Roadtrip day 6

We've arrived at Norseman - the last town before the Nullarbor crossing. Before arriving in Australia, I have actually never heard of it. After reading up more about our journey last month, it came to our realisation that this crossing actually requires a bit more preparation than simply turning the ignition key and going. It takes 2-3 days to traverse it and it requires forward planning on rest stops, fuel stops, accommodation stops and of course photo-ops stop. From the last town in Western Australia (Norseman) to the first town in Southern Australia (Ceduna) is a grand total of slightly more than 1200km - almost the equivalent of driving the distance between Singapore and Phuket. The Nullarbor crossing is possibly one of the greatest transcontinental journey and is notorious for its unforgiving landscape. Of course in this day and age, it is a lot easier with paved roads, google maps and 8 roadhouses along the way which means that there is no longer a real need to carry jerry cans of fuel when you do the crossing - you just need to make sure you fill up at almost every roadhouse along the way. The interesting thing about being here in Norseman is that almost everyone is here because they are crossing the Nullarbor, whether for leisure (like us) or work (truckers - roadtrain drivers). No one is here because of the town but rather the crossing. So much so that the motel we are at only has information for the crossing rather than information on sights of the town. Another interesting thing about this whole crossing is that some of these roadhouses do run out of petrol/ diesel and you will need to ask around to have this kind of information.

Petrol stops and their opening hours

Roadhouses along the way and their number so you can call and pre-book accoms

From Perth, we have already done slightly more than 1,600km - traversing Margaret River, Denmark, Albany, Esperance and now Norseman. One of the things that we wanted to do was to do some camping. Researching on this route, Lucky Bay (near Esperance) was chosen to pop our virgin camping experience. The camp ground had most of the basic comforts we need - hot (more warm tbh) water showers, toilet facilities, dedicated camp ground, cooking stove at the shelter, at a princely sum of $15 per pax. We had gotten most of our camp gear at Albany - sleeping bags, tent peg mallet, camp pots. All that we had to do was to turn up, pay the National Park fee to enter the park, pay the camp ground fee, select a spot and settle down. Lucky Bay was so chosen also because it has one of the most beautiful beaches in WA. It is also one of the very few beaches where wild kangeroos roam. 

I experienced a range of feelings and emotions throughout this experience. For one, this felt like NS all over again (more specifically Claymore) to an extent. Especially at night. The complete darkness except for a few rays of light coming from the other campers and their generators. Since it was our first attempt at it, we did not bring much food (also because we didn't have enough luggage space in the car) and so our dinner is simply instant noodles (very NS as well). Pitching the tent, using the mallet to drive the tent pegs into the ground (very anchorage and basha pitching). Anyhow, out of the 10+ odd campers there, it seemed that only about 3 of us were pitching tents, the rest had their own trailer or campervans to sleep in. This whole experience also gave me an insight into the kind of luxuries that can be had even though we were all sortta off the grid. Many of them were actually retirees driving along and pulling their trailer homes with them. One other thing I learnt was how cold the ground can actually get at night. In Singapore, cold ground is never really a problem, so much so that we don't actually see it as a thing. However, while our tent protected us from the elements outside, our sleeping bags were not enough to protect us from conduction to the ground. An outside air temperature could be 8-10 deg, may not be cold enough to greatly affect your sleep if you have the right sleeping bag and wear the right clothes, a ground temperature of 8-10 deg can quickly sap your body warmt through the sleeping bag. I don't quite know how, but I think it has to do with solids being much better conductors of heat than air and so you lose heat a lot faster through the ground. Sortta like how you get hypothermia more easily when in cold water compared to being exposed to cold air for a long time.

One last thing I'd like to talk about the Abby (again!). Old car, many new problems. So on the way from Albany to Esperance, the turn signals stopped working. I troubleshooted the issue by trying out the hazard lights, they worked (for the non-drivers, hazard lights are the exact same lights turn signals use). So there you have it, I have just expend all my car mechanical knowledge troubleshooting it. I know for sure it is not the bulb issue. The shittiest thing was we got into Albany on a Saturday afternoon. If you don't already know, with great work-life balance comes great inconvenience for unplanned issues. None of the car mechanics open on weekends. The only option we had was to pop by an auto-accessories place to see if there might be anyone who could diagnose the problem and hopefully fix it. The fella we spoke to listened to us, and then diagnose the problem without looking at the car (frankly it really isn't his place to do anything, diagnosing and fixing vehicular issues most probably isn't in his jobscope). Anyway he told us it is probably some indicator relay fault, they don't sell that part there, and then essentially told us to return to Perth to get it fixed.

I'm not driving 700km back to Perth to get it fixed! I would much rather cross the Nullarbor and hope there is someone at Adelaide who can fix it.

So we F-ed it, hauled ass, enjoyed our Sunday at the camp at Lucky Bay the next day, came back the following day to seek out a proper car mechanic. First mechanic turned us away, said he could only fit us in after 6 days (that's how busy they were), BUT he did recommend another place to us. We drove over to the other place, fella was also super busy, but he took a quick 10min look at the car, went into the workshop and came out with a fuse, diagnose a blown fuse, helped us put in a new fuse but did tell us there should be a bigger electrical issue that is causing this blown fuse (since the fuse he replaced was not the original manufacturer fuse), but he was also too busy to look through it thoroughly at that moment. He wished us well in finding someone with time to fix it, but sent us on our way.

That stop-short solution worked for a good 1 hour. By the time we got to Norseman 2 hours later, beyond a spoilt set of signal lights, our hazard lights failed as well.

Took Abby to the ONE mechanic at Norseman. Waited for a couple hours for the fella to settle the earlier car. He eventually diagnosed the issue to a short circuit caused by the freaking towing pin circuits. Worst thing was, we don't even use that freaking towing pin. So he tapped it up, charged us for his time and tape and sent us on our way again. Hopefully this resolves the issue. Fingers crossed.