Outback Road Trip: Day 1
WOW, a full week off without any school responsibilities. Now that's what I call a novelty and should not be wasted. My housemate and I decided to take a road trip up north. It was only the two of us because everyone else couldn't or wasn't willing to skip orientation week.
My first Outback road trip actually started the day before when I picked up my first ever car rental, a brand new Toyota Corolla. This was the cheapest car rental place in town so getting a Toyota was a pretty sweet deal. A friend was courageous enough to accompany me on my very first attempt at driving with the steering wheel on the other side of car and actually driving on the opposite side. She probably regretted her decision when I kept turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turning signals. Haha, it wasn't too bad. I had about 6 months to get familiar with everything being opposite...Hey she survived and didn't have a heart attack alright. Give me some slack!!!
After only a few hours of sleep I was ready to start this 10 hour drive. My housemate didn't have her driver's licence here so I was the only driver this week. It was exactly 6:00 am and we're ready to roll. Sweet, right on schedule...
The plan was to reach our farthest destination on the first day and then slowly make our way down in the following few days. So our target location was the famous Monkey Mia where wild dolphins love to hang out. It was approximately a 10 hour drive and if any of you have ever been on a road trip with me, you'll know that I only stop for gas and washroom breaks. I get in this zone and many times I forget that there are other people in the car. Some of my best ideas were created while driving.
We're on our way but the speed limit on these highways go only as high as 80km/h. If I have to drive the entire way at this speed, it'll take us two days to get there. They're really strict on speeding here so people dare not to going any faster than the designated speed limit. I have an unblemished record and I don't plan on getting my first one in Australia. Oh finally, the speed limit is increased to 110 km/h. As we got farther and farther away from the city, people were going a little faster and over time you were basically free to go as fast as your car will let you. If any of you make it out here, you'll realize why they call it the outback or the bush here. When you're driving outside of the city, there is absolutely NOTHING around but bushes. At times the road was straight and my mind started playing games with me. Am I really moving or did I somehow end up on a car treadmill?? I give it a little more gas and am now up to a steady 160km/h. No change, still feels like I'm on a treadmill.
After close to 10 hours, we are finally close our final destination. Now when I say close, I mean an hour away close. There's basically one main highway to go up north and smaller connecting highways that take you to the cities since they are all built along the coast. So why they didn't built the highway closer to the coast is beyond me. Anyways, so we turn onto this highway and I swear I saw a sign that said petrol (or gas for us North Americans) straight ahead. Sweet, I'll gas up there instead of at this petrol station that we just passed by. We're driving along this endless road that seem consist of a lot of uphill driving and I notice that the gas guage is quickly dropping. Oh man there better be a gas station soon because I don't think we'll make it there.
Come on instincts, kick in...What should I do?? I try to look ahead but the road seem to just keep on going with no signs of the coast. Would it have killed them if they gave up some hope by putting up some signs or something?? As you can imagine, this is when I'm freaking out because as you all know I was really anal about gassing up once it hit the half way mark. We need a plan, just in case the worst does happen and we run out of gas. Look, there's a tour bus driving towards us. Should we wave it down?? Maybe I should and ask the driver how far the next gas station is. Then all of a sudden, we see hope. Nope it's not a gas station and nope it's not a sign either. Through the rear view mirror I see a speck getting bigger and bigger. It's another car. No time for egos, we have to act now and quick. I pull over and we wave the car down. The couple graciously offered to drive slowly behind us and get us gas if we ran out. Aw, gotta love the unwritten traveller's code of conduct: all travellers must be friendly and helpful to fellow travellers.
We finally reach Monkey Mia and by the time we set up the tent, we still had plenty of time to enjoy the amazing sunset. Western Australia has great sunsets here but the one at Monkey Mia was by far the most stunning. The extremely calm water turned into a purplish colour and it was just very soothing.
My first Outback road trip actually started the day before when I picked up my first ever car rental, a brand new Toyota Corolla. This was the cheapest car rental place in town so getting a Toyota was a pretty sweet deal. A friend was courageous enough to accompany me on my very first attempt at driving with the steering wheel on the other side of car and actually driving on the opposite side. She probably regretted her decision when I kept turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turning signals. Haha, it wasn't too bad. I had about 6 months to get familiar with everything being opposite...Hey she survived and didn't have a heart attack alright. Give me some slack!!!
After only a few hours of sleep I was ready to start this 10 hour drive. My housemate didn't have her driver's licence here so I was the only driver this week. It was exactly 6:00 am and we're ready to roll. Sweet, right on schedule...
The plan was to reach our farthest destination on the first day and then slowly make our way down in the following few days. So our target location was the famous Monkey Mia where wild dolphins love to hang out. It was approximately a 10 hour drive and if any of you have ever been on a road trip with me, you'll know that I only stop for gas and washroom breaks. I get in this zone and many times I forget that there are other people in the car. Some of my best ideas were created while driving.
We're on our way but the speed limit on these highways go only as high as 80km/h. If I have to drive the entire way at this speed, it'll take us two days to get there. They're really strict on speeding here so people dare not to going any faster than the designated speed limit. I have an unblemished record and I don't plan on getting my first one in Australia. Oh finally, the speed limit is increased to 110 km/h. As we got farther and farther away from the city, people were going a little faster and over time you were basically free to go as fast as your car will let you. If any of you make it out here, you'll realize why they call it the outback or the bush here. When you're driving outside of the city, there is absolutely NOTHING around but bushes. At times the road was straight and my mind started playing games with me. Am I really moving or did I somehow end up on a car treadmill?? I give it a little more gas and am now up to a steady 160km/h. No change, still feels like I'm on a treadmill.
After close to 10 hours, we are finally close our final destination. Now when I say close, I mean an hour away close. There's basically one main highway to go up north and smaller connecting highways that take you to the cities since they are all built along the coast. So why they didn't built the highway closer to the coast is beyond me. Anyways, so we turn onto this highway and I swear I saw a sign that said petrol (or gas for us North Americans) straight ahead. Sweet, I'll gas up there instead of at this petrol station that we just passed by. We're driving along this endless road that seem consist of a lot of uphill driving and I notice that the gas guage is quickly dropping. Oh man there better be a gas station soon because I don't think we'll make it there.
Come on instincts, kick in...What should I do?? I try to look ahead but the road seem to just keep on going with no signs of the coast. Would it have killed them if they gave up some hope by putting up some signs or something?? As you can imagine, this is when I'm freaking out because as you all know I was really anal about gassing up once it hit the half way mark. We need a plan, just in case the worst does happen and we run out of gas. Look, there's a tour bus driving towards us. Should we wave it down?? Maybe I should and ask the driver how far the next gas station is. Then all of a sudden, we see hope. Nope it's not a gas station and nope it's not a sign either. Through the rear view mirror I see a speck getting bigger and bigger. It's another car. No time for egos, we have to act now and quick. I pull over and we wave the car down. The couple graciously offered to drive slowly behind us and get us gas if we ran out. Aw, gotta love the unwritten traveller's code of conduct: all travellers must be friendly and helpful to fellow travellers.
We finally reach Monkey Mia and by the time we set up the tent, we still had plenty of time to enjoy the amazing sunset. Western Australia has great sunsets here but the one at Monkey Mia was by far the most stunning. The extremely calm water turned into a purplish colour and it was just very soothing.
posted by Sub29 at 6:39 PM
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