Brisbane to Perth to Brisbane by car
I guess this story starts back in March 2020, when we arrived in Malaysia just in time for Covid lock-down, We had completed a Princess cruise around the Indian ocean from Perth to Perth and had left 2 bags with friends in Perth before continuing on to Penang. In one of those bags there was 4 bottles of whisky.
Sunrise Penang
So having weathered over 2 years in our place in Penang, which was no hardship at all as we ate, drank and watched the sparse shipping into Georgetown/Butterworth and wonderful sunsets, we were finally allowed back into prison Australia and had a lovely flight on Qantas with excellent food served by terrific staff who appeared to be in their 60’s but did an excellent job, all the way to Sydney. We were supposed to go to Brisbane, but hey lets not get picky. We had to do customs and immigration Sydney plus all the NSW does and don't before flying onto Brisbane on domestic, I thought what fun, Queensland has no idea we are in that great state and NSW still think we are down south. And so we continue..
As I was running short of whisky, I remembered the 4 bottles in Perth. We looked into flying to Perth and return by train, But that's horrendously expensive as well as sold out. Go Figure!. Flying is out. We have a small caravan so maybe drive over with that, but being 40 years old we doubted it would get there let alone get back, so why not just the car. SsangYong Korando mid size SUV 2lit diesel. As diesel prices in Australia are set to subsidise petrol, price per litre always well above the most premium petrol After all big companies use most of the diesel and they can afford to pay hey...lets forget the fact it jacks prices up on stuff people buy, so in the end they pay at an inflated rate.
Typical 'B' Triple Road Train
Car was packed and on 7th September we set off. Crossing the border at Goondiwindi seemed like a good idea and so we took the route via Warwick to Goondiwindi and onto Boggabilla cause it sounded like fun. If one wants to get seasick on land, then that road Queensland side of the border does the job, but cross into NSW smooth sailing. Boggabilla was a sleepy hollow with a reasonable Motel to stay in and the Wobbly Boot Pub is closed. All night the steady flow of B double and B triple monster Road Trains would slowly go by before hitting high speed as soon as out of town limits.
Wobbly Boot Pub Boggabilla
The plan was to go through Moree to Walgett then Nyngan but roads to Nyngan were flooded out so we headed to Cobar via Brewarrina and Bourke.
Moree is a lovely town, pretty with good vibes and a can do feel to it. Walgett on the other hand was the opposite. We got no feel for the place which had no life to it and we made no stops, having driven around a bit and discovering the road to Nyngan was out. We stopped in Brewarrina for fuel and while its small, was very friendly and a nice place to see. Onto Bourke, which we really didn’t see as we headed onto Cobar. Bourke we have seen before and found it a lovely town. Its in the bucket to revisit and stay a while.
Cobar Pub and Motel typical of old day grandeur.
Cobar is a very nice town, good shopping, reasonably priced fuel at Shell and reasonably priced room at what was the Cobar Motel next door and now run by Town & Country Motel opposite.
Again flood water crossed our intended path to Menindee and so we took the main road to Broken Hill via Wilcannia. Happily Wilcannia is getting a new lease on life with new homes and renovations going on. It was good to see.
Desert Sculptures
Broken Hill is a favorite town with its huge number of grand old buildings, Hotels, Caravan Parks, mines and most of all Living Desert Sculptures and State Park. Reasonably priced fuel if you look for it and willng accept no name fuel. But sadly Broken Hill just seemed to have lost a bit of its Mojo. Couldn’t put my finger on it, but seemed frozen in time with no real life left. Sad as we have had a number of lovely stays in Broken Hill. The dreaded fruit fly inspection station is no longer at Broken Hill but well into South Australia where it should be.
Manna Hill Station
And so to South Australia (SA) pretty much following the rail line on the Barrier Highway and lovely whistle stops like Manna Hill and Terowie to the City Motel in Pt. Pirie via vast oceans of wheat, Rape (Canola) and other grain crops. Past wind farms as far as the eye can see and extends pretty much from the heel of Yorke Peninsula to west of Pt, Augusta. A vast area for birds to avoid.
Wheat and Rape near Pt. Pirie
Port Pirie we liked. Active port with massive grain silos. Had some good shopping and lovely parks, We spent a very comfortable 2 days at the well priced City Motel and used it a a base to explore well down the Yorke Peninsular. Apart from wind farms there are very large grain farms and lovely rolling countryside. We especially enjoyed Wallaroo where we had a vary large tasty and cheap lunch at the Cornucopia Hotel. One of the best priced fuel the whole trip was Shell at infamous Snowtown. In Pt Pirie itself The Old station building now a museum, town walksand admiring numerous old classic buildings.
Port Pirie grain silos
Originally we had intended to go onto the Eyre Peninsular, but instead skipped across the top to Ceduna. There are jokes about Ceduna, but in fact its a lovely town at the eastern end of the bight a lovely well set out town, lovely parks and jetty with nearby active port of Thevenard and offshore Nuyts Archipelago where its said by locals was the inspiration for Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Altogether a lovely place and in the bucket to revisit and spend time. Having said that would need to be in warm weather as it was cold in late September and I bet very much colder mid winter.
Ceduna Jetty
The Nullarbor was waiting and so we set off into what seemed like the never never. In reality broad acre farming and perfect road was all we saw for the first few hours, then lovely aboriginal lands around Yalata, through treeless plains till the coast. While there are 3 official viewing places within SA the best we found was the eastern end of the first emergency airstrip on the highway. At a little pull-in there was a short car track to the cliffs edge and breathtaking views of the cliffs and blue/black forbidding looking ocean.
Part of the Great Australian Bight
Our tally= 1 camel, 2 wombats, lots of Roos.
Sunrise on the Nullarbor
And so to the border with West Australia (WA) There is a large fruit and vegetable inspection station. I should explain. Australia being so isolated, has very few pests and diseases as found in other parts of the world, so all entry to the country must declare and hand over all and any unprocessed food of any type. If any is found on inspection and its not declared the offender will be hit with large fines. Within the country, there are areas that have less pest and disease than others and so at certain state borders and some regions, there are inspection stations to restrict certain food items applicable to that area. Pain in the bum? Sure, but do we really mind? Of course not.
The most expensive diesel of our trip was Shell roadhouse on the border still within SA. A$2.98/ lit, but that had clean toilets and must have good food by the number of truckies there, but the fuel price put us off. Once in WA and through to Norseman diesel prices of A$2.49 seemed cheap…. And to think this was a time the Government had reduced fuel tax for 6 months.
Finally after days of driving, one comes to a ‘T’ junction at Norseman. Its also the first mobile signal since leaving Ceduna and so we ask Google for suggestions on routes to Perth. It showed the long way via Esperance on the south coast, North via Coogardie or the Norseman to Lake King road and beyond.While I wanted to go north google was insistent I should take the short cut via Lake King. And so some km south of Norseman having lost mobile signal less than 1 km from Norseman, Google instructed a right turn onto the Norseman lake King road. A sign did say no caravans and require 4WD. OK, so gingerly we headed down this dirt road which was fine up to the turn to a mining camp. After that it got steadily worse till a turn off to Peak Charles. After that it was 4WD through washed out creek until over 80km we skidded to a stop at the edge of a swamp. 4WD to back out and back to the main road again...not happy Jan.
You would think once bitten twice shy, but further south again google said right turn at Grass Patch. The road had some tarmac...at first, but the dirt road that went on was in very good condition and while there was no sign of life for a couple of hours Google was happy till it instructed a right turn into a field...not even a gate. So we continued on and Google went its way and we found ourselves with no idea where we were, numerous intersections with no sign posts, black storm clouds so that it was headlights to see after 4pm fuel the wrong side of half and still no sign of life. This stopped being fun till Eureka in the distance headlights. So we straddled the road, hazard lights on and stood by frantically waving arms. The kind farmer stopped and asked did we need help. Hell yes. Just coming home from a funeral he says inviting the half bottle of whisky he had left, but I declined and said just wanted to head for Perth. Well your on the right road he says. Another bit over 100 km you meet another road, turn left 40 more km into Lake King. You cant miss it. I always get worried when I hear “you cant miss it” But true to his instructions with accurate distances we came to Lake King. In pitch black early evening we saw in the headlights 2 petrol pumps, 2 diesel pumps and what looked like a make shift phone box, plus a pub with some motel looking rooms out the back. That's it, so I venture to the Pub and the second I entered all sound stopped. The place was packed and all I could see was staring eyes. Guy close to me raised an eyebrow at which I asked if there might be some accommodation. The roar of laughter was deafening and was told no chance mate unless I worked for The Company. So then I asked about fuel and when I could get some. I was informed that the “garage” was open and you help yourself. In the pitch black with a mini pocket torch I realised the phone booth was actually a machine that instructed me to swipe my card, pick a pump and pick how many dollars, there being choices up to $600. I picked $99 and was informed the pump was ready. So a stumbled back to the car that I had parked beside a pump and filled the tank. Went back to the phone booth and swiped my card again, was informed I used $95 and gave a receipt. Hallelujah.
No choice but to continue and as Google had also agreed to meet at Lake King, we had directions again on a narrow tarmac road shared with “B” Triple Road Trains tanking. Not fun Jan. Some very narrow parking bays by the road, so tried to sleep in the car rocked by the wind and roar of B Triples. Woke up early morning to no sound at all. Not a truck in sight. Cant sleep so creep on at 60km[h. At predawn, like Brigadoon this stunningly lovely little town emerged in the frigid mist. Dumbleyung with its picture perfect street, old pub but most all amenities block with excellent super clean toilets, hot shower even dog bowl and free poop bags and bin, street museums and parks. What a superb place. Even a replica of Sir Donald Campbell's water speed record boat that took place on the local Dumbleyung Lake.
Replica of Sir Donald Campbell's boat that set a water speed record of 444.71 kph on Lake Dumbleyung.
From there we had a lovely uneventful trip on into Perth and our friends, where we stayed a couple of nights eating and catching up before topping the tank and heading for Kalgoorlie on the northern route back east. Better priced full and mobile signal most of the way.
Part of the Super Pit at Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie Super Pit still produces around 800,000 ounces of gold a year and since discovery in 1893 has produced over 58 million ounces of gold. Its a big hole in the ground 3.5 km long, 1.5 km wide and 600 m deep.Part of the Golden Mile, Super Pit being the biggest.
Old tree at Port Wakefield
Back to Norseman then various stops across the retracing of the Nullarbor with enormous number of caravans, motor homes, camp trailers, a few cars, heaps of B Double, B Triple and a fair number of B quad, push bikes motor bikes and one idiot walking. Back to Ceduna where we stopped a while before heading down the west coast of the Eyre Peninsular. The whole peninsular is just lovely, but while such places as Streaky Bay, Smokey Bay, Pt, Lincoln all sounded good, we found them ordinary and preferred Coffin Bay (named after Sir.Isaac Coffin by his friend Matthew Flinders) and Elliston on the west coast and Tamby Bay and others in that area on the east coast.
Headlands north of Elliston
Coffin Bay
Whyalla is a steel producing town and frankly we didn't stop and headed to Pt Augusta at the head of Spencer Gulf and met up with the top end of the 100’s of km of wind farms. We went on till we got to Pt Wakefield. If ever there was a sleepy hollow with expensive caravan park for what you get, this is it. Slept in the car again and didn't venture into the rain to the only place to buy food, or so we were told. On On as they say to Murray Bridge circling around Adelaide.
Rail bridge at Murray Bridge
The Balcony on Sixth Lodge
What a beautiful town is Murray Bridge. The mighty Murray river, the bridges, riverside gardens, superbly renovated pubs and boarding houses. We booked into the fabulously renovated “Balcony on Sixth Lodge” where you are given an entry code (that worked on the 10th try) and you are given a room number and do it yourself. While its old style shared bathrooms they were super clean and while taps and handle were old style it was actually very now, A self serve kitchen with complimentary coffee machine and stuff all there, but the highlight was sitting on the broad verandah sipping coffee. Never saw an owner or manager.
Have to mention the Tastie Wok a short walk away on Bridge Street. Essentially a take away, they have a couple of tables and you get delicious food direct from the wok, reasonably priced and very authentic.
From Murray Bridge we had discussions with Mr. Google Maps again. Google has an aversion to good roads and highways and prefers dirt roads of old fashion single trip tarmac with dirt edges in case something ever comes the other way. It did lead us past the cheapest diesel of the trip with a self serve machine just like the Lake King one.
I felt like an old hand helping a Chinese guy who was also using Google Maps and like me had been attracted by the price.
Sacred Heart Cathedral Bendigo
Finally we get to another ex old gold mining city of Bendigo. Lovely city but bristling with traffic cops and not what one would call friendly.
Next day to our friends in Melbourne and sumptuous meal of BBQ side of pig with all the trappings and very crunchy crackling.
By this time I'm ready to get home, so we scarpered up the Hume Highway to the Sydney gridlock, Pacific Highway diversions in the middle of the night with car sleeps when needed till our friends in the stunning Nambucca Valley, I slept while the girls talked their heads off, then on to home north of Brisbane with the obligatory massive traffic jam between Gold Coast and Brisbane on a road that has never been finished in 50 years.
10600 km, A$2000 of diesel, 4 bald tyres. 1 flat tyre and a fun 3 weeks.
