Melbourne to Monkey Mia via Perth - December 1988

Apart from trips to Surfers, Sydney and Adelaide this was the first big road trip that Sam and I had gone on together, this was also our first big trip in our new car at the time, a TX3 turbo Ford Laser, at the time a relatively cutting edge car for someone like me who had grown up driving big Ford 6's and 8's. Now trying to remember exactly what we got up to around 26 years ago is a little hard for my aging brain, so I'm going to have to rely on the photos to help jog my memory a bit.

Our first night, we slept in the car beside the Eyre Highway near Penong.

The obligatory photo of the cliffs at the head of the Great Australian Bight.

What I do remember is heading west out of Melbourne just before Christmas, we drove all day and well into the night, eventually sleeping in the car somewhere west of Penong. I was already a bit of a veteran at crossing the Nullarbor as I'd crossed it with Dad in the truck and also on my trip around Australia with my mate Leigh. Next morning we were up after a couple of hours sleep and headed on to Eucla were we spent the day checking out the old telegraph station in the dunes as well as swimming at the motel.

The Sand dunes near Eucla.

Check out the pink shorts.

A 'Stumpy Tail'.

Basking in the sun at our motel at Eucla on the Nullarbor.

Border Village was already cashing in on the UFO's.

From Eucla we headed to Kalgoorlie for a couple of days, were once again we did a bit of swimming, checked out the super pit,and I introduced Sam to the seedier side of town, Hay Street. On tearing ourselves away from Kalgoorlie we headed to Perth where we did all the usual things, Fremantle, Kings Park, we even went and checked out the new aquarium at Sorrento. Being a selfish bastard we didn't get to Rottnest or the Pinnacles Desert as I'd been there a couple of years before, I didn't realise at the time but it would be twenty years before Sam would get a chance to check these places out for herself, something she would take great delight in reminding me.

Some Kalgoorlie locals.

Mining tailings in Kalgoorlie.

Someone got a bit to much of the desert sun.

We had our first experience four wheel driving with Sam's cousin Paul in the dunes north of Lancelin.

Checking out the new marina at Sorrento.

We did head north though, first up we headed to Kalbarri for a couple of days, checking out the Murchison River Gorge. Now days its called Kalbarri National Park although in those days I'm not sure if it was a national park, the government of the time may have been still waiting to see if Lang Hancock would find anything worth digging up before deciding to declare a park. After exploring 'The Loop' and 'The Z Bend' it was time to head off again.

Kalbarri National Park.

Natures Window.

The Murchison River.

Rock'n'Roll hiking, Kalbarri National Park.

Our next stop was at a little known at the time place called Monkey Mia, where we been told we could swim with the dolphins. At that time we could actually wade in a pat the dolphins, things have got a lot more popular at Monkey Mia now and I think the rangers control who enters the water a bit more stringently. The bottle-nose dolphins still continue to come into the beach for a free feed today.

A Bottle-Nose Dolphin.

A baby one coming to say hello to Sam.

This was pretty cool.

Monkey Mia was as far north as we would go on this trip, we now pointed the car south, first heading back to Perth and then onto Albany and Esperance. The cold of the south west corner coming as a bit of a shock to us after our time further north. My main memories from this leg of the trip were the drive south of Albany to Torndirrup National Park to check out the amazing coastal scenery and also the coastal drive at Esperance checking out the pink lake as well as the stunning white sandy beaches.

Wave Rock.

Sam standing in the shade, my stand out memory from this day was the baking heat.

The coast south of Albany.

Some more of Torndirrup National Park.

After leaving Esperance we headed back across the Nullarbor, driving all day and through the night we were two tired travellers who pulled up in Adelaide the next afternoon. Recovering after a bit of a nanna nap I took Sam to check out the after dark delights of Hindley Street, surviving that unscathed we headed back to our hotel for a long sleep. From Adelaide we had a short hop back to Melbourne, the trip notable for our only close call of the journey when a semi trailer threw a cap off his tyre as he was passing us in the opposite direction, which meant I had a tyre carcase cart wheeling towards me at a closing speed of around 200 kilometres an hour! Luckily I was able to manoeuvre around the wrong side of a white post and then get back onto the bitumen without to much side ways action, but it certainly got the adrenalin pumping.

Pink Lake, on the coastal drive at Esperance.

The coast at Esperance.

Livin on a prayer, I reckon I had a pretty decent mullet!

The Dirt.
This was our first trip in our new car and the Laser performed faultlessly, it would go on to perform faultlessly for over 200,000 kilometres for us. We stayed in small motels and sometimes slept in the car on this trip as we were still young enough to put up with a bit of roughing it.

Sam, clocking up the kilometres on her 'L' plates.

The Eyre Highway was still a work in progress, some would say it still is!