I was just looking at a picture of Australia and it’s crazy how little of this country I’ve seen in my 40.5 years. I did a rough highlight of where I’ve been, and I mean rough because I have been very generous with how thick some of the lines are considering I just took 1 highway in some cases and I’ve highlighted a whole chunk where I’ve sort of criss-crossed on various highways and destinations. It’s not like I’ve been through every inch of where I’ve highlighted.
UPDATE: I have made it a little more accurate, going from Google’s data. It looks a bit off but I think it’s because this image is skewed by Google Earth’s globeness.
If I look at where Google has seen me (so this would be from 2013 onwards when I moved from iPhone to Android), I can see it thinks I haven’t seen a bunch of western Victoria but that must have been pre-Android when I drove out there, or maybe I haven’t seen as much of it as I thought:
I did it solo driving to Melbourne. It’s fine.
Biggest takeaway for me was that Australia is big. I know, we all know that. But it’s one thing to leave Perth at 6pm on Monday evening and still be in WA on Wednesday - driving pretty much non-stop. Then South Australia is also huge! Experiencing it really drives the size home.
The drive went something like:
Monday 6pm: Perth - Merredin.
Tuesday 8am: Wake up and leave Merredin. Stop for an hour in Noresman. Finish for the evening in Cocklebiddy.
Wednesday 9am: Leave Cocklebiddy, Spend a bit of time exploring Eucla ruins/border village. Cross the border, check out Bite cliffs. Stop in the evening at Ceduna.
Thursday: Drive to Streaky Bay for lunch - lovely town, want to get back there, but it’s really hard to get to. Drive across the middle of SA, skip Radelaide. Stop late at night at a rest stop 30 minutes before Renmark.
Friday: Drive into Victoria, get to Bendigo around 5pm. Dinner and stay the night at a friend’s place there.
Saturday: Drive to Melbourne, arrive on time for lunch.
It’s honestly fine to do this solo (or the other direction). Just have something (Podcasts? Audiobooks?) loaded to listen to. There is nothing between Noresman and Ceduna. Those little towns you see on the map are just servos. But for all of that, there’s a fair bit of traffic (at least a truck/car every 5 minutes). If you have a real emergency, help won’t be far away.
Yea… I have fam in rural WA. When it was brought up my gramps once said (in a thick scottish accent) “aye laddy funny things that way, you want to bring yerrr 22 (rifle)”.
I’ve just looked at my 2022 and 2023 timelines. It’s depressing: but I have not been further than 100km from the city. In fact, the last time I was more than 100km from the city was the first week of 2021 (Christmas break). Nearly three years ago.
I was just looking at a picture of Australia and it’s crazy how little of this country I’ve seen in my 40.5 years. I did a rough highlight of where I’ve been, and I mean rough because I have been very generous with how thick some of the lines are considering I just took 1 highway in some cases and I’ve highlighted a whole chunk where I’ve sort of criss-crossed on various highways and destinations. It’s not like I’ve been through every inch of where I’ve highlighted.
UPDATE: I have made it a little more accurate, going from Google’s data. It looks a bit off but I think it’s because this image is skewed by Google Earth’s globeness.
If I look at where Google has seen me (so this would be from 2013 onwards when I moved from iPhone to Android), I can see it thinks I haven’t seen a bunch of western Victoria but that must have been pre-Android when I drove out there, or maybe I haven’t seen as much of it as I thought:
If you head to Uluru I also recommend Watarrka/Kings Canyon very highly
The Nullarbor hwy awaits.
edit I should say Eyre hwy
I did say that I’d like to give that a go once I got a new car! I’m just not sure I want to (or should) do it solo.
I did it solo driving to Melbourne. It’s fine. Biggest takeaway for me was that Australia is big. I know, we all know that. But it’s one thing to leave Perth at 6pm on Monday evening and still be in WA on Wednesday - driving pretty much non-stop. Then South Australia is also huge! Experiencing it really drives the size home.
The drive went something like:
Monday 6pm: Perth - Merredin.
Tuesday 8am: Wake up and leave Merredin. Stop for an hour in Noresman. Finish for the evening in Cocklebiddy.
Wednesday 9am: Leave Cocklebiddy, Spend a bit of time exploring Eucla ruins/border village. Cross the border, check out Bite cliffs. Stop in the evening at Ceduna.
Thursday: Drive to Streaky Bay for lunch - lovely town, want to get back there, but it’s really hard to get to. Drive across the middle of SA, skip Radelaide. Stop late at night at a rest stop 30 minutes before Renmark.
Friday: Drive into Victoria, get to Bendigo around 5pm. Dinner and stay the night at a friend’s place there.
Saturday: Drive to Melbourne, arrive on time for lunch.
It’s honestly fine to do this solo (or the other direction). Just have something (Podcasts? Audiobooks?) loaded to listen to. There is nothing between Noresman and Ceduna. Those little towns you see on the map are just servos. But for all of that, there’s a fair bit of traffic (at least a truck/car every 5 minutes). If you have a real emergency, help won’t be far away.
Yea… I have fam in rural WA. When it was brought up my gramps once said (in a thick scottish accent) “aye laddy funny things that way, you want to bring yerrr 22 (rifle)”.
Didn’t exactly inspire confidence.
How do you get that Google map data from maps?
Edit. Actually, I found it very quickly
I’ve just looked at my 2022 and 2023 timelines. It’s depressing: but I have not been further than 100km from the city. In fact, the last time I was more than 100km from the city was the first week of 2021 (Christmas break). Nearly three years ago.
I need to get out of town this holidays.