Whilst travelling we found out that Sarah's godmother, Ange, is getting married. So we decided the girls should fly back to Brisbane to attend the wedding, whilst I will tow the car and caravan from Perth to Adelaide to meet up with the family some ten days later. The most direct route is about 2,700 km and involves the crossing of the Nullarbor Plain along with some long stretches between towns and stops. At our usual pace it would take us about 3-4 week for the journey with not much to do or see. So after delivering the girls to Perth Airport and some big hugs and kisses I went back to the caravan park to get ready for the journey. I filled up all the water tanks with water and all our jerry cans with diesel. I didn't have to do any shopping as I can't take any fruit or vegetables into SA and our fridge was still pretty full of good food.
I drove out of Perth into the Perth hills, which was slow going as some big trucks had to take it easy in front of me. My first stop was in Meckering - the site of the biggest earthquake in Australia. In October 1968 Meckering got struck by a 6.1 earthquake.The fault line was 1.5m high and destroyed a section of the golden pipeline - the water pipeline from Perth to Kalgoorlie. It also destroyed some railway tracks. Fortunately no one got killed as the quake happened during the day and on a public holiday. So no one was working inside at the time.
I drove on past never ending wheat fields and finally setup camp near Southern Cross on the banks of another just recently flooded salt lake. I was the only one there and really enjoyed the peaceful setting.
Kalgoorlie
After a good nights rest, I drove on and decided to spend a couple of hours in Kalgoorlie.
For morning tea, I stopped at the Boorabbin memorial. It remembers three truck drivers who died in a massive bushfire back in 2007.
Kalgoorlie was one of the major towns during the Gold rush at the beginning of the last century. Some of the biggest nuggets ever found in the world where found in this region. There are still lots of active gold mines. The most impressive one is called the 'big pit' for being the biggest open cut gold mine in the southern hemisphere. About 31,000 people live in the region and since the wheat fields came to an end, I assume that those people are mainly supported by the gold and nickel mines in the region.
After taking in Kalgoorlie I drove off to Kambalda, about 50 km to the South. I stopped at another superb free camp next to the sports grounds / community centre. In the morning I was able to do some work in the library with free internet and a very helpful lady who printed and scanned some documents for me. Thanks very much Kambalda.
During the night there was a little storm and in the morning I caught up with it again on my way to Norsman
Norsman
Coming from the east, Norsman is the first town in WA when you take the Nullarbor route or the last when you leaving WA. It's still more than 700km to the SA border. Norsman is named after a horse, who dug up some gold nuggets with it's hoof, close to where this settlement now stands.
146.6 km of straight road
Soon after starting my daily drive I've hit the longest straight road in Australia. It's 90 miles or 146.6km. Whilst it is straight it is still going up and down a little, so the view changes ever so slightly. Just before the straight stretch finishes there is a little blow hole on the side of the road. It's the entrance to a shallow underground cave and with the change in atmospheric pressure it either breaths air in or out. There are many more blowholes on the Nullarbor, some apparently create winds of up to 72km/h.
Another little detour brought me to the Murra El Evelyn Cave. You can't get in, so all you see is a big hole in the ground with lots of birds flying in and out. I stopped for the night at the Madura Pass lookout - overlooking the vast open planes towards the Great Australian Bight. What a view!
P.S.: if you follow us on Google maps we had to create a new map as Google only allows a certain amounts of points on each map.
The current map can be found at:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zYDr4S0UMh08.k9B8chcP5jks&usp=sharing
The first part of the map can still be found at:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zYDr4S0UMh08.kVVEWNQhVOHc
P.P.S.: Congratulation Ange and Luke! May the knot you tied today bring you a life full of happiness!