Travelling across Australia during COVID 19 restrictions was no easy feat. As you know, government policies were changing day by day. Then throw in a daunting task of driving more than 5,000kms without being allowed to explore and add a sprinkle of car trouble along the way…
Why leave Western Australia?
After spending two months hunkered down at Winderabandi Point, we decided it was time to start the approval process to head back to the East Coast. You can read about our time in isolation in my previous blog post “The truth about being stranded on the Ningaloo Coast during the COVID 19 pandemic.”
There are multiple reasons why we decided to leave Western Australia.
- Both kids would like a break from Distance Education and return to mainstream schooling for a little while.
- I welcome the break too!
- Adam has secured work in Victoria.
- We have mammoth plans to upgrade our touring rig, and we need money to build our perfect set up.
- Our pop top caravan is going to receive an overhaul too.
- We needed to physically inspect our investment property that was damaged during storms that lashed the NSW Central Coast last February.
How we obtained approval to travel across Australia.
On the 27th of April, we submitted an online application form at www.g2gpass.com.au to travel through four regions in WA. A separate form was needed for each adult. We fell into the “returning to our principle place of residence” category, which is listed as essential travel. I also wrote a short sentence explaining that we needed to travel through these regions to reach the SA border, where we would travel through to reach NSW.
After submitting both applications, I then download the G2G Pass app for free from the AppStore.
I also downloaded the COVID Safe App. While it’s not compulsory, I felt if we came across any resistance from authorities along the way, we could have additional proof that we are trying to protect ourselves and anyone who we would encounter on the trip across.
Next was a phone call to the South Australian authorities. I contacted their COVID 19 Hotline and explained our need to travel from WA through SA to reach our principal place of residence in NSW.
They had very good news for us! The purpose of our journey fell under an essential travel category listed as “passing through.” As long as we took the most direct route, made no unnecessary stops or detours, there would be no requirement to isolate for 14 days within South Australia.
Also, I did enquire about where known virus hotspots were located, so we could avoid these locations to keep our family safe.
Finally, as our place of residence is in NSW and their borders are not closed, we are able to go “home” and not have to isolate there for 14 days either.
Beginning the monumental task of driving more than 5,000 kilometres across Australia.
With heavy hearts we said our goodbyes to our travelling mates, took one last look at the Indian Ocean and the Ningaloo Coast and left Winderabandi Point at 7.30am on Friday the 8th of May 2020.
It took two hours of 4WD track driving to reach bitumen and the realisation that this was it. We were really leaving WA.
As we passed the signposted turn off for Mount Augustus, a travel bucket list destination for me, my eyes went all foggy and the wet stuff came out of them. I know, I know, it’s silly to shed a tear about not visiting the biggest monolith in the world (it’s 2.5 times BIGGER than Uluru!) but I was really sad to leave WA unfinished. It’s a big undertaking to get over to the West Coast of Australia, and I knew in my heart it would be a fair amount of time before we would be back.
A taste of the crazy.
Our first fuel stop was at Carnarvon, where I witnessed for the first time since this pandemic began, a customer abusing the service station employee because the amenities were locked due to COVID restrictions. I was quite taken aback by it. As I have been in customer service for most of my life and know how to diffuse aggressive customers, I felt I could have done more. Being isolated on a beach, far away from people, in our little Ningaloo bubble, made me too slow to react. After we drove away, I stewed for some time over not jumping in to support the worker. It also made me briefly question if we were doing the right thing? What if people are cranky and cray cray everywhere we go?
And then the car went POP!
Fast forward to later that night and after 14 hours of driving, the intercooler hose on the car went POP! I tell ya what, the sound scared the crap out of me. I thought we had hit an animal but Adam knew immediately that it was something in the engine bay that let go.
He tightened the hose clamp and luckily we were able to pull into a secluded rest area for the night.
At this stage we had entered a new regional border, but there were no checkpoints and no police to stop us.
The next day was a doozy for the car. The intercooler hose popped off again!
Then, shortly after Adam fixed it with a brand new clamp, the other hot side intercooler pipe not only popped off, but we discovered it was split. I suggested we call roadside assistance (we have the ultimate cover) but Adam wanted to try and repair it himself. (The hoses popped off another five freaken times and each time I suggested we call the RAC – but Adam was not going to let these pesky hoses beat him!)
R U OK?
Meanwhile, traffic on this country road is sparse and nobody stops to ask if we are ok? The reason why this is worth mentioning, is that this has never happened before. In all our travels around Australia, we’ve always stopped to ask people broken down if they’re ok and we’ve also had people stop for us too. I began to wonder, is this a COVID thing? Is everyone so cranky and cray cray that they’ve forgotten how to be kind?
After almost an hour of working on the car ( Adam had to remove the front grill and the air intake thingamajigi’s to access the split hose), a lovely bloke stopped to see if we were doing alright. I can’t tell ya how much that means to anyone who is broken down on the side of the road. Hey, it’s always nice to be asked.
With the car back up and running again, we passed through another regional border. Once again, there was no road block, checkpoint or police.
With only a few hundred kilometres completed, it was time to pull up for the night just before Kalgoorlie.
Confession of a maintenance fitters wife.
The next day we arrived in Kalgoorlie. It was Sunday and thankfully the Supercheap Auto store was open. With more hose clamps, a new roll of gorilla tape and wheelbarrow inner tubes, we were back on the road. I know what your thinking. What the bloody hell are the inner tubes for? Well, I said the same thing to Adam and he assured me they might come in handy if the intercooler hose splits any further. Just nod and smile. I can’t even.
Crossing the WA/SA state border.
We simply just drove over the border. There were no police to question us. There was no need to even slow down.
However, if you were entering WA from SA, there was a police roadblock in force. You’d better have your border crossing paperwork in order before making that huge drive to the WA border, other wise it’s a looooong drive back.
For lunch, we smashed through as much fresh fruit and veg before arriving at Ceduna the next morning. This is the location of the SA quarantine border control and where you will need to explain to the police officer on duty your reason for entering the state.
As we were returning to our principal place of residence (the address on our NSW drivers licence) and needed to “pass through” SA to reach that destination, it is categorised as essential travel. We must take the most direct route and leave the state as quickly as possible. There would be no detours allowed. Disobeying the rules meant risking massive fines and being forced into a 14 day isolation period within SA.
We obtained a sheet of paper that became our SA essential travel pass and we were also instructed to obtain the details of any people who we come in contact with for more than 10 minutes while inside.
As we were self contained, there was no need to stay in any caravan parks while we passed through South Australia.
Passing into NSW at Broken Hill was uneventful. The border was not closed. Easy peasy!
On the other hand, the border into SA had a police road block in place.
So close, yet so far away… about 1000 kilometres to go.
On our final evening of this journey, we pulled into a rest area, jumped out of the car and were hit by an overwhelming smell of diesel! Adam looked under the car and discovered our fuel lines were damaged and diesel had completely sprayed the underbody. Being too tired to deal with it, we all jumped into our beds, preparing ourselves for the worst in the morning.
I thought the universe was trying to tell us we were going the wrong way. We should have stayed in WA. Adam reckons the universe was telling us to upgrade the touring rig…
Adam started the next day by replacing the busted fuel lines under the car. The lines were ok but the clamps had failed.
The fuel leak was stopped but we had about 1000kms to go, so we pulled into the small NSW town of Cobar to grab some more just in case. When Adam explained to the auto shop that we had issues with our intercooler hose too, the shop assistant instantly assumed we were driving a Nissan Patrol! Lol!
The final day was a giant push, maxing out at 960kms, which was equal to our very first day of driving.
On our 7th day of driving we finally arrived on the NSW mid north coast!
Crossing the country statistics:
6 nights / 7 days
5,095 kilometres
$977 cost of diesel
777 litres of diesel
Stopped to top up fuel 15 times.
The Lows.
Note to self (or Adam) : never say out aloud on the first day of a mammoth trip that when we get to the East Coast, the car needs a major service and needs to get some hoses replaced!
Seeing a glimpse of what customer service employees must have been experiencing this whole time.
Getting yelled at in Dubbo while towing with the van. Welcome to NSW!
The Highs.
With hardly any travellers on the road, we only shared the road with trucks and essential workers. We literally saw 4 caravans crossing the Nullarbor.
The fuel prices had dropped to record levels, making our trek across the country a lot cheaper than we had originally budgeted for.
Being self contained meant we didn’t need to use public amenities, and risk getting infected by the virus.
The SA border police were very kind and compassionate. There was no drama in obtaining our essential travel pass.
A big thank you to Adam, the legend who did most of the driving and got us all back East safe and sound.
What’s next for us?
This week will be spent cleaning the rig, the caravan and a crap load of laundry.
Next, we will inspect our damaged investment property, visit family and friends in Sydney (if restrictions allow) and then we are off to Melbourne!
X Mia
