Solo Road Show

I arrived in Perth on the 30th with the intent off staying a few days, but most of the folks I knew there were out of town or moved. I stayed at my friend Melissa's place for the night and was gone again by noon, after grabbing a few groceries and deciding that I could make due without a new starter motor for the time being. I made it as far as Esperence on the south east coast of Western Australia before rain and darkness forced me to stop. It was a 25 degree drop in temperature from when I left Exmouth, not to mention the first rain I had seen in over a month. Very refreshing but not so comfortable for tenting, so I climbed in the backseat of the recession-mobile and set up my nest. Surpringly comfortable once I filled in the ergonomic butt grooves with towels and socks. In the morning I set out across the Nullarbour, which is basically this vast empty bit, 1400km wide, seperating Western Australia from the rest of the country. Everyone kept warning me about how boring and long the drive was, but to be honest, after driving to Yellowknife from High Prairie it actually wasn't that bad. After time change it was midnight by I got the first significant town on the eastern side (Ceduna) but the whole drive took just over 12 hours, and I got my first sightings of the Southern Ocean (aka Antarctic Ocean) as the sun set. Tres bien!

Upon crossing into South Australia (some of these state names are not very creative, are they?), I had to dispose of all fruits and vegetables because of a fruit fly quarantine zone, so at the last stop before the border I gave all my delicious nectarines I had bought off a farmer outside Perth to a couple of French dudes heading the other way. Alas. On the bright side, South Australia has free wireless internet in all of their public libraries, which is where I am corresponding from as we speak. I only drove for about 4 and a half hours today, stopping in the crossroads town of Port Augusta. To the north is the road to Alice Springs and Uluru (Ayers Rock); west is Sydney; south is Adelaide; and back west (way back west) is Perth. Tomorrow I am off to Cooper Pedy to the north- the opal mining capital of the world where no less than three of the hotels are in underground caves. Apparently it gets quite ridiculously hot in the summer (50+) so many of the old mining holes have been converted into homes and businesses. I just picture all these pale white haired creatures like the Morlocks in the old Time Machine movie only coming to the surface at night to steal away surface folk for nefarious purposes. Sounds like fun!

-A.

Kilometers Travelled from Auski: 5355