So everyone is now expecting some pretty fancy story about my trip to Perth. I'm really sorry but for now (and it looks like it will be at least 2.5 months) I'm back in Melbourne. I've got a new 5 month contract via the same agency for DELL Australia. This time I'm a Desktop Engineer with G.E. Money doing a software refresh for all Melbournian G.E. Capital users. And G.E. stands for General Electric, a US based multinational active in several different fields, but mostly known for their military branch (to me anyway). I didn't know they're also active in the financial world (insurance and credit card stuff). I'm one of 5 engineers upgrading the desktop infrastructure. It's more a like-for-like hardware swap while the OS has changed to Win7. One big surprise, they have absolutely no automated processes… I reckon about 2% of the used applications are packaged. So basically we have to do everything manual. Luckily they've created an unattended Win7 install image… And on top of this lousy technical infrastructure they hold an absolutely unreachable target of 5 refreshes a day. It doesn't matter if users have 5GB of data or 90GB. Ah, and their network is only 10/100. That's also the main reason why understanding readers saw the time lapse… I'm pretty sure I'll do this for max 2.5 months. There is absolutely no sense in spending 5 months in an environment where I have absolutely no chance in learning anything or improving myself. We even don't have the possibility to improve the few existing processes. It is good money though, not as good as RMIT ($ 1.50 ph less, but still better than home). But still… I need to have a bit of a challenge, but also a technical environment that's more or less up-to-date. And apparently Australia is not the country to look for it. Oh yeah the strict anti-smoking rules on the premises and dress code are not speaking in favour of the job. So my plans for now (note: my plans are always up for change on short notice): work 2,5 months and then do my Australian road trip :)
So 2 weeks ago I ended up driving to Perth, WA but, after about one third of the road to do, I turned back to start the job I've described previously. You might wonder why I turned back…
Those five days on the road were absolutely not wasted though. I had a great time and saw some marvellous landscapes. I also had some really great moments on camp sites and spend a lot of time in the car (whether or not driving). It was lonely sometimes, no point in denying. Especially when you're awakened by the sun rising from the see and no-one is there to share the moment with you. But hell, that's also one of the reasons I'm alone on the road :) No chance for small talk about nothing. No people trying to impress the world around them. No drunken people making me nervous. No stupid people around declaring even more stupid nonsense. What do you want more?
(May be sometimes someone to share those really rare moments of natural beauty or real astonishment while exploring this absolutely incredible world. Yeah that could be nice I reckon.)
Anywayz, I left Melbourne with only a vague idea how to reach Perth. If you take a road map of Australia, you'll immediately see there is a huge area between Ceduna, SA and Norseman, WA where there is only one road to follow, unless you're really up for some real tough 4WD exploring. But there are several choices before and after this bottleneck. I definitely wanted to drive the Great Ocean Road. Everyone here is very enthusiastic about it, but honestly? I think you better drive another 1000km to see the roughed coastal lines on the Eyre Peninsula. Don't get me wrong, the first 300km of the GOR are not too bad, but it's not that impressing either. And in summer it will be way too busy (= touristy). The rocky coastal lines of Italy and Portugal/Spain are at least that impressing and from what I can remember the Amalfi coast in Italy is way more spectacular. I was lucky; there were not that many cars and buses on the road so I could drive all the way at a normal speed. You've got a couple of nice bay's and some steep cliffs on the way to the Twelve Apostles (actually 11, one collapsed in the early 2000's), still the main tourist attraction in that area. But from then on it's a pretty boring ride to Adelaide. For a moment I was thinking of taking a ferry to cross the Adelaide bay, but $ 170 for me and my car was a bit too much. The road between Mount Gambier and Port Augusta was boring but necessary. Next time I have to go to Adelaide I'll take the inland route ;)
From Port Augusta on it was unknown territory for me, roads never driven before and unseen landscapes. Although I've never been to Ireland, I can clearly see why this area is called Eyre Peninsula. The hills keep rolling for miles and the colour pattern varies from brown to green to bright yellow outlined by stone walls or a fence. Yep, spring is near. You can see, smell and feel it. It can get pretty cold at night and during the day temperatures are not that high, about 22 degrees. The wind is also still pretty strong and unpredictable, but this is what they call winter here! When driving on the highways the wind doesn't matter that much. You're sitting shielded in your car, driving a long not-winding road to the next stop: a town, a roadhouse or rest area aside the road. Distances between townships are seldom below 50km, sometimes you'll see a couple of houses in the middle of nowhere and you're really wondering how they manage to live there with the nearest supermarket about 200km away…
But if you like driving long 'boring' roads, I definitely recommend you to come to Australia. Plenty of time to listen to music, let your thoughts wander or stare in the distance while the car rolls for miles and miles and miles and miles. And then at one point you see something moving on the right lane. Something is crossing the road from right to left. At first you think you'll have to slow down, but the blablabla was actually pretty fast, so I had to speed up a bit to take a decent pic. These kinds of encounters with wildlife are absolutely not uncommon here. There are a lot of stories about backpackers hitting kangaroos or other animals while driving to other cities. Not all of them have happy endings.
On the Peninsula it is ok, you'll drive through areas where there are warning signs for our jumping friends or for crossing cattle. But I didn't see the dead animals on or beside the road. And that still is a good reference point. And I still wonder how come I did see not as many trains as I thought I would see. I saw one cargo train and none passenger train on the tracks. Greyhound buses and road trains connecting cities are the rule of thumb.
The most impressing views were posted on my Instagram account. Weirdly enough it was easy to find free wi-fi in contradiction to mobile coverage, which is pretty lousy here. In Streaky Bay, SA for instance I was standing under the cell phone antennas for more than 2h. Nothing happened... And the locals didn't had mobiles at all! Sometimes you're lucky and you got coverage on really weird places. The camp spot on my second night for instance. Just a place to park the car more or less horizontal between a couple of dunes about 15m from the shoreline. But you have to bear the lack of any comfort. You are also expected to take your trash with you when leaving. But take a look at picture on the right. This is what I saw when waking up!
During the Fire Ban Season (Oktober to May) you are not allowed to make bush fires, but now it's no problem at all... Fun Fun Fun as Grandaddy used to sing :)
Now the fun fun fun is over for some time. But there will be money waiting for me...
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posted via: http://www.dew4chter.be/blog
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