Mon 19th December – They played “Rio” on the bus to Perth so it made the journey more interesting. When I got closer to Perth, Marina text me to say she will be an hour late as she was still working on setting the campervan up. So when I got to Perth station I just watch “The Big Bang Theory” on my laptop until she came. She was two hours late. When I met her, she was really stressed out and told me she’d had a horrible few weeks trying to get the van ready for her trip to Sydney. We got back to her friend’s house which was one of the messiest and dirtiest houses I’d ever seen. I helped Marina get the bed into the campervan and some last minute packing before going to bed. She told me someone else also answered her ad on gumtree, an Italian guy called Alex, and he is getting the bus in tomorrow morning so he will ring us to let us know when to pick him up from the bus stop.
Tues 20th December – We were supposed to set off at 8am which is why we got up at 6. But it took so long to get Marina’s stuff in the car, fill the eskies (cool boxes), fill cartons of water, put sheets on the bed etc etc. We never heard from Alex and he didn’t pick up the phone when we rang so it was just the two of us. We set off at 11am but Marina had to drive over to a friend’s house to drop something and go to the supermarket for last minute things. It was a while before we started driving. When we hit the road she seemed to relax a bit, and so did I… I fell asleep and was boring company! At 4.30pm Marina complained of being too tired and needing to eat as she hadn’t been eating much the last few weeks due to stress. She wouldn’t let me drive because her car wasn’t insured and she didn’t want anyone but her driving it. We stopped about an hour later at a rest stop, and by the time we cooked and washed up it was 9pm so we went straight to bed. We were about an hour from Kalgoorlie-Boulder where we would stop tomorrow for a wander around town.
Weds 21st December – We both woke up at 5.30am. Marina really isn’t a morning person. She spent almost an hour unpacking and re-packing food from the eskie and when I asked her where the washing up liquid was, she snapped at me and said she can’t think about that right now. She didn’t eat breakfast as she said she wasn’t hungry and can’t eat this early. Then she told me to leave her alone as she needed space in the mornings. I sat in the passenger seat reading for about 15 minutes while she huffed and puffed and moaned out loud about things. Then she handed me some fruit and cookies and told me to stay awake whilst she was driving today as she’ll need me to hand her food, because she was so hungry yesterday, like it was my fault. I can’t believe I had 3 more days of this person. We set off driving and she started moaning because her water bottle was in the back and she would have put it in the front if I hadn’t distracted her by asking about the washing up liquid. I decided the best thing to do for the next 3 days is just to ignore her when she moans and generally not talk in general.
We reached Kalgoorlie at 9am. This is a mining town which was built after the big gold rush over 100 years ago. We went to the visitor centre and were told about the “Superpit” which is a big pit leading into the mines. It was a 5 minute drive away and we could just park at the lookout, take some pictures and go straight back onto the highway (motorway). I asked if we could do that and she refused saying we didn’t have time, but the lady at the visitor’s centre gave her a weird look and she caved. She said she needed half an hour to do some food shopping and as I already had everything I needed I decided to look around the town. It was nice to see Christmas decorations up, as Margaret River didn’t have any up in the town. It was nice to see a Christmas tree in 35 degree heat!
I rang Pam and Daine who I’d met in Katherine when I was WWOOFing in September and told them I’d be driving through Ceduna where they lived. They said to let them know when I was there and we could have lunch together. They even offered for us to stay the night if we got there today but it was at least 13 hours away and I couldn’t see Marina driving that in one day. She got back from shopping after an hour and a half and we drove to the Superpit for some pictures before getting back on the road.
We stopped for petrol and Marina said I would have to cook for her tonight as she would be too tired from driving. Yesterday we cooked separate meals because I’m vegetarian and she’s gluten intolerant so there’s hardly any food that we can both eat and feel substantially full. It took a while yesterday to cook 2 meals because we only had one pan and one hob so I’d let her cook first, then washed everything out so I could cook. She said that didn’t work for her and while we drove she wanted me to think of things that we could both eat so that I could cook them later! After an hour of driving, she complained of not feeling well, and feeling hungry so we stopped so that she could eat. She looked really tired and was close to tears it seemed. She got into the passenger seat and told me to drive carefully. I was relieved to take control of the wheel as it meant I could drive a bit faster and I won’t need to stop so often. I drove for 4 hours straight and with it being a hot day and no air conditioning, it was quite tiring. It was also the first time I’d driven so much since I left the UK. It was cool to drive on the famous Nullurbor though. The scenery was different than back home, it was very dry, hardly any trees, and with one lane and hardly any cars, it was really quiet on the road. The van kept heating up so I had to go at least 20kmph below the speed limit for most of the drive. This frustrated me as we only had 2 days to get to Adelaide which according to the SatNav was still 23 hours away. I drove until 6pm when the sun started to set. Marina said she didn’t want me to drive during twilight hours because of kangaroos, and although she had “roo whistles” attached to the car (these send out high-pitched noises which humans can’t hear but deters animals), she didn’t have bars on the van so if a kangaroo jumped into the road, it would damage the van. As we were on a tight schedule (well I was anyway), I asked her if she wouldn’t mind driving for a few more hours in the night, and I would buy her dinner at the service station to save time on cooking. Ideally according to earlier planning we wanted to camp in Eucla which is near the border to South Australia, but as it was getting dark we were still hours away. We got to a service station and after driving at speed for the last few hours, I was a bit quick turning in and it scared her, plus there were ditches in the road which she kept yelling at me to avoid. In the end we switched seats and she drove to the petrol pump. This didn’t put her in the best mood. Inside the service station I asked her what she wanted to eat and she said there was nothing she can eat in there as she was gluten intolerant. This is before she even looked at the menu. I pointed this out to her and she asked the lady who worked there who said they could make her a chicken salad for $18. This sent her into a fit of complaints, and I offered to pay for it if it meant we could get back on the road and in front of 2 service station staff she yelled at me and said she "did not want to pay $18 for a salad just so you can catch a flight”. I again said that she wouldn’t be the one paying for it and she told me I could pay for it, but she won’t eat it. The 2 ladies sympathetically rolled their eyes at me. We got back in the car, she didn’t eat anything at all, and started driving. I promised to stay awake and keep her company even though I was so tired but I appreciated that she was driving at night when she didn’t want to. For the next few hours she talked a lot, and actually seemed like a different person, she was very chatty and seemed so much more relaxed. When I said I was worried about not getting to Adelaide on time, she said it wasn’t the end of the world if I didn’t’ catch the flight and didn’t get to Sydney for Christmas. When I protested and said how much I’d already spent on accommodation and flights she said it “was only money”. Hypocritical from a girl who yelled at complete strangers about the cost of a salad. She stopped driving at 10.30pm and we weren’t quite near the South Australia border yet. One thing that Pam told me on the phone which we’d overlooked was that South Australia was 2.5 hours ahead of Western Australia so we’d changed our watches before going to bed (which was now 2am).
Thurs 22nd December – We woke up at 6am. At night we’d agreed that as she isn’t a morning person, I would drive in the morning whilst she slept. She straight away snapped at me in the morning saying she will drive because of the kangaroos in the morning and I don’t know her car as well as she does. Think she’d forgotten that I’d driven the car practically the whole day the day before. She drove us to the border of South Australia, where we had to throw away any fruits and vegetables we had. After that, I took over driving. The landscape was noticeably different. It was so much greener than Western Australia, and we could see the ocean to our right. After an hour of driving, Marina complained she was hungry and tired, and feeling stressed. She said she needed protein, so we stopped by the roadside and cooked baked beans and rice (her suggestion). While eating it, she complained it wasn’t substantial enough and didn’t taste good. I pointed out that it was her food and she was the one who packed it, and said she wanted to eat it. I felt like I was travelling with a toddler in the middle of a very tedious tantrum. She said I should be appreciative because she was doing me a big favour by rushing so much, and that we would be further along if we hadn't spent so long in Kalgoorlie looking at the Superpit! I wanted to scream at her because the superpit took 5 minutes yet she'd wasted hours. Anyway, we talked to some truck drivers at the rest stop whilst Marina was cooking and they said they’d left Adelaide 10 hours earlier and had only stopped for a one hour break. It gave me hope that maybe we could reach there for my flight.
We drove a few more hours and we reached Ceduna. I gave Pam and Daine a call who drove over to the service station where we were to direct us back to their house. It was so nice to see them! What embarrassed me was that Marina straight away asked to park somewhere in the shade because her van (named Wilbur) needed to cool down, so whilst she re-parked the van I filled Pam and Daine in on the horrible journey I’d had so far. Pam said there’s a bus going to Adelaide from Port Augusta (5 hours away), and the bus leaves at 7am tomorrow morning which would give me plenty of time before my flight. all I had to now was tell Marina I wanted to be dropped off in Port Augusta. Pam had prepared lunch for us, and immediately Marina informed her she was gluten intolerant, but Pam offered to make her some eggs, to which Marina grunted a bit but was satisfied. We then told her about the bus from Port Augusta and she was not happy. Adelaide was out of the way for her if she was going to Sydney anyway, but she said she was more likely to get a travel partner from Adelaide than Port Augusta, so she’d still be driving to Adelaide on her own. She was quite angry and started to have a go at me for ditching her. But before we could discuss anything further, she said she needed to see a doctor immediately for her contraceptive injection. This confused me, Pam and Daine but Pam got her an appointment at the local doctor’s surgery and Marina took off saying she’ll be back in an hour. I couldn’t believe I would now have to spend another night with her in the car, and she may not even get me to Port Augusta on time. Pam suggested getting a flight from Ceduna straight to Adelaide tomorrow and staying with them tonight, leaving Marina to go on her own from here. I loved the idea! The flight for tomorrow was $400 whereas the one leaving in a few hours time was $212. I figured this was money well spent, booked the flight and a night’s accommodation in Adelaide. Next all I had to do was get my stuff out of Marina’s car and give her some petrol money for the trip up to here. Pam drove me to the Doctor’s surgery and whilst I waited in the car, Pam told Marina I was going to be staying here and she was free to leave. Apparently she took the news quite well. But then again, Pam told me she suspected the girl was on drugs and a nurse at the doctor’s surgery hinted that Marina was there for more than just a contraceptive injection. I got my stuff out of her van and she said she had to rush to the pharmacy with a prescription and then come back to the doctor’s, and she would sort the money out with me afterwards. Very odd. Pam drove me around Ceduna and offered to show me the surrounding areas properly if I promise to come back. I’m sure I will as it’s a lovely area with an island nearby where sealions and penguins are seen. II had a shower at Pam and Daine’s, packed my stuff and when Marina came back, I gave her the money I owed her, wished her luck and was glad to be rid of her! Pam and Daine drove me to the tiny Ceduna airport and were waving at me from the terminal when my 32-seater plane took off. They are so sweet and really helped me out today. When I got to Adelaide it was dark, it took a while to find my hostel but I had a really good night’s sleep.
Fri 23rd December – I knew I would be back in Adelaide to explore it properly in a few weeks or a month’s time so I wasn’t keen on sightseeing. My flight to Sydney wasn’t until 5pm so I did laundry and enjoyed free Wi-Fi at the hostel.
Mon 19th December – They played “Rio” on the bus to Perth so it made the journey more interesting. When I got closer to Perth, Marina text me to say she will be an hour late as she was still working on setting the campervan up. So when I got to Perth station I just watch “The Big Bang Theory” on my laptop until she came. She was two hours late. When I met her, she was really stressed out and told me she’d had a horrible few weeks trying to get the van ready for her trip to Sydney. We got back to her friend’s house which was one of the messiest and dirtiest houses I’d ever seen. I helped Marina get the bed into the campervan and some last minute packing before going to bed. She told me someone else also answered her ad on gumtree, an Italian guy called Alex, and he is getting the bus in tomorrow morning so he will ring us to let us know when to pick him up from the bus stop.
Tues 20th December – We were supposed to set off at 8am which is why we got up at 6. But it took so long to get Marina’s stuff in the car, fill the eskies (cool boxes), fill cartons of water, put sheets on the bed etc etc. We never heard from Alex and he didn’t pick up the phone when we rang so it was just the two of us. We set off at 11am but Marina had to drive over to a friend’s house to drop something and go to the supermarket for last minute things. It was a while before we started driving. When we hit the road she seemed to relax a bit, and so did I… I fell asleep and was boring company! At 4.30pm Marina complained of being too tired and needing to eat as she hadn’t been eating much the last few weeks due to stress. She wouldn’t let me drive because her car wasn’t insured and she didn’t want anyone but her driving it. We stopped about an hour later at a rest stop, and by the time we cooked and washed up it was 9pm so we went straight to bed. We were about an hour from Kalgoorlie-Boulder where we would stop tomorrow for a wander around town.
Weds 21st December – We both woke up at 5.30am. Marina really isn’t a morning person. She spent almost an hour unpacking and re-packing food from the eskie and when I asked her where the washing up liquid was, she snapped at me and said she can’t think about that right now. She didn’t eat breakfast as she said she wasn’t hungry and can’t eat this early. Then she told me to leave her alone as she needed space in the mornings. I sat in the passenger seat reading for about 15 minutes while she huffed and puffed and moaned out loud about things. Then she handed me some fruit and cookies and told me to stay awake whilst she was driving today as she’ll need me to hand her food, because she was so hungry yesterday, like it was my fault. I can’t believe I had 3 more days of this person. We set off driving and she started moaning because her water bottle was in the back and she would have put it in the front if I hadn’t distracted her by asking about the washing up liquid. I decided the best thing to do for the next 3 days is just to ignore her when she moans and generally not talk in general.
We reached Kalgoorlie at 9am. This is a mining town which was built after the big gold rush over 100 years ago. We went to the visitor centre and were told about the “Superpit” which is a big pit leading into the mines. It was a 5 minute drive away and we could just park at the lookout, take some pictures and go straight back onto the highway (motorway). I asked if we could do that and she refused saying we didn’t have time, but the lady at the visitor’s centre gave her a weird look and she caved. She said she needed half an hour to do some food shopping and as I already had everything I needed I decided to look around the town. It was nice to see Christmas decorations up, as Margaret River didn’t have any up in the town. It was nice to see a Christmas tree in 35 degree heat! I rang Pam and Daine who I’d met in Katherine when I was WWOOFing in September and told them I’d be driving through Ceduna where they lived. They said to let them know when I was there and we could have lunch together. They even offered for us to stay the night if we got there today but it was at least 13 hours away and I couldn’t see Marina driving that in one day. She got back from shopping after an hour and a half and we drove to the Superpit for some pictures before getting back on the road. We stopped for petrol and Marina said I would have to cook for her tonight as she would be too tired from driving. Yesterday we cooked separate meals because I’m vegetarian and she’s gluten intolerant so there’s hardly any food that we can both eat and feel substantially full. It took a while yesterday to cook 2 meals because we only had one pan and one hob so I’d let her cook first, then washed everything out so I could cook. She said that didn’t work for her and while we drove she wanted me to think of things that we could both eat so that I could cook them later! After an hour of driving, she complained of not feeling well, and feeling hungry so we stopped so that she could eat. She looked really tired and was close to tears it seemed. She got into the passenger seat and told me to drive carefully. I was relieved to take control of the wheel as it meant I could drive a bit faster and I won’t need to stop so often. I drove for 4 hours straight and with it being a hot day and no air conditioning, it was quite tiring. It was also the first time I’d driven so much since I left the UK. It was cool to drive on the famous Nullurbor though. The scenery was different than back home, it was very dry, hardly any trees, and with one lane and hardly any cars, it was really quiet on the road. The van kept heating up so I had to go at least 20kmph below the speed limit for most of the drive. This frustrated me as we only had 2 days to get to Adelaide which according to the SatNav was still 23 hours away. I drove until 6pm when the sun started to set. Marina said she didn’t want me to drive during twilight hours because of kangaroos, and although she had “roo whistles” attached to the car (these send out high-pitched noises which humans can’t hear but deters animals), she didn’t have bars on the van so if a kangaroo jumped into the road, it would damage the van. As we were on a tight schedule (well I was anyway), I asked her if she wouldn’t mind driving for a few more hours in the night, and I would buy her dinner at the service station to save time on cooking. Ideally according to earlier planning we wanted to camp in Eucla which is near the border to South Australia, but as it was getting dark we were still hours away. We got to a service station and after driving at speed for the last few hours, I was a bit quick turning in and it scared her, plus there were ditches in the road which she kept yelling at me to avoid. In the end we switched seats and she drove to the petrol pump. This didn’t put her in the best mood. Inside the service station I asked her what she wanted to eat and she said there was nothing she can eat in there as she was gluten intolerant. This is before she even looked at the menu. I pointed this out to her and she asked the lady who worked there who said they could make her a chicken salad for $18. This sent her into a fit of complaints, and I offered to pay for it if it meant we could get back on the road and in front of 2 service station staff she yelled at me and said she "did not want to pay $18 for a salad just so you can catch a flight”. I again said that she wouldn’t be the one paying for it and she told me I could pay for it, but she won’t eat it. The 2 ladies sympathetically rolled their eyes at me. We got back in the car, she didn’t eat anything at all, and started driving. I promised to stay awake and keep her company even though I was so tired but I appreciated that she was driving at night when she didn’t want to. For the next few hours she talked a lot, and actually seemed like a different person, she was very chatty and seemed so much more relaxed. When I said I was worried about not getting to Adelaide on time, she said it wasn’t the end of the world if I didn’t’ catch the flight and didn’t get to Sydney for Christmas. When I protested and said how much I’d already spent on accommodation and flights she said it “was only money”. Hypocritical from a girl who yelled at complete strangers about the cost of a salad. She stopped driving at 10.30pm and we weren’t quite near the South Australia border yet. One thing that Pam told me on the phone which we’d overlooked was that South Australia was 2.5 hours ahead of Western Australia so we’d changed our watches before going to bed (which was now 2am).
Thurs 22nd December – We woke up at 6am. At night we’d agreed that as she isn’t a morning person, I would drive in the morning whilst she slept. She straight away snapped at me in the morning saying she will drive because of the kangaroos in the morning and I don’t know her car as well as she does. Think she’d forgotten that I’d driven the car practically the whole day the day before. She drove us to the border of South Australia, where we had to throw away any fruits and vegetables we had. After that, I took over driving. The landscape was noticeably different. It was so much greener than Western Australia, and we could see the ocean to our right. After an hour of driving, Marina complained she was hungry and tired, and feeling stressed. She said she needed protein, so we stopped by the roadside and cooked baked beans and rice (her suggestion). While eating it, she complained it wasn’t substantial enough and didn’t taste good. I pointed out that it was her food and she was the one who packed it, and said she wanted to eat it. I felt like I was travelling with a toddler in the middle of a very tedious tantrum. We talked to some truck drivers at the rest stop whilst Marina was cooking and they said they’d left Adelaide 10 hours earlier and had only stopped for a one hour break. It gave me hope that maybe we could reach there for my flight.
We drove a few more hours and we reached Ceduna. I gave Pam and Daine a call who drove over to the service station where we were to direct us back to their house. It was so nice to see them! What embarrassed me was that Marina straight away asked to park somewhere in the shade because her van (named Wilbur) needed to cool down, so whilst she re-parked the van I filled Pam and Daine in on the horrible journey I’d had so far. Pam said there’s a bus going to Adelaide from Port Augusta (5 hours away), and the bus leaves at 7am tomorrow morning which would give me plenty of time before my flight. all I had to now was tell Marina I wanted to be dropped off in Port Augusta. Pam had prepared lunch for us, and immediately Marina informed her she was gluten intolerant, but Pam offered to make her some eggs, to which Marina grunted a bit but was satisfied. We then told her about the bus from Port Augusta and she was not happy. Adelaide was out of the way for her if she was going to Sydney anyway, but she said she was more likely to get a travel partner from Adelaide than Port Augusta, so she’d still be driving to Adelaide on her own. She was quite angry and started to have a go at me for ditching her. But before we could discuss anything further, she said she needed to see a doctor immediately for her contraceptive injection. This confused me, Pam and Daine but Pam got her an appointment at the local doctor’s surgery and Marina took off saying she’ll be back in an hour. I couldn’t believe I would now have to spend another night with her in the car, and she may not even get me to Port Augusta on time. Pam suggested getting a flight from Ceduna straight to Adelaide tomorrow and staying with them tonight, leaving Marina to go on her own from here. I loved the idea! The flight for tomorrow was $400 whereas the one leaving in a few hours time was $212. I figured this was money well spent, booked the flight and a night’s accommodation in Adelaide. Next all I had to do was get my stuff out of Marina’s car and give her some petrol money for the trip up to here. Pam drove me to the Doctor’s surgery and whilst I waited in the car, Pam told Marina I was going to be staying here and she was free to leave. Apparently she took the news quite well. But then again, Pam told me she suspected the girl was on drugs and a nurse at the doctor’s surgery hinted that Marina was there for more than just a contraceptive injection. I got my stuff out of her van and she said she had to rush to the pharmacy with a prescription and then come back to the doctor’s, and she would sort the money out with me afterwards. Very odd. Pam drove me around Ceduna and offered to show me the surrounding areas properly if I promise to come back. I’m sure I will as it’s a lovely area with an island nearby where sealions and penguins are seen. II had a shower at Pam and Daine’s, packed my stuff and when Marina came back, I gave her the money I owed her, wished her luck and was glad to be rid of her!!!!!
Pam and Daine drove me to the tiny Ceduna airport and were waving at me from the terminal when my 32-seater plane took off. They are so sweet and really helped me out today. When I got to Adelaide it was dark, it took a while to find my hostel but I had a really good night’s sleep.
Fri 23rd December – I knew I would be back in Adelaide to explore it properly in a few weeks or a month’s time so I wasn’t keen on sightseeing. My flight to Sydney wasn’t until 5pm so I did laundry and enjoyed free Wi-Fi at the hostel.
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