again, the Sturt Desert Pea found beside the road as one gets closer to Hedland kinda makes up for what goes before.
Happy holidays. You do realise that going south is the down-hill run, ie, the easy bit and you'll be pushing upstream on the trip back ? :)
Yeah, I'll deem a "merry bah-humbug" already returned.
regarDS
I can enver decide if I like the long, straight stretches of load or not... one one hand, they're beautiful (the only long straight, middle of nowhere ones I've driven anyway) and you can see traffic cops a mile away, but it's also insanely easy to fall asleep at the wheel...
loved the photos by the way!
Suvvygirl-
Cheers. It's been great so far.
And yeah, I love that last shot as well.
Derspatz-
A T-18? You know, for a car that was pretty common in its day, I can't remember the last time I saw one of those things getting about.
Surprisingly, we didn't see many roos on the trip down. With the exception of the first hour or so out of Hedland, we made the entire trip during daylight, so we missed the worst of it.
The cows, goats and sheep were everywhere, though. I've hit roos before, so I can only imagine how much damage a cow would do.
Helen-
I love the long drives. The scenery changes so gradually down the WA coast, from the parched red dust of the Pilbara to the lush greenery nearer to Perth. It is a pretty awesome stretch of earth.
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