Road Trip!!!! Part 6: Kalgoorlie (Superpit) - Perth

So...this morning we got up, had a leisurely breakfast, drove to Subway to pick up lunch for the 8 hour drive ahead, took one last look at Kalgoorlie and then headed for the highway to Perth...

Conveniently forgetting to visit Kalgoorlie's main attraction, it's Raison D'Etre, the largest mining pit in the world, the pit of all pits, the ACTUAL POINT OF INCLUDING KALGOORLIE AND THE 16 HOUR DETOUR IN OUR ITINERARY IN THE FIRST PLACE - the Superpit. Despite my single-minded obession over the last 9 days accompanied with frequent (ladylike) grunts of "Superpit, Yeah!" (with a Texan accent, while wearing my cowboy hat), I nearly missed it! Nice one. Classic in fact. :)

It wasn't until I was just swerving onto the highway that we realised - and I instantly completed a completely illegal u-turn maneuver (squealing tires and all) to aim us back in the opposite direction, the Superpit Look-out. Hey, once you've been in trouble with the law... it's easy to become a repeat offender!

OK, so the average person would be wondering why a pit would be on my list of things to do - but anyone that knows me, knows this is just my cup of tea! Besides, it's another first!!!

The Superpit is much like the Grand Canyon, minus the river, green stuff, and natural beauty :) Also, there are digger shovels and tires to climb on! Yeah! The trucks in the picture are actually over 10 metres high! Each of the trucks carries about 50 tonnes of rock at a time... They look like ants - and this image only shows one third of the overall pit, nor does it depict the true depth of The Pit as it goes down a further 50 metres.

The thing I am standing in on the right is a shovel and actually goes on the front of the microsopic digger in the picture (loading the trucks). And no, I did not mean to coordinate my outfit... wholly coincidental. There were 2 truck tires lying on their sides and I had the brilliant idea of climbing on one. I was totally shown up by a bunch of kids ranging in age from about 7 to 12 who leapt onto the other one in no time flat. Of course, they didn't think once about injuries, dirt, photographic angles etc... oh to be a kid again! I made it in the end, feeling very proud of myself!

Following the eventful morning, we said a sad goodbye to the Superpit and hit the Highway once more (at a sedate 120kmh), heading for Perth. Since all the tours we'd looked at stopped in the "historic township of York with its quaint hotel and beautifully restored pubs and shops", we decided to make this an afternoon stop. Kelly, as the navigator and Chief of Mapreading was in charge of determining the route. When we saw the sign for "York", we thought nothing of leaving the highway to follow what surely must be the most direct route... and yes, it was the most direct route - clear accross dirt tracks and country roads, past farms where farmers were burning off the fields, and with zero signage along the way... when got to a t-junction:


Marisa: I feel like we should be going left, what does the map say?
Kelly: This road if not on the map.
Marisa: What, not at all?
Kelly: Well, there's a really faint line here (pointing to Avis map), but that doesn't have any t-junctions...
Marisa: Shit, no one even knows where we are...
Kelly: Well, we could always go ask at a farm or something, although, did you see Wolf Creek?


At which point I voted to go left (lucky guess) and Kelly told me in detail about the movie where 3 backpackers are abducted in the outback by a farmer and 2 end up carved into handy freezer-size chunks.


York was so interesting we didn't even get out of the car and just drove straight through - ending back up on the highway we'd been following from Kalgoorlie until we followed the signs to York. But hey, it COULD have been awesome... you never know! And being lost in the middle of nowhere, about 200km from Perth was definitely interesting...

Road Trip!!!! Part 5: Esperance - Kalgoorlie (ANOTHER FIRST!!!)

I just realised I have to add 3 more to my list of 101 things accomplished from my time in New Zealand... unfortunately, getting a speeding ticket in the middle of nowhere in Western Australia is not on the list. For all of those who knew what was coming given my normal driving style, read it and chuckle!

Yep - I was chased down by Australia's equivalent of the country sheriff! Luckily I did spot him (was telling Kelly: there's something funny about that car coming towards us up ahead... does he have lights on the top... BRAKE!) and he didn't catch me doing the 160km/h I was doing, but "only" caught me at 135km/h... the limit is (unfortunately for me) 110km/h.

The thing is, the roads are completely straight with hardly anything on them... and you can see traffic etc from MILES away. Some journeys have taken us up to 8 hours driving in one day and it gets really tedious if you have to recycle the same CD's over and over and over again without a change in scenery. If its good enough for Germany, why are the other countries so narrow-minded?
Here's my rationale:
Speeding makes it a shorter journey => less chance to fall asleep => less chance of an accident => safer for everyone really... I didn't try explaining that to the nice police officer though :)

Oh well, AUD$250 down the drain... its one very expensive souvenir, but its definitely going in the scrapbook!

When we finally got to Kalgoorlie (about 2 hours later than intended...because I kept to the speedlimit and we wasted 25 minutes being reprimanded by the officer) we went to visit the Mining Hall of Fame. Kalgoorlie is in the middle of the Golfields gold belt, and is home to the SUPERPIT! The biggest open face mine in the world! Yeah!

We went on an underground tour through the first mine to have been created in the area. It was a bit claustrophobic, especially when they turn off the lights and show you just HOW dark it really is and how LITTLE light the first miners had with just the one candle... Respect. The mine we saw was only on level 1 = 120 feet below the surface, which took us about 2 minutes to descend to in a minute shaft-elevator that could only hold 5 people. However, this particular mine had 5 levels going to nearly 1500 feet below the surface. I was quite fine with just the one, thanks very much!

Seeing the old machinery (pick axe and hammer/chisel combo) and the new machinery (money-maker drill and explosives) I'm not sure that mining today is any more fun than it was 100 years ago... but apparently it pays really well... especially if you're adept at swallowing what you find!

We stayed at the GoldRush Backpackers for the night, two of only a handful of females, where apparently 80% of the people are actually permanent residents - all young miners and engineers who have come to work in one of the many many many mines in the aread... spot the odd pair of shoes in the hallway! Very nice guys on the whole, on of which we dubbed "The Superpit Man"- aka Andy from the north of the UK who was an engineer working in the superpit to find new gold veins to be exploited.

(Un)fortunately no more gory or embarrassing stories to add since we avoided the bars (featuring scantily clad "ladies" wearing little more than pasties and hotpants... or so we were told). Instead, we hunkered down in the hostel and watched "What Women Want" with a bunch of miners. :)

Road Trip!!! Part 4: Hyden - Esperance, Esperance, Esperance...*sighhh*

The next day we woke up relatively late post TV and snack-binge in our honest-to-goodness-own-motel-room-with-ensuite-shower-and-mini-soaps... realising at 09:40 am that check-out time was a staggering 10am! Hostels, ok. HOTELS (or even their more basic cousins, motels) should have check-out time of noon so you can luxuriate in the cleanliness of the bathroom and absence of ladder leading to the bed! No such luck, so we threw our stuff in the car and got back on the road pronto.

The trip was long and boring - but the destination is definitely worth it. Esperance is a tiny town with spectacular beaches and is home to the Pink Lake. Unfortunately, a recent storm had washed out some of the pink and it just looked grey... but surely postcards NEVER lie??? :P As we arrived we drove around the main sights close to the town, including Observatory Point on the left (I'd driven 6 hours, give me a break about the pose, ok?)

The first night we went out to experience the local nightlife - there are 2 pubs, one of which the locals won't even recommend... so of course we had a look at that first and then quickly scampered off to the other pub in the town's only true hotel The Pier. Luckily this was one of the nights when Karaoke was NOT on (as we discovered to our dismay over the next few nights...), but instead a live duo on guitar, Dave & Scotty. The music and view were awesome! A great time was had by all until my Freak Magnet kicked in again and all the local drunks (5 teeth or less) seemed to hit the level of alcohol consumption required to start reciting lame pick-up lines. Trusty Betsy the 4x4 served as our cool (with central locking) and fast Getaway vehicle...

We actually ended up staying longer than planned, Esperance has that effect on people it seems. Here'swhy: The town is surrounded by many small, idyllic beaches such as Moonlight Bay shown below. Even on a slightly cloudy day I could hear "chariots of fire" theme music going in my head as I tried to gracefully traverse the packed sand at a run (and I DON'T run...) for the photo op. I'm either on take-off or landing in the middle of a jump in the center picture in case youre wondering about the weird floating feet!

About 60kms further along the coast is the entrance to Cape Le Grand National Park. The capitals are necessary - it deserves some flashing lights and a golden shimmer too though. I've been lucky enough to have visited some amazing places in the world (Angra - Brazil, Aruba, Nelson- New Zealand, The Whitsundays- Australia) and I was impressed. The sand is so fine it squeaks under your feet, the water so clear you can see tiny diaphanous fish swimming around your feet, the distances so great that its best to go out with a full tank rather than have to miss out on some of the amazing scenery because you're worried you'll get stuck there (yep, we had half a tank only when we left...stupid).

And last but not least... another embarrassing moment in the life of...

Meet Paul, fellow guest at the hostel and in possession of a laptop with iTunes. After approximately 36 hours in the car, we'd grown sick of the 4 CD's we'd bought in Perth. Paul was a Godsend... and I persuaded him to burn some CD's for us from his music library... unfortunately this also meant temporary-sofa-imprisonment... which Kelly helfpfully tried to "capture the moment". Thanks Paul - we owe you our sanity (and my speeding ticket later on!!!!) The music incited me to speed... clearly. :P

Road Trip!!! Part 3: Albany - Hyden (Wave Rock)

Today we continued on our journey into the middle of nowhere, because Kelly is adamant about seeing "Wave Rock". A giant rock in the middle of nowhere in WA, shaped like a wave. There's nothing in the vicinity, just a couple of caravan parks, and a tiny town with a population of about 100. the road is straight, the scenery is unendingly vast (burnt)bushland, and the sun is shining - obviously, because we're in the car all day!


This is when we start to wonder if you can get a tan THROUGH the windshield - Kelly is testing this theory by draping her legs over the dashboard...



We stopped at the ManyPeaks store - in the town of ManyPeaks... despite the minor spelling aberration, I felt as though this was meant to be!

All jokes aside, the wave rock was impressive - I pretended to surf it until I started precariously sliding down the rock face. That's me sitting on it at the right wearing my trusty cowboy hat! We continued on to a tiny town called Hyden because neither of us wanted to drive in pitch black on the country roads. It had one motel, and we had the last room. The only restaurant had a dubious "cook your own BBQ" thing going, so we opted for buy snacks at the one-and-only-supermarket-and-watch-Australian-Big-Brother-on-TV-all-evening instead. Its amazing how addicted you can get to trashy TV having not missed it at all for the last 3 months... :)

Road Trip!!! Part 2: Margaret River - Albany

Today we left Margaret River to head towards the south coast of Western Austrlia and the little town of Albany. They're incredibly touchy in Albany about the pronunciation of the name - its not All-bany, but AAAAAAAAAAAHHLbany. Just in case anyone should ever venture close...

The main stop today was in the Kauri forests near the towns of Walpole and Denmark (no up!). The trees are up to 60 metres tall and have very few thick branches - which are all concetrated at the very top. It's truly impressive going from a dusty road to a meandering lane through the forest. They've built an elevated tree-top walk through some of the trees at a park called "Valley of the Giants". There is no way I could capture the enormous height on my camera, it was awesome (especially since the walkway bounced if you jumped on it a bit... which I did... obviously).

We drove on towards Aaaaaaahlbany and found the hostel with just a few wrong turns (not too bad considering we don't have maps, and only have the Avis mini map of main highways to guide us in our pursuit... then again, that's part of the ADVENTURE : Lost, in the Outback - the Marisa Way.)

The hostel is... interesting. Some of the finer points include murals of mermaids/mermen smoking weed, a completely confusing layout with 5 different sets of stairs through winding corridors leading up to our room (this is where I curse my bag with wheels and wished I had a backpack), and a female bathroom with a door that won't lock / only shower curtains covering the showers / a nice large window with diaphanous curtains overlooking the communcal garden-patio-BBQ area. Nice... so I guess part of the evening's entertainment is watching us shower. Though they did miss the red light, which would have just made it all feel a little more authentic...

Which brings me to our room, number 12. Nice and spacious, on the garden-side of the building, odd murals but nothing too worrying... until you notice the smell. Let's just say I had visions of PinkelBoy. Unfortunately, it was the last and ONLY room to be had in Albany, at any hostel or budget motel, so we had to make do. I'm hanging on for the resort in Bali!

Having installed the luggage, we ventured to the supermarket, at the same time that a firetruck pulled up to get snacks. When one of them said to me "hang on, I know you from somewhere" I thought: "here we go...blah blah blah, creep". But no, turns out he did know me from Manjimup where we had stopped for a restroom break. He'd been trying to get into the men's bathroom when I was trying to get my bag out of the car and thus unintentionally blocked the way with the car's door. We exchanged 6 words - (me) "Sorry" and (him) "That's ok, take your time". But it apparently left a lasting impression on one of us. We made a "date" to go see Darren at the fire station the next night so Kelly could get a picture of her in a firetruck (one of her dares from friends back home) and I could presumably spend quality time making unfcomfortable small-talk while she did that.

Luckily the next day was a Sunday (everything is closed, even the McDonald's) and it rained for most of the day, so we weren't distracted by the whole relax-on-a-beach-and-get-a-tan thing. The fire station date was even an exciting prospect! We went to see the main attractions in the area - the Gap (a gap inbetween 2 rocky cliffs where the sea pounds onto the land), the King Wave (a rocky cliff where the sea pounds onto the land making rather large waves), the Natural Bridge (a rock formation which has been carved out by the sea to form...a natural bridge). Exciting stuff, especially when you're wearing glittery blue ballet slipper shoes, its raining and windy, and there's little "dangerous!" signs all over the walkway!

We finished the evening off with yet another movie - it was so good that I don't remember what it was - before heading for the evening shift at the fire station. Darren was unbelievably helpful and let us borrow their maps for WA to plot the rest of the route. He also gave us lots of helpful hints for overtaking roadtrains, avoiding Kangaroo roadkill, while making repeated references to the fact that he owns several businesses besides being a fireman, has family in Holland, and is single... we left before he could tell me how much he identifies with ferns... :)

Road Trip!!! Part 1: Perth - Margaret River

Today we set off on our ROADTRIP down south. We rented Betsy (Nissan X-Trail) from Avis, simply because if/when I get stuck in the middle of nowhere, I want someone to answer the phone and come get me! :) The "travellers' autobarn" sounded far too dodgy, neither Kelly nor I is in any way, shape, or form interested in camping/campervans/tents/roughing it, and a 4x4 will take us anywhere, anytime! Assuming we don't forget to get petrol...


We've decided to split the trip into nice manageable chunks (4-8 hours drive) and have an extra day in most places so we're not just driving in, sleeping, and driving out a-la-Kiwi Experience! So being the resourceful and organised person that I am, I stole a couple of brochures from tour operators and started to list all the sights they go to so we could simply follow their plan minus the octegenarians and forced sourvenir stops. Some of the stops were amazing... some quite clearly only made the itinerary as convenient loo-breaks!







We drove south through Freemantle and onto Busselton for the (in)famous Busselton Jetty. It's basically a wooden pier into the sea with a cafe next to it. Hence the poseur pic with coffee. I love the picture on the left where I caught the seagull midflight...only to cut off its beak!



Margaret River was our first overnight stop. The hostel was very basic, but since I was tired I didn't much care and went to bed early. Kelly came screeching into the room an hour later - she'd been in the TV lounge with some of the other guests when a RAT decided to join them. Nice... I bet you're all a little less envious of my "wonderful adventure" now, eh?!





The next day we explored Margaret River (picture of the surf above, and me posing in my "sunhat" on the right). The weather seems to be timed perfectly for our trip - whenever we're in the car, we get blazing sunshine and blue skies... whenever we attempt to actually stop on a beach and catch a tan, the wind picks up, it starts pouring down and generally becomes less enjoyable. Hence the persistently white bod. :(



After watching the surfers for a bit, we decided to make the best of a windy day and venture further south to Augusta and Cape Leeuwin National Park. The lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin marks the most south-western point of WA... which is a nice follow-up to my lighthouse visit at Byron Bay 6 years ago which was the most Easterly point! Spot me skipping around in front of the lighthouse on the left! It's also the point where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet... though try as I might all I could see was one giant mass of blue water with big waves!

P!NK in Perth!!!

I know several people told me so... but I was stubborn and wouldn't listen - what else is new??? Perth is just a tad, the tiniest bit, ever so slightly...BO-RINGGG. Blergh. :P

It's cute and quaint and I'm sure the average WA native would think it's a truly cosmopolitan haven... but after Melbourne I'm a spoiled brat when it comes to "happenin" cities!

Our hostel is nice enough and in the center of Perth - so its a great location to explore from, shop from, and generally bide our time until the roadtrips begin! Luckily we don't need sights, casinos, cinemas with recent releases, or even good weather in order to really enjoy ourselves... because I GOT TICKETS TO SEE P!NK IN CONCERT! Yeaaaaaaahhhhhh!

It was awesome. Absolutely splendiferous - and not just because we were bored. :) P!NK is one of the few artists who sounds EXACTLY the same live as on her album. I knew a lot of the lyrics, so I was able to sing (ahem, scream...) myself hoarse over the course of the night.

The show was in a small arena, so we were sitting only 10-15 metres away from where she was singing on the stage - none of that Robbie Williams was only 1cm tall stuff!!! AND she did acrobatics... seriously... I swear she trained with Cirque de Soleil - because she climbed ribbons that had been suspended from the ceiling and proceeded to swing and drop and twist like the best of them without a harness. Unfortunately no pictures... and when I thought of breaking the law just this once, we saw those people sneaking pictures being caught and escorted out. The picture right was taken on the bus with the other screaming fans after the show.

I bought an official tour t-shirt (which is already ripping after 1 wash, quality merchandise it is not) and the tour program as memories. Because I'm Worth It! ... and tomorrow I will undoubtedly get a nice fat post office bill for shipping my memories home!

Kelly's Birthday!

Today was Kelly's Birthday! Yeaaaaahhhhhhhh!


It's nice to have a REASON to do all the activities and spend loads of money on fun stuff, other than just "because I want to". There's justification in going to an AFL game, appreciating fit players, and generally screaming your lungs out in support of a team you don't know... if it's for Kelly's Birthday!




So, I went to my first AFL (Australian Football League) today. It was the Melbourne Demons vs the Geelong Cats. Since I unwittingly came dressed in the Cats colours, I elected to support the visitors. Luckily for me, they're a very good team and completely WIPED the pitch with the Demons...miauw!


Only differences to Rugby that I can see are:
1) you can't run with the ball or throw it, you have to bounce it or punch it
3) if you miss the ball and punch an opponent instead, that's ok
3) the pitch is oval instead of rectangular, and the players are more like athletes than like bulldozers
4) the uniforms were definitely designed by women, for women...

After that exhausting activity we spent some quality time shopping, as you do! With little else to do, and Kelly's penchant for gambling... we decided to go visit the Casino for the evening and generally stay up all night until we had to leave for the airport at 4:30am!

Kelly won $70 at Roulette, I lost $3 on the slot machines, we had some cocktails and generally had fun trying to get freebies out of the barmen (I scored 3 umbrellas, some fruit garnish and a cocktail swizzle stick with a crown on it from Matt). Unfortunately, I also attracted my usual share of frrreaks, but the bartenders were a great help in getting rid of them! They also took us to the bar that everyone from the casino hangs out at after the main bars in the casino close. So we played pool with the locals in "Pit5" until we had to race back to the hostel to collect our bags and taxi it to the airport for the EARLY flight...

Urgh, why????