We've arrived!
Trip Start
May 18, 2003
1
162
272
Trip End
Ongoing
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Monday, June 13, 2005
As far as state capitals go Perth has a compact feel to it; and navigating around the city is fairly straight forward. After sizing up a few different hostels we opted for the Cheviot Lodge ($75 for a week), dropped off our stuff and walked into town. Backpacker accommodation in Perth seems to be a lot cheaper than in other state capitals I have visited, with nightly dorm rates less than $15 now that it is winter. Weekly rates are even cheaper, and it is worth shopping around during low season.
Thankfully it is not raining today, and better weather is forecast for the coming week. The last two nights in Fremantle have been a little dull and miserable weather wise, with record levels of rainfall in the region. Added to the cold temperatures this was a little of an anticlimax for the culmination of our journey.
The last two weeks on the road have been a lot of fun, and it has been difficult not to draw comparisons with our terrific tour of Tasmania. Personally I felt Tassie had the edge over this trip, but there were so many great times on this drive that were uniquely "mainland".
It was interesting how our perceptions of Kangaroos changed as we drove across the desert plains. At the start we were really happy to spot them bounding across the horizon, our cameras at the ready. Towards the end we had seen so many from the roadside and were instead concerned about the severe damage that they could inflict on our car if we hit one. With no bull bars on Shiela they stop being cute creatures and more of a menace that could end our road trip abruptly.
In Tasmania we covered over 2200km in under three weeks. But on this trip I broke a new personal road trip record of 6000km in just over two weeks! And we did not have any car problems along the way. We could have completed the trip faster, had we not stayed in the same places for more than one night, but we had time to spare and there were so many places to visit. I would suggest spending even longer completing this road if I were to do it again, as we did not visit "every rock" as Dominik put it.
Now that we are in Perth Dominik has just over a week left until he flies to Brisbane, and then onto New Zealand. Jorgen and I may stick around Perth a while longer before heading north along the coast. We are still chasing that elusive warmer weather!
