surferboys nats diary

[smithy]

love the sticker mate, off into the wild blue yonder.
safe travels and see you in orange

dean

[FC427]

Wax Up and go see you next week in Orange .......FC427.....

[weddo]

Happy sailin guys, catch up with you again in Orange

regards

Weddo
and judi

[graham_fuller]

Safe trip Graham, see you and Cathy in Orange.Nothing quite like a road trip in an old Holden.
Cheers,
Graham

[surferboy]

DAY 1

All packed, the goldfish has been fed, the house sitters are settled in


WE'RE ON OUR WAY   

travel directions were       turn right at Midland and

follow the pipeline

went digging for gold in Kalgoorlie

Dug a dirty big hole     but haven't found anything yet 

The map so far


Weathers been good, cool & cloudy most of the day. (We missed all the storms we just saw on the news)
Left home 7.30am (we slept in  ....it is the first day of our holidays)
Stopped in Merredin for a bite & coffee
Arrived in Kalgoorlie 3.00pm
600+Km today
93.5 Ltrs of fuel.  $133.00

[julius]

Surferboy

Have a fantastic trip and look forward to seeing you all again, I to am looking forward to the Nat's.

Cheers

Julius

[FE_UTE]

Just had a call from surferboy....he has arrived in Streaky Bay...however there are no fandangled remote thingmebobs for his laptop.
He will try and upload some more tomorrow from Port Augusta

Cheers
Gary

[Eaton_FE]

So thats where that pipe line goes to

Les

[surferboy]

Day 2

A looooooooooooooooong day
890 Km  kalgoorlie to Eucla
Left Kal at 6.00am (was meant to be 5.30 but we slept in  )arrived in Eucla at 5.45pm  Passed through our first time zone and we haven't left the state yet

The TomTom looked like this most of the day


Cathy did some driving


While I

RELAXED 

Then I relaxed some more 


Doing the 90 mile straight
I used the DIY cruise control

Passed a few rodders heading West to Busselton (if it wasn't washed away in the storms ?)


end day two


127 Ltrs   $217/00    total 220.5ltrs  $349.90

found out the storm didn't do any damage at home (only lost power  )
and found out my el cheapo Optus broadband doesn't work in Eucla  )

 

[surferboy]

Day 3

Eucla to Streaky Bay   600Km+

THE NULLARBOR crossing
Weather is warm and sunny, nice day for a drive 
Strong headwind (the same STRONG headwind we battled all day yesterday  )
For the first time...we were stopped at Ceduna for quarantine....gave up 2 apples and 2 bananas we didn't eat at lunchtime

LOST   

it's one of the "must do" picture opportunities
( I slightly modified the sign  )

Been here ...Done this


and doing it AGAIN     

Stopped for a game of golf,    Par 2,367,456,901,287,346hole 


end day 3



84.5Ltrs  $135.35      Total 305ltrs  $485.25

AND still NO Optus available 
and still no power on at home 


 

[surferboy]

Day 4

A really cruisey day, only 390Km to do today. A nice change from the previous two days.
Lovely relaxing brekky at the hotel before hitting the road.


The local constabulary came over for a chat  but it turns out he's come to admire the wagon and talk longboard surfing 

Put a NEW line on my map today  ( Streaky Bay to Poochera )

Stopped in the middle of the Australian outback and had a morning tea of scones with jam & cream, with a cuppachino.  ( It's not all billy tea and anzac biscuits  )

Hit a slight problem

Got a horrible smell in the wagon
hadn't passed any rotting roo carcasses
PANIC 
NO strange noises
gauges are all showing OK
wagon still running smoothly
 



Found the tailgate has developed a bad habit of popping open.

So a couple of shims



and a bit of gaffa tape


ALL FIXED 

Did one of the "must do" photos



Have been leapfrogging the same caravans, motorbikes with trailers (the "krackatinnie tribe" were out & about heading back to NSW)and cars for a couple of days. Then you stop for a chat at the roadhouse to the couple in the little blue car and find out they are on holidays from England and live just around the corner from where you used to live !

end day 4

just a little tiny bit.

38ltrs of fuel  $52.15    Total  343ltrs   $537.40   (some prices are for ULP and some PULP)


 

PS  off to Coober Pedy tomorrow...whats the bet OPTUS doesn't know where Coober Pedy is 

[Ol_Girl_58]

Got a horrible smell in the wagon
hadn't passed any rotting roo carcasses

Surferboy, you should wind the window down next time you need to fart.

PS  off to Coober Pedy tomorrow...whats the bet OPTUS doesn't know where Coober Pedy is 

When I went there last year as part of my outback road trip, my Vodafone signal was nowhere to be seen. Goodluck 

Ol_Girl_58

[NO NAME]

your nearly there, that purple dodge heading to WA has travelled im pretty sure from north of sydney, looks like a fun trip, my tailgate comes open sometimes too.
 be carefull with the cruise control, if you have a strong return spring you could get woken up with a nasty jab in the nuts.

[Martin]

Wise up, guys.  Optus & Vodaphone have good coverage of the populated areas. End of story.  In the rural regions Optus is sometimes a bit better than Vodaphone, but not all that much better. For instance, Optus has reception at Ceduna, but then you won't hear it again until you're about 30km out of Pt Augusta. Neither of them are much use to cross-country travellers.  Sorry to disappoint you.  Love 'em or hate 'em (and I hate them) Telstra is the only mobile service that's any use to contry dwellers and travellers.

Martin

[RET]

be carefull with the cruise control, if you have a strong return spring you could get woken up with a nasty jab in the nuts.

LOL 

Great work, surferboy, loving the travelogue. You're nearly here by the look of that map!

[hrpremier]

According to the map if you manage to travel another 3 inches to the right you should be there. 

[NascoHunter]

Great stuff surferboy love your stories and pictures.
See you soon
Tony.

[Maco]

Surferboy,

I love the ducktape & the sHims.

See you in Orange
Cheers
John

[FC_fer_me]

Good stuff Surferboy, I love the day by day stories and pics. Just think, in 2 yrs time you will be able to sit at home and follow the travelogs of all us easteners as we make the arduous trek west. Look forward to catching up at Orange. Cheers, Jack

[surferboy]

Day 5

550Km Port Augusta to Coober Pedy

Hit the road about 9.00am after a bit of a sleep in and some shopping
Weather was SUNNY (I have a crispy, brown right arm to prove it) around 36celsius.  Which is a LOT nicer than the 8 days of 100+*F we had on the last Nats trip.

The road looks a lot like THIS 

and this

and this

AND THIS ( Cathy must be getting bored...she's started playing silly buggers with the cameras  )







The trains are big out this way, we stopped counting at 50 carriges and we still couldn't see the end 

even the cows were so impressed they stopped to watch the train too

If you've ever lost a numberplate (or a surfboard  )

You might find it in Pimba



TAAA DAAAA
WE MADE IT 



end of day 5


76.5 Ltrs  $113.25    Totals 419.5Ltrs   $537.50

  & Cathy