Our 2011 Bug-In road trip - Adeaide to Perth

[WEDEL.1]

Day 7 – Thursday 7/4/11Caiguna to Esperance



We woke at the usual 7 am to get an early start. As we broke camp the flies gradually grew larger in number and then were joined by March Flies. Horse-fly - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. I was viciously attacked and received about a dozen bites.I managed to reduce their population by 2.

As we proceeded the temp grew until it peaked at 32.5. We were travelling under clear skies until about 100 kms from Norseman. Light fluffy clouds gave way to darker clouds, until it rained, and rained hard. It wasn’t long before the temp had dropped to 18.

By the time we arrived at Norseman for refueling it had stopped, but everything was wet. We found the Shell station easily and pulled in. As soon as I opened the door to get out, it started again, and off course, the diesel pump was out in the open.

As we pressed on the weather began to slowly clear and I was optimistic we would be OK. I had no desire to set up in the rain. We found the Caravan Park easily with the aid of our TomTom, booked in and set up without incident, except find some of the things packed on top of the trailer was very wet.

Packed & ready to leave Caiguna.



The eastern end. The sign says it all.





Millie comes up the front when ever she can hear lolly papers rustle, thinking she's in for a treat.



Fuel economy was not good going into the strong wind.



The Nullabor. Undulating road and straight. Nullarbor Plain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia





Refuelling at Norseman.



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[gareth_oau]

great read so far and enjoying the pics.

Glad you made it into WA

[phaeton]

great read so far and enjoying the pics.

Glad you made it into WA

X2 going to forward this thread to someone at work who use to live in the West.

Good VW spotting to BTW Maris say Hi to Julia and Millie from me

[geoff_gti]

Nice to meet you guys this morning at the breakfast, will hopefully see you up at Toodyay

[kaanage]

Thanks for the update Maris - 8.0 l / 100km indicated (probably around 8.8 / 100km actual if my cars are anything to go by) that is very poor.

Is Julia aware that you are posting these pics for public viewing? It looks like she's giving Millie the finger!

[WEDEL.1]

She knows, Julia is scratching her face (cheek)

Maris

[WEDEL.1]

Day 8 – Friday 8/4/11 - Esperance

Lazy day today. After the rain we travelled through, I took the carbra off and left it on the stone guard of the trailer to dry out. The weather was fine at the moment, but there were a few dark clouds around. I hoped they would stay away long enough for the carbra to dry. As it turned out, the bra was nice & dry at the end of the day.

We did some shopping in the morning and I found some EMU Draught mid-strength bier. Never tried it before but $55 for two 30 can packs, it was a great buy. In the end, tasted about the same as XXXX Gold.

We headed off into town for a look and found a scenic drive around the coast. The drive was like a mini Great Ocean Road, with some lovely views of the coast.

Millie demanded we stopped at a park on the way back for some Millie time.

Our site, the Golf, Camper Trailer with the carbra on the trailer.



Views of the coast.





Perfect place for a wind farm, it blows hard.



The steps on the way down from a lookout. Esperance had 2 great lookouts.



Millie time.



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[WEDEL.1]

Day 9 – Saturday 9/4/11 - Esperance

Easy day again for us today. We tracked down the Bakery & had a pie on the foreshore. Beautiful pies!!! Millie had some ball time then we watched the sailing boats on the bay.

Went back to the Caravan Pk and watched TV in the games room with a few of the locals. It was not a happy place to be as the Crows went down to Freo

Refueled the Golf at the Woolies Caltex with the usual 2 stroke oil added first.

Julia started to pack up as we’re off to Albany in the morning. Oh what fun!

Boats on the Harbour.



Refuelling for the next leg.





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[kaanage]

Have you started on the trip back home, Maris?

Looking forward to more pics and tales

[WEDEL.1]

Hi Greg, got back Tuesday. I found it too hard to post while on the road with my mini laptop.

Day 10 – Sunday 10/4/11 – Esperance to Albany

Another pack up and we were off to Albany. This was a very boring drive as there was nothing nice in the scenery. We stopped for lunch at Munglinup.
Set up at Albany on an awkward site. This was for caravans as it had a cement site. It is very hard to drive tent pegs into concrete. As a result, we couldn’t set up the annex, but it wasn’t too much of a worry as we are only here for 2 nights.



Lunch at Munglinup. A nice place for a stop with good facilities.





As we were leaving, a Crafter arrived.



Fuel economy ended at 6.9 L/100 Kms.



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[kaanage]

6.9 l/ 100km towing that big trailer about! I'd love to see a Prius or CT-200H do that

Glad to hear you made it all that way without any major incidents. Thanks for taking us along

[WEDEL.1]

I'll finish the story, easier on the main computer.

Maris

[WEDEL.1]

Day 11 – Monday 11/4/11 – Albany
A good sleep in and before we headed into town to see what it looked like I removed the wet Carbra and hung it over a fence. The weather looked OK but it could turn ugly at any time during the day. Hopefully I would be back before it got wet again.

Albany was like a mini Hobart with heritage buildings and a lovely Harbour. It looked a very nice place and the words of Cory now rung in my head, “you should spend more that 2 nights in Albany”.

After a bit of shopping we stopped for our KFC fix and drove around the western side of the Harbor looking for a nice picnic spot. According to the map this was the place to be. Unfortunately it wasn’t! Eventually we found a table & a couple of seats which obviously had been put there by nearby residents. This afforded a great view looking across the Harbour to the town.

On the return we found a lookout for the wind farm, so we headed off there. This brought us close to the wind farm although not as close as we are able to get at Cape Jervis in SA.

On the way back I disregarded TOMTOM’s advice and chose the coast road. Now we found the beautiful picnic spots we were looking for. Also found heritage ship & buildings. I was disappointed we found this so late in the day as it certainly looked well worth while.

After we arrived back at the Park I checked the weather forecast, which told me to expect rain. Not happy Jan!! I refitted the Carbra which was dry as a bone, despite the showers we had while in town. We packed up as much as we could.

Since we were both struggling physically I suggested to Julia that we stay a central location for 8 nights, rather than doing 4 nights at Nannup & 4 in Perth. This would save us a pack up & an unpack and give us an opportunity to recover. After trying a few Tourist Parks along the coast between Bunbury & Perth (none would allow Millie in) I found a little place called Harvey. Millie was welcome!! It was only about a 4 hour drive and place us between Perth & Margret River.

Heading into town.



In the underground carpark, bra-less.



Main Street.



Our lunch spot & view.



At the wind farm.





Where we should have had lunch....







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[OvaltoJetta]

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.
Nice pics though and I enjoyed being a passenger this year rather than doing the drive like a lot of the other years when we head east. It's always a great drive and different each time. We're already planning our trip to the Bug-In in SA in 2012.... Aldinga I believe? How about you keep us up to date here on the progress of the organisation - we'll get the usual but maybe bigger convoy going.

Anyone interested in going from Perth to Adelaide for the Bug-In in 2012 by train (with car) and driving back in convoy? Contact me for some cheap rates.
Rod

[kaanage]

6.9 l/ 100km towing that big trailer about! I'd love to see a Prius or CT-200H do that

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.