An Hour-by-Hour Look at 13 Hours on the Road to Perth

We spent most of the day on the road, travelling ~1,200 km south to Perth. The directions told us it would take 13 hours to get back. Factoring in time for breaks & refuelling, it took us closer to just under 13 hours. We must’ve.. ahem.. taken liberties with velocities. 

I was dreading the day. I’m not fond of being in a car for long periods of time. I tend to fall asleep & my butt starts to get sore from all the sitting. You’re also.. you know, in a car all day. But I found the trip bearable— even fun, with Frank & Viv as company. We entertained ourselves with hypothetical questions & “would you rather...?” Questions. We’re all now familiar with who amongst our close friends we’d all rather sleep with. 

We were up & packing the car by 5:30. Now I’d rather not bore you with what 13 hours in a car is like, so I’ll run through some highlights & photos Frank took with his phone. 

Eating watermelons at Turquoise Bay. They were a refreshing treat on a scorchingly dry day. 

Here’s what 13 hours in a car looks like. Viv is at the wheel, taking stern instructions from Frank.

Apparently they had Chicken Treat without me! The day after I had flown back to Sydney, they finally had Chicken Treat— a fast food outlet we saw everywhere across WA. 

I nearly ran over this quokka that was sitting in the shadows along the road. I was also pleased to find there were other men who wore shorts as short as mine on Rottnest Island.  

We took a photo together while hiking along Murchison Gorge, because we are friends & this is what friends do. They put a hand on each other’s shoulder & smile at the camera. 

Back to the 13 hours. This was one of the petrol stations we stopped at for fuel. Viv is walking into the shop. Nothing interesting happened. 

While paying for admission into Monkey Mia, Viv was drawn to this fly/mosquito net you wear on your head to protect you from flying insects. Haunted by the stories of flies eating at your eyes & nostrils, as told by Victoria (from the first night of camping), Viv thought it was a solid purchase. We only ever saw the net throughout the rest of the trip when Viv felt like making fun of her purchase. 

I wrote an entry in the guest book while at the Pinnacles Discovery Centre. I wrote something like “Frank likes dicks”. 

So what’s with this shirt I’m wearing? It’s linen & it’s fantastic. Well, it feels fantastic. I might look a bit out of place, but I found it to be breezy & light. While packing for this trip, I was deciding on what material of tops to wear. Waaaay too hot for merino wool— I don’t care what the New Zealand sheep say about it. And I wanted to be able to reuse a top without having to wash it & being put off by the smell, so I stayed away from any synthetic fabrics. I landed on linen. Pro tip: if you get light-coloured linen tops, you can show off your salami-sized nipples.

Walking to a beach on Rottnest Island. Viv loved that helmet so much, she wore it everywhere we went. She takes head.. 

 ..protection very seriously.

We’re having dinner on a beach. I think this was on the second night of camping, where we camped on the outskirts of a tornado. We walked over to the beach & watched the sun set while eating our re-hydrated food. Thai chicken curry. Very spicy.

And hey, we’re back on the road for 13 hours. I didn’t find driving all that bad after a few shifts behind the wheel. I don’t drive in Sydney, and when I do— I’m usually quite nervous as though every driver around me is judging how I grip the steering wheel. I realised I paid more attention to my driving when there were other cars around me, which is good! It means I don’t fall asleep & drive the car into a bush. 

We are picking helmets & bikes on Rottnest Island. 

And finally, I took a picture of my gear while it was splayed out in the car. I tried to keep my stuff organised & tucked away neatly throughout the trip, but it just became too much. I had to change into board shorts, so you can see my casual shorts & undies laying on a pile to the left. My camera is hanging out of my bag (which has zero padding for such delicate instruments) and you can see the silver sheen of my wristwatch in the upper pocket of my bag. I rarely wore the watch because I didn’t want to break it (again). But hey, all my gear survived. 

And that’s Western Australia.

3 shirts; 1 trousers; 1 shorts; 2 undies; 2 socks; and 1 pair of sneakers I didn’t want to place on my bed. 

Toiletries that I’m not going to list through. 

My electronic gear: Camera; lens cleaner; remote (for the camera); an anchor I can use to clip my camera to my bag strap; a little multi-tool I can use to tighten the anchor onto my bag strap; a lightning battery charger; phone; Bluetooth headphones; 15W USB charger; micro-USB cable with a lightning adaptor; tablet; stylus; and a tripod. 

Since I’m starting to get used to these, here’s my gear for three days in Melbourne (Wednesday to Friday) with Housemate Nika:​

And all of it packed into my backpack. After developing into an old bag-lady with a closet full of various bags, I’ve finally settled on this particular one. It’s only about 22L in size, but it’s got enough pockets inside for organising my stuff; versatile to carry a water resovior inside or to carry large, odd items on that outer flap;  and customisable with as many pouches as I want/need to be attached to the molle webbing. This is the bag to cremate me with.