This post is really for readers who have never been to Oz.
Most important thing to realise: Australia is a BIG place.
And Western Australia – where I am from – is the biggest state.
I am now staying with my sister, Margaret, in Fremantle, which is the port of Perth, the capital.
And we are going to travel to Kalgoorlie on the first leg of the journey, which is some 595 kms or 370 miles.
The full distance to our destination, the Eyre Bird Observatory is over 1200 kms one way – over 746 miles.
Above map pinched from here
Find Esperance on both maps to orient yourself, and then trace on the bottom map our intended journey to Eyre, just to the SW of the Cocklebiddy Motel where I once stayed – back in 1973.
After Kalgoorlie we will stay at Norseman, then Cocklebiddy, then Eyre (2 nights), then Esperance, the Recherche Archipelago, and then back home. (Clicking on the bottom map will enlarge it).
Will I be doing any blogging? Well yes – when I find an internet cafe!
Will I be doing any writing? Maybe. We’ll see.
When an Australian says “just down the road”, the actual distance could be measured in hundreds of kilometres.
I remember a visiting American once saying that they’d drive out to Ayre’s Rock for the day, from Brisbane… about 3,500 km by road.
I met a German backpacker in the UK once who had been to Oz and was very disappointed. “I thought it was an island”, she said. “I’d hoped to do day trips from Sydney to Cairns and Alice Springs.”
Hmm. Well yes, the Land of Oz is an island all right, but…
We get the same thing in Canada with people expecting to visit places in one day which are 2 or 3 days journey from where they cross the border. The classic story is someone sending their son from the UK to Toronto and cabling a relative in Vancouver to meet the son. The relative cabled back, you meet him, you’re closer.
Hope you have a great trip, sounds wonderful.