Our 2011 Bug-In road trip - Adeaide to Perth

[WEDEL.1]

Actually, did you remember to add the volume of the 2 stroke to your fuel levels, Maris? At 200:1, it shouldn't have a significant effect but it is part of the fuelling.

Yes, ratio was kept up to date Greg,

Maris.

[WEDEL.1]

Maris,
The picture of your "crosswalk" is not actually a crosswalk (sorry to disappoint), it's the beginning of one of the landing strips for the flying doctor. You would have noticed the road is a bit wider where the planes need to land. The real crosswalk is 10klm west of the Mundrubilla Roadhouse in front of a rest area.
Rod

Never let the truth interfere with a good story Rod.

I'm happy to keep everyone up to date as info comes available.

Maris

[WEDEL.1]

Day 12 – Tuesday 12/4/11 – Albany to Harvey

During the night it rained and at times quite heavily. The Carbra I had replaced late yesterday would now be wet (Carbras should not remain on a car when wet and should not dry on the car), but there was no alternative. I hoped we’d coved our other luggage sufficiently and would not be too wet in the morning.

As we began to pack it rained again. A lady from two caravans away from us lent Julia a poncho, and that was just enough o ensure there were no further showers. Everything went smoothly and we were on our way again.

We stopped for our sandwich lunch at Kojonup and then pressed on. Another stop was made at Darkan which had a cute old Railway Station long since empty. The next town we passed through was Collie which looked like a huge mining site.

Another hour and we were in Harvey. A quick stop in the local IGA to pick up more supplies and we were of to the Caravan Park. I booked in with Barbara and she showed us to our site. This Park was very basic with plenty of on-site caravans and no cabins.

The set took a while because I wanted to get the camper set up as well as I possibly could and it looked pretty good. The annex has 15 poles so it can get a bit tricky. Off course after all this exertion, Julia said we had to but tea, so it was back into town for tea.



Morning and everything looks wet.





Packed and ready to go. Puddles are still evident.



R36 Passat wagon heading towards Albany. We suspected Albany had a VW Dealer with the number of Volkswagens we saw.



Passed by a MK V.

[WEDEL.1]

Is the 3pm express on time? The Darkan Station......



Excavator near Collie. This one is not operational.



Harvey main St.




Harvey Caravan Pk.



All set up. Our little piece of Harvey.



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[geoff_gti]

Harvey is a nice little town! I remember going to the orange farm several times as a kid, big dairy there too.
Yep spot on about Collie and VW dealership in Albany

[gt_eye]

Loving this story!!!
I did Canberra to Perth back in 2000.
Moved there to live.
I took a more direct route but did it in a leisurely 6 days.
I did it in the middle of Summer in a car with no aircon or even window tint....needless to say our driving time was limited to the cooler parts of the day, or in the heat with frequent stopping.
Its a great drive, but next time I want to do it your way...with a LOT more time to look around

[WEDEL.1]

Day 13 – Wednesday 13/4/11 - Harvey

Today is pay day so a 40 Km drive into Bunbury was on the menu. We were about 5 mins on the highway heading south when there was a load BANG. Right in front of Julia, a stone had hit the windscreen. There was a huge crater in the windscreen. Fantastic!!

As we entered the suburbs we stopped at a windscreen repairer, but the hole was too big for him to repair so he referred us to O’Briens which was only across the road behind Bunnings (where men walk around with trolleys & a smile on their face, as in Dan Murphy’s).

The windscreen was examined, and although a larger defect than they like to fill, it was agreed that they could do it, and it would be OK. An appointment was made and we had about 2 hours.

We continued into town, found an underground park, eventually found the bank (getting lots of exercise) and bought a couple of pies from the nearby Bakery. We drove back to the Bunnings and gave Millie some exercise (and pie) before we dropped the Golf at O’Brien’s for the repair. I thought it better just to repair the windscreen and stop the damage from getting any worse, rather than replace it and have more damage later. We were still about 3,000 kms from home. While the job was being done I closely examined the stock in Bunnings.

We picked up the Golf after 50 mins. The Manager wasn’t happy with the job, but it was a big defect to fill. I paid $125 for the jog and it came with a life time guarantee. We had lost our enthusiasm for doing anything else so headed back to Harvey. It was very close to Bier-o’clock.


Here is the chipped windscreen. Part of the rock/stone is still embedded in the glass.

Before



After.



But, at least not as bad as the Commodore.





In Bunbury, another town with a VW Dealer?



Back at "home."



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[WEDEL.1]

Loving this story!!!
I did Canberra to Perth back in 2000.
Moved there to live.
I did it in the middle of Summer in a car with no aircon or even window tint....needless to say our driving time was limited to the cooler parts of the day, or in the heat with frequent stopping.
Its a great drive, but next time I want to do it your way...with a LOT more time to look around

Driving in summer out there with no air con????? I didn't think anyone would do that anymore.

Allow plenty of time to do this. I think we tried to do too much in too little time.

Maris

[WEDEL.1]

Harvey is a nice little town! I remember going to the orange farm several times as a kid, big dairy there too.
Yep spot on about Collie and VW dealership in Albany

Yes, Harvey is a great little spot Geoff.

Maris

[WEDEL.1]

Day 14 – Thursday 14/4/11 Harvey

After studying the brochures of Harvey we decided to go to the Info Centre, located north of the town on the highway.

From there we would be able to obtain the key for the Harvey Internment Camp Shrine. It was an interesting time spent. There we saw that this Camp held the survivors of the German Raider, the Kormoran, which sank the HMAS Sydney off the Western Australian coast.

Battle with the HSK Kormoran | History | HMAS Sydney (II) | Western Australian Museum

Kormoran survivors 'told truth'

Battle between HMAS Sydney and German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Harvey Internment Camp | South West Australia

We returned the key & headed into town where Julia picked up a nice lunch for us. The Harvey Dam was recommended a must see, so we took the short drive and we were there. It has its own Amphitheatre and the surrounding gardens & lawns were perfect for our picnic.

Not having had enough yet, a visit to Harvey Cheese was in order. Julia enjoyed the tasting, and I enjoyed a double scoop ice cream. Of course the temptation of the camels in the paddock proved too much for Julia while Millie took an interest also, but there was a stand off between camel and dog.

Info page on the Shrine.





The original jail still stands.



The picturesque Harvey Dam. The Amphitheatre is to the left, gardens in the foreground with the Dam wall in the background.



After years of drought, the water level was down.



The Golf stands in front of Harvey Cheese.



The Harvey stand off.



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