I guess most of our overseas friends wont know much about this part of the Great Southern Land, so I will start by saying that I live in a city on the sea in South Australia.
The car bonnet you see is that of a Ford Falcon XB GS and all these pics were taken at 110km/hr (75mph) which is, of course our open road speed limit. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.
It’s true to say that there are a lot of straight bits of road here, with the occasional corner just to see if you're still paying attention, this is not the same bit of road over and again and there is no Photoshop involved at all.
Not much to see for most of the trip, occasionally of course, road trains! This one only had three trailers but some tow up to five.
These trees might look large and healthy but they are Mallee trees which have a tuberous root system and store water from one sparse rain till the next, it rained here a few months ago so there are lots of new bright leaves.
I've traveled this road hundreds of times (I kid you not) and know every bump and straight bit… but there's a corner coming up.
Come on and practice it with me in your head…. right a bit, left a bit.. not too much now! Right a bit, left a bit… that’s it, once more… Right a bit, left a bit… ( you only get one shot at this!)
Made it….Whew!
Straight down the road and straight into town…
The Galahs grow pretty big out here… and the sign says it all. ‘Half Way Across Australia’ (right in the middle of nobloodywhere)
I've been in town for a half hour and so I turn and head home…
There's a highlight some where here…a river! (don’t blink or you’ll miss it) In the 35 years I've been traveling this road I’ve never seen it flowing, though I once saw a few puddles in it after some very heavy rain.
To give you some idea how tough conditions are out here, all these young Myall trees grew after the last great flood in 1974. The wood is so hard you cant cut it with a chainsaw but some of the bigger ones you see in these pics were here before settlement (200 years+)
And what would a road trip be without a cop parked somewhere catching speeding motorists. This one was 100km from the nearest town, no doubt hoping someone would give him a chance to see how fast his supercharged 5litre would go.
Turns out the trip was for nothing… time and petrol wasted. Oh well!
6 comments:
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Time is not wasted when shared with (virtual/blog) friends. I really enjoyed this! Such a cool idea. I just hope you weren't snapping pictures AND driving at 110 km/hr at the same time.
Cool!
I used to be a long distance courier, loved driving. Gave it up 2 years ago, just got sick of other drivers!
You can take me for a drive if I ever make it to that sunny land! :¬)
Thay can tow up to 5??? That's frightening.
Hi Princess,if nothing else it made for a different blog entry eh?! ..and YES I was driving and shooting, thankfully it's a point and shoot camera.
Hey Mapstew,youve got to cover long distances to go anywhere in OZ. Towns are a long way apart and the country is huge, we all get good at staying awake for long haul driving.
Hi Jen,They are huge, and scary! Ive been pushed off the road a couple of times by these big rigs. Worst of all is passing one, you need several miles of good open road and lots of power...and brown underpants
I would say you are driving on the wrong side of the road but you would say the same to me if you saw pictures from my car. My sister lives in Australia and the out of town road trips were awesome. Unless you break down then it's death.
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