Australia - WA and the NT

The next part of our journey was a four and a half week road trip from Perth in WA, travelling up the West coast to Broome and Darwin. All told, we spent 7,000 kilometers in a VW camper van, a tent and one hotel. The following are things we saw along the way.

THE DRIVE

Although the roadside scenery seemed pretty similar all the way up the coast, it subtly changed from place to place... the color of the soil/sand, types of scrub and trees, termite mounds, etc. All of this is the Australian outback and it is beautiful.

TERMITE MOUNDS

All over the west coast were these massive termite mounds of all different shapes, sizes and colors. Huge things, designed to maintain internal temps during both day and night and able to withstand the frequent bush fires that roll through.

ROAD TRAINS

Road trains are essentially freight trains on the road, big tractor-trailers with two, three or four trailers as opposed to the singles you might see in the US. They put 18-wheelers to shame. One of the longer ones I saw had 90 wheels. They drive all day and night and don’t stop for anything so there are frequent encounters with local wildlife and livestock. To prevent any damage to the vehicles, they install huge bumper guards in front of the grill, and screens in front of the windshields. They push enormous amounts of air in front of them (like a train in a tunnel) so there’s a pronounced shudder when you pass one on the highway. Best thing to do is to slow down and edge as far away as possible without running off the road yourself.

This tandem parked next to us at a roadhouse on the way to Kununarra. Note the chink in the armor of the truck on the left.

This one had lots of wheels.