Perth to Exmouth, and back. 2,550kms, 31hrs driving
The past few weeks have been pretty busy, as the boat import business is ramping up for my boss. What does that mean? It means I'm responsible to an increasing number of clients that want to employ our services. Good for business, and good for me as well. Means more money, and more learning opportunities for me.
Advertisement has ramped up, and jobs of different sorts are coming in by the herd. More tow jobs, cleaning jobs, mechanical jobs, electrical jobs, etc. That means that when I'm not busy in the office, my commercial drivers license comes into play and I drive trucks.
My Dad asks me on the phone, "So, wait a minute boy-yo, you're telling me that you earned an "edjumacation" and you're driving trucks for a living?
" Of course he is only hassling me, and wants the best for me. He also realizes that I am able to see more of, and learn more about the area where I'm currently living. I chalk it up to another employable skill, to supplement the education.
So, the call came in one of my days off from work. "Can you quote a tow job for my 24ft Thomas Craft up to Exmouth from Perth?" "Yea, sure, blah blah blah, it'll be this much." "Sounds good".
I got back to work and was asked if I wanted to drive to Exmouth. I immediately said yes. The original plan was to haul it up there in one of the pick-up truckes (Utes), but I ended up driving the 5 ton Mitsubishi as the 24ft boat was heavier than anticipated.
I left the yard at 6:30am, and soon thereafter the sun started to rise.
About an hour later, and I was further outside of Perth (South Perth/Willagee) than I had been since we arrived here. The temperatures in the morning have dropped significantly with the onset of winter, and in the morning it's about 8*C (46.5*F) which gives rise to a bit of low hanging fog. Cool.
At one junction, I found myself behind a "Road Train" early on, before my first fuel station. This was not a true road train in the sense that it was only 2 trailers long. The longest are 3 full sized trailers with a combined length of over 50meters. Or as many as 4-5 but at the same overall length. I'd find myself passing quite a few on the way south when I was no longer hauling the 2.5ton boat.
As the sun came up higher, the temperature rose, the sunglasses came out, and I settled in for the long haul.
This is the only photo I have of the boat on the trailer. It's actually on it's own very degraded trailer, which was then fork lifted onto our road worthy trailer and strapped down with several heavy duty industrial ratchet straps. You can just make out the yellow straps in the photo.
On my way into the second fuel stop, in Geraldton, I had completed just about 475kms. The way up was less arid then what I would find further north, and in town these flowers caught my attention.
Then it was back out on the road again, straight for some darker than usual rain clouds.
Which proceeded to dump rain on me.
And then, 10 minutes later they were gone.
Just north of Geraldton, about 500kms north of Perth, these three dudes were sitting on the side of the road with a sign. I didn't ever even read the sign, I just pulled over. The 5 ton truck has a drivers seat and two passenger seats in a double wide bench. I told them straight up, I got room for as much shit as you can carry, but you'll have to squeeze into these seats. How far am I going? Exmouth man, another 700kms, and I'll take you anywhere along the way. HELL YEA! I then had 3 companions for the next 500kms.
The first and third guys are German, and the middle is from Sweden. From my left Dennis 20yrs old, Sasha 20yrs old, Jas 22yrs old
A lot of this going on.
And I saw more of these, then I did live one. Actually, I saw several dozen dead "road killed" kangaroos, but only saw one live one, and only 3 hops at that as it disappeared into the roadside bush. I saw some dead goats, a couple dead cows, a live Emu run across the road, and birds galore.
A nice day for a drive, but if you didn't have a comfy 80mph+ road bike, you may not enjoy it much on two wheels.
Having only seen a termite mound on t.v. that I can remember, I recognized these forms from some Animal Planet documentaries. There were thousands of them
On the way up, I didn't stop many times. After collecting the backpackers, we stopped at a road side rest area to use the toilets, and then continued onto Canarvon, 475kms north of Geraldton where I collected them. We bought fuel and food there, and then drove another 133kms north to the Minilya Road House. I arrived at 8:30pm, and that is the intersection where the travellers hopped out. The two Germans were headed to Broome, and then eventually Darwin to hop on a plane to Thailand. The Swede was just tagging along.
The story goes that they were all traveling in a large motorhome, with an Italian girl, an Irish girl and a Scottish dude. They only made it one night. They partied hard that first night and in the morning the Italian girl said straight up that she didn't get along with Dennis the German, and that he couldn't continue with them in the motorhome. He didn't fully understand why, and thus apologized. He didn't mean offense with his dancing antics the drunken night before, and was sorry. It's only the first day, can we give the second day a try? No, no go. You can't stay. The two girls had rented the motorhome, and as such it was their prerogative. And as such, all three (two Germans and the Swede) got out. I picked them up 5hrs after they had set up shop on the side of the road. They were splitting the fuel 6 ways for that first day. Now the other three are paying twice as much fuel. Idiots.
I too spent the night at the road house, and slept in the bow of the boat. I slept well, and for 8.5hrs, then woke up, left at 6:30am and made my way to Exmouth. Exmouth as some of the best fishing habitats in all of Australia, so the locals boast. Maybe even the world. The reef fishing and snorkeling and spear fishing is outrageous.
I stayed for 90 minutes, and left.
This is what it looked like up until I saw the ocean in Exmouth. This is about what 300-400kms looked like
With a few thousand more of these.
Meanwhile, without the weight of the boat/trailer package behind me, I'm now doing the speed limit of 110kmph and well over when I'm going downhill. The land speed record of the trip.
I passed the Tropic of Capricorn apparently. Looked the same as everything else to me...
Promptly I ran out of fuel. I neglected to fuel up in Exmouth as it was 10kms into town to get fuel and would waste time. So I put 40 liters of fuel in the tank like the photo below. Well, it wasn't enough for the 235km trip back to Manilya where I dropped off the backpackers. So, in went the next 40 liters, and I had to lift up the cab, crack the first 4 of 6 fuel injector lines in order, while priming the system with the built in hand pump. After 15 minutes of this shit, it fired up and I was good to go. Rookie mistake, as I should have just put all 80 liters into the tank when I dropped off the boat in Exmouth. Instead I cost myself half an hour. Good thing I had cellphone service to call the boss and get quick roadside instructions on priming the fuel system from the other employee Alan. Do this, do this, do this, and call me back if it doesn't work. It worked.
Outback fuel station.
Shortly thereafter, I passed an oversized load. This was preempted by a lead car, that was then followed by a police car driving in my lane. I pulled over, and two of these went by.
This is the second.
Some large communications antenna in the distance.
I drank three of these. One the first day, and two the second....
Because sooner than later, it became dark. At around 6:30pm, and I didn't finish driving for another 5 hours.
GPS on the work phone was tracking mileage and estimated arrival time while I drove 5kmph over the speed limit (most of the time), with no one else in sight.
And around 10pm, out in the boondocks somewhere, I snagged this photo of the southern hemispheres night sky at a request for a friend in the US.*
At 11:40pm I dropped the truck and trailer at my boss's house, hopped in the work ute, drove home, drank 1.5liters of water, and passed out. Awesome.
Advertisement has ramped up, and jobs of different sorts are coming in by the herd. More tow jobs, cleaning jobs, mechanical jobs, electrical jobs, etc. That means that when I'm not busy in the office, my commercial drivers license comes into play and I drive trucks.
My Dad asks me on the phone, "So, wait a minute boy-yo, you're telling me that you earned an "edjumacation" and you're driving trucks for a living?
" Of course he is only hassling me, and wants the best for me. He also realizes that I am able to see more of, and learn more about the area where I'm currently living. I chalk it up to another employable skill, to supplement the education.So, the call came in one of my days off from work. "Can you quote a tow job for my 24ft Thomas Craft up to Exmouth from Perth?" "Yea, sure, blah blah blah, it'll be this much." "Sounds good".
I got back to work and was asked if I wanted to drive to Exmouth. I immediately said yes. The original plan was to haul it up there in one of the pick-up truckes (Utes), but I ended up driving the 5 ton Mitsubishi as the 24ft boat was heavier than anticipated.
I left the yard at 6:30am, and soon thereafter the sun started to rise.
About an hour later, and I was further outside of Perth (South Perth/Willagee) than I had been since we arrived here. The temperatures in the morning have dropped significantly with the onset of winter, and in the morning it's about 8*C (46.5*F) which gives rise to a bit of low hanging fog. Cool.
At one junction, I found myself behind a "Road Train" early on, before my first fuel station. This was not a true road train in the sense that it was only 2 trailers long. The longest are 3 full sized trailers with a combined length of over 50meters. Or as many as 4-5 but at the same overall length. I'd find myself passing quite a few on the way south when I was no longer hauling the 2.5ton boat.
As the sun came up higher, the temperature rose, the sunglasses came out, and I settled in for the long haul.
This is the only photo I have of the boat on the trailer. It's actually on it's own very degraded trailer, which was then fork lifted onto our road worthy trailer and strapped down with several heavy duty industrial ratchet straps. You can just make out the yellow straps in the photo.
On my way into the second fuel stop, in Geraldton, I had completed just about 475kms. The way up was less arid then what I would find further north, and in town these flowers caught my attention.
Then it was back out on the road again, straight for some darker than usual rain clouds.
Which proceeded to dump rain on me.
And then, 10 minutes later they were gone.
Just north of Geraldton, about 500kms north of Perth, these three dudes were sitting on the side of the road with a sign. I didn't ever even read the sign, I just pulled over. The 5 ton truck has a drivers seat and two passenger seats in a double wide bench. I told them straight up, I got room for as much shit as you can carry, but you'll have to squeeze into these seats. How far am I going? Exmouth man, another 700kms, and I'll take you anywhere along the way. HELL YEA! I then had 3 companions for the next 500kms.
The first and third guys are German, and the middle is from Sweden. From my left Dennis 20yrs old, Sasha 20yrs old, Jas 22yrs old
A lot of this going on.
And I saw more of these, then I did live one. Actually, I saw several dozen dead "road killed" kangaroos, but only saw one live one, and only 3 hops at that as it disappeared into the roadside bush. I saw some dead goats, a couple dead cows, a live Emu run across the road, and birds galore.
A nice day for a drive, but if you didn't have a comfy 80mph+ road bike, you may not enjoy it much on two wheels.
Having only seen a termite mound on t.v. that I can remember, I recognized these forms from some Animal Planet documentaries. There were thousands of them
On the way up, I didn't stop many times. After collecting the backpackers, we stopped at a road side rest area to use the toilets, and then continued onto Canarvon, 475kms north of Geraldton where I collected them. We bought fuel and food there, and then drove another 133kms north to the Minilya Road House. I arrived at 8:30pm, and that is the intersection where the travellers hopped out. The two Germans were headed to Broome, and then eventually Darwin to hop on a plane to Thailand. The Swede was just tagging along.
The story goes that they were all traveling in a large motorhome, with an Italian girl, an Irish girl and a Scottish dude. They only made it one night. They partied hard that first night and in the morning the Italian girl said straight up that she didn't get along with Dennis the German, and that he couldn't continue with them in the motorhome. He didn't fully understand why, and thus apologized. He didn't mean offense with his dancing antics the drunken night before, and was sorry. It's only the first day, can we give the second day a try? No, no go. You can't stay. The two girls had rented the motorhome, and as such it was their prerogative. And as such, all three (two Germans and the Swede) got out. I picked them up 5hrs after they had set up shop on the side of the road. They were splitting the fuel 6 ways for that first day. Now the other three are paying twice as much fuel. Idiots.
I too spent the night at the road house, and slept in the bow of the boat. I slept well, and for 8.5hrs, then woke up, left at 6:30am and made my way to Exmouth. Exmouth as some of the best fishing habitats in all of Australia, so the locals boast. Maybe even the world. The reef fishing and snorkeling and spear fishing is outrageous.
I stayed for 90 minutes, and left.
This is what it looked like up until I saw the ocean in Exmouth. This is about what 300-400kms looked like
With a few thousand more of these.
Meanwhile, without the weight of the boat/trailer package behind me, I'm now doing the speed limit of 110kmph and well over when I'm going downhill. The land speed record of the trip.
I passed the Tropic of Capricorn apparently. Looked the same as everything else to me...
Promptly I ran out of fuel. I neglected to fuel up in Exmouth as it was 10kms into town to get fuel and would waste time. So I put 40 liters of fuel in the tank like the photo below. Well, it wasn't enough for the 235km trip back to Manilya where I dropped off the backpackers. So, in went the next 40 liters, and I had to lift up the cab, crack the first 4 of 6 fuel injector lines in order, while priming the system with the built in hand pump. After 15 minutes of this shit, it fired up and I was good to go. Rookie mistake, as I should have just put all 80 liters into the tank when I dropped off the boat in Exmouth. Instead I cost myself half an hour. Good thing I had cellphone service to call the boss and get quick roadside instructions on priming the fuel system from the other employee Alan. Do this, do this, do this, and call me back if it doesn't work. It worked.
Outback fuel station.
Shortly thereafter, I passed an oversized load. This was preempted by a lead car, that was then followed by a police car driving in my lane. I pulled over, and two of these went by.
This is the second.
Some large communications antenna in the distance.
I drank three of these. One the first day, and two the second....
Because sooner than later, it became dark. At around 6:30pm, and I didn't finish driving for another 5 hours.
GPS on the work phone was tracking mileage and estimated arrival time while I drove 5kmph over the speed limit (most of the time), with no one else in sight.
And around 10pm, out in the boondocks somewhere, I snagged this photo of the southern hemispheres night sky at a request for a friend in the US.*
At 11:40pm I dropped the truck and trailer at my boss's house, hopped in the work ute, drove home, drank 1.5liters of water, and passed out. Awesome.
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