Re: Calling all Western Australian Minties (and Minties who have travelled in WA!)
Asked by MrsBee
Question:
Hi everyone,
I am going to be taking my family (DH, DD 11yo & DD 6-7 mths) to Western Australia on a road trip
from SA in June & July.
Does anyone have any tips for inexpensive, stroller-friendly attractions & activities? We will be crossing the Nullarbour and then going via Esperance to Albany, Bunbury and Perth and then back to SA via Norseman, across the Nullarbor etc.
Any advice gratefully accepted!
My Advice:
I've done a heck of a lot of outback driving and I've been told what the Nullabor is like from people that have been there, so I'll give some tips regarding getting there in the first place safely. What to do when you get there I'll leave for others to respond to.
The outback is nothing like the rest of the country. It is a totally different experience to drive across the outback deserts. You'll either love or hate every minute of it after the first hour or so when the intrigue wears off. Traffic and morons tail-gating and changing lanes randomly without warning, drunk drivers, etc; is no longer a danger, instead there is a whole host of new ones to watch out for. If you don't know what they are you could end up wondering if you were supposed to die before or after going to hell. Here's how to avoid and survive most of it...
1. Find out where to refuel and what times the places are open and time your drive to arrive during their opening hours. Be prepared to top up the tank at every available place along the way and take extra fuel in jerry cans because if you miss one refuel stop you could get stuck in the outback for a long time if you run out. There are literally hundreds of kilometres between anything out here and the Nullabor is worse.
2. Take extra drinking water and food, enough for a couple of days if need be. If you do break down or the like, you could be stuck out there for a day or two before someone finds and can help you. Take a tarp or tent with you for shelter incase you need to stop for a good break or if you break down so that you're not cramped up in the car the whole time, especially if you need to sleep.
3. Whenever you can get mobile phone reception, let someone know you got there okay, when and where you're headed next and when you expect to arrive. That way if you don't arrive at a destination within a few hours of being due there someone knows to send out a search party for you. Mobile phone range has a tendancy to drop totally out within only a few kilometres of many towns in the outback. If your phone has the function, put it on aeroplane mode between towns or it may go flat very fast as it repeatedly searches for a signal that isn't there.
4. Take a rest break even if you don't feel like you need it often. If you can stop at truck stops and the like when you can, if you see a road train stopped and resting when you start thinging you need to as well, stop near him. If you can be seen by someone else, at least someone knows your last whereabouts if you disappear. Get out of the car and walk around and stretch when you do. If you do break down, stay with your car. If you go wandering off looking for help you might never return.
5. Don't fall for the hypnotising effect of the road. When driving, keep your eyes on the horizon and look about you, but don't let the road escape your peripheral vision. If you just stare at the road in front of you like most people that are used to city driving tend to do, it will create a hypnotising effect, especially if it has white lines painted on it, and it can drop you off to sleep even when you're not tired. The road crossing the Nullabor is 400kms of dead straight, dead flat, nothingness and is considered to be the world's most boring drive, and that's in the middle of hundreds of kilometres of the same on both sides only with an occassional bend or rise in the road.
6. Be very wary of animals. It will only take one kamakasi kangaroo to end your journey early in tragidy. The desert may sound barren, but it's teaming with wildlife and there's animals all over the place, and they love getting in your way, it gives them something to break up their own bordom I'm sure of it. Do not swerve to miss an animal, slow down before you get to it. You'll see most of them long before you get close to them out here if you're looking and alert enough. Do not over-estimate the take off speed of a wedge-tail eagle. They will sit perched on the carcass the last road train left behind and not try to take off until too late, because they can't estimate your speed either. It takes those giant beasts of the sky a while to get off the ground. If you don't slow down and give them time to take off you'll have it in your car with you after it crashes through your windscreen.
7. If it's a dry, warm day with no wind, keep an eye out for willy willies. They are spiralling funnels of wind, they should be easy enough to spot by the dust cloud they'll pick up. They might not look very big and may seem more interesting than dangerous, but they can be deadly if you encounter one at a high enough speed. I've been on a huge tourist coach my father was driving and one put the coach onto the other side of the road when it hit us side on. My mum had her car literally picked up turned around and put back on the other side of the road facing the other way when her car got hit by one front on. I've been literally thrown off the side of a road in a van and rolled 3 times by one that I didn't see that got me from behind. They only tend to appear on warm, dry and unusually still days though and are just a randomness of the desert plains. If you see one and it's headed in your direction from any direction, slow down. It plays on the wind tunnel effect that your car creates when it's moving at higher speeds. It won't be strong enough to move your vehicle if you've slowed down enough when it hits you, so don't panic, just slow down and you'll be fine.
8. Don't take one spare wheel, take two. Also take little extras like a spare fan belt, extra oil and coolant, stuff like that. Make sure your car is serviced and in good condition before you attempt a very long drive like that across the outback. Also take sunscreen and keep in on the side of you that is closest to the window. Even in winter the sun shining through a car window for hours on end can leave you with nasty burns.
9. Be aware that the weather out here isn't monitored as closely as it is in more populated areas. Random dust storms (see my homepage blog here for what it's like to drive into one of those) happen and no one ever hears about it unless it gets to civilisation. Rain can be just as random out there, although it doesn't happen often, when it does rain it buckets down and creates flash floods. If there is water on the road, don't assume there is still a road underneath it. Being so far away from anywhere, if part of the road is damaged it can take a while before anyone even knows about it let alone gets out there to fix it. Also be aware that dirt and dust can end up on the roads at random thanks to winds and rains, and it's not unusual to come across a section of road that is covered with enough of it for long enough to make it effectively a loose dirt road you're driving on for a bit.
10. Be aware that the kids will become very bored very fast. You might want to check a heap of other advice on how to keep them entertained on long drives and use all of it! They will be more bored than normal and they'll stay that way for days.
Good luck with your journey and I hope you have a ton of fun once you get there!
Cheers, DA
(March 2009) (
Cheers Janice
