Saturday 18th - Day One

So we picked up our camper today. Its bloody massive, like a minibus converted into a studio apartment. It even beeps when you reverse. It's got a shower, toilet, fridge, sink, 3 hob stove and king size bed which converts into sofas and table for the daytime. We decided to go get some food from the supermarket so we wouldn't have to spend money on meals on the journey. Turns out the van is too big for normal parking spaces so we had to park horizontally across about 4 or 5 spaces. Not sure if that's allowed but we didn't have much of a choice. Fully stocked up with a vat of water, pasta and petrol we set off. The day passed event free. We reached Port Augusta and decided to pay for somewhere to camp as we needed to charge the battery for the fridge and lights and also fill up our water tank. The guy who owned the campsite had no front teeth and too many pets to be normal, but, tired, we slept through any creepy goings-on.

Sunday 19th - Day Two

Woke up early to get a head-start since we'd stopped about 100km's short of where we should have done. Port Augusta seems like it could be quite nice, but there just seemed to be something not quite right about the locals. This part of the journey was nice as we were driving past the Southern Flinder's Ranges with incredible views. We were excited to think this must be what the whole journey would be like. We soon realised it wasn't. We made our way through to Ceduna, which is where the Nullabor Plain starts. We went into the info centre to get some advice and maps to help with the journey. The guy that worked there was a racist and told us about the french backpackers who would crap on the pavements and that at least their blacks could just about use a toilet. Eventually we managed to get away and continued just out of town to a little lay-by where we spent the night. We watched the sun go down, ate some pasta and then fell asleep to the hypnotic tones of the passing trucks.

Monday 20th - Day Three

We made it through the night, and with nothing better to do thought we might as well get on the road. This is where the Nullarbor Plain really started with lots and lots of nothing but a really long, really straight stretch of road. A road train drove past and sprayed the windscreen with rocks which gave us two cracks, so that was nice. Then we passed through quarantine into Western Australia, where this miserable woman had a go at us for trying to run her over, checked our van for honey and fruit and then let us through. We decided to sleep at a town called Cocklebiddy, which consisted of a campsite, motel, petrol station and some shacks out back where people lived.

Tuesday 21st - Day Four

We realised how expensive petrol gets out here today! 2 dollars a litre at some places. We only filled up enough to get us to the next station each time until we could reach somewhere cheaper. Drove for a long time today. Went through the longest piece of straight road in Australia. It was pretty straight! Stayed in another layby but managed to get quite far off the road this time. Saw a bare footprint outside though so reckon there might be some aborigines around watching us.

Wednesday 22nd - Day Five

Reached Perth today. Went into town for a look around, came back and had a romantic meal of pasta and bread and butter, with a candle made from a peanut butter lid and a match and some wine glasses with lemonade. Lovely!

Thursday 23rd - Day Six

Gave the van back today. They charged us 90 dollars for the stupid chipped windscreen but luckily didn't notice that we'd broken the table and toolbox and lost the lid for the water tank, so overall a success.