THE BIG DASH: Happy days

Southward, ever southward. The days and nights are getting cooler as we trek closer to the WA capital, Perth.

In fact, from Kalbarri, Perth is feasibly one long day’s drive. We aren’t interested in that so we’ve slowed the pace to a crawl.

Delaying the inevitable, I guess. Being in Perth meant being back right in the heart of the 21st century grind. Traffic, crowds, noise. We haven’t missed it.

In the south-west there are more towns and smaller gaps between them. We shopped (coffee pods, yes!) and washed (the car and van) in Geraldton, stayed at Port Denison and Cervantes and checked out other villages such as Green Head, Jurien Bay and Lancelin.

They nestle on what’s called the Turquoise Coast. One look at the water will tell you how they came up with that name. It signals either the beginning or the end of the Coral Coast depending on which way you are going.

The other end is at Exmouth 1100km north. It wouldn’t take much convincing for us to turn around and head back in that direction.

Range anxiety

Fuel consumption and fuel pricing have been a constant theme of this trip.

There’s an orange bloke in a big white house I’ve cursed more than once as the fuel meter on the bowser has rotated like a poker machine.

This week, as we approached Perth along the Indian Ocean Drive – yep, right on the Indian Ocean and, of course, stunning - I nearly overplayed our hand. We came that close to being parked on the side of the road with an empty tank.

The problem was my stubbornness at Cervantes, where I absolutely refused to do anything more than top up because diesel was $2.64 per litre.

‘Surely, it will get cheaper the closer we get to Perth because there will be heaps of petrol stations,’ I thought without bothering to consult the trusty Petrol Spy app.

And I just didn’t think about fuel again until the warning light came on. Then I forgot about it again when we drove past the ‘cheapest fuel on the Turquoise Coast’ in some small town or other.

As we laboured up and down hills, I stopped forgetting about it and it became my complete focus.

Tas estimated we had more than 50km of fuel left and once I finally checked where the nearest fuel actually was, it was about 30km away in Yanchep.

‘Comfortable,’ I thought. ‘No problem,’ I thought. By the way, if you’re wondering why I didn’t just stop and stick in the 20-litre reserve we’d been carrying since day one … well, it was empty. Used it in the car a few days ago and thought we wouldn’t need it any more as there were so many towns crowded together.

I’ll spare you the minute-by-minute play, but the estimated range dropped like that orange bloke’s approval rating. The meter displayed zero and then gave up estimating altogether when we were still 1km out from the petrol station. It felt like 100km.

We made it though – crawling at walking speed for the last few hundred metres – without a hiccup or a cough from the engine. It was a Sunday, so thankfully not too much traffic to hold up even more than normal. And thankfully, the fuel station was open.

I filled the 80-litre tank to the very brim employing the three-click rule. It took 81.31 litres… at a price of $2.399.

I guess the stress was worth the money saved.

Speaking of fuel, here are this week’s fuel numbers:

Litres consumed: 107.05
KM travelled: 604
Consumption average: 17.72L/100km
$ paid: $263.01 (best price paid: $2.399 per litre)
KM per $: 2.29km (was 2.53km per $ last time)

Best things in life are free

Not everything that brings us joy on this trip involves hiking deep canyons or snorkeling with giant fish. Our slow, exploring, cruise down the Turquoise Coast allowed us to pull up on the foreshore parks in different places, set up at a picnic table and enjoy lunch.

Of course, it also allows the dogs to do the things dogs do when presented with green lawn. Watch where you step! (note: we do pick up after them, we are vital contributors to the pooh bag industry).

The thing I am always conscious of when driving the combination in town is not going down a street I can’t get back out. But in both Jurien Bay and Lancelin there has been obvious attention paid by town planners to accommodating caravan parking near the beach. It’s much appreciated.

Despite a long career writing aboiut cars, I haven’t really mentioned many automotive sights and sounds really, apart from 'Tas' and the tsunami of Toyotas that live over here.

But in one day in Lancelin I saw three lovely old Holdens; an EH and EK looking pristine in the carpark of the Lobster Shack (they were the tastiest things there) and something more my vintage, an Adventra V6, parked on the beach. “How’s the four-wheel drive system holding up?” I asked the P-plate owner. “It’s all-wheel drive,” he grunted.

Whoops, sorry. “You’ve got a real piece of Australian history there,” I told him. But he’d already turned away. He no doubt has dreams of trading it in on a HiLux, or when he’s old and rich, a LandCruiser.

Radio chatter

We’ve had UHF radios since Alice Springs back in April and we use them for on-road comms and to talk to each other when manoeuvring the van.

Anyway, a Big Dash reader, Rolf Chorley, sent me a note about radio use and etiquette. Rolf is probably the nicest and politest person we’ve met on this trip, so trust me, he knows a thing or two about etiquette.

So here are Rolf’s learnings from his years on the road caravanning:

Many caravaners use UHF 40, really helpful when you are mindful of trucks, other caravans and or other vehicles behind and you. A super way to communicate with vehicles passing you without pulling over. We use 40 a lot and you will find most people advertise they have UHF channels on the back of their vans.

Example: you radio ‘truck or caravan travelling South/North bound behind forte caravan are you receiving?’ Once they confirm again radio ‘when you ready and clear I’ll slow down to help you pass’ Once they have passed you and can safely move back into your lane radio ‘your clear’ Some drivers will radio they are about to make their move!

Also, another tip, if you don’t already know, if no UHF 40 - Signalling vehicles to overtake: When safe, flick your right indicator to let the vehicle behind you know the road is clear and you will slow down to help them pass, most long-term road users know this method.

On a side note, we turned up at the Cervantes RAC caravan park (right on the beach, lovely amenities) to find two other MDC Forte SR19 caravans.

In among the Jaycos, Crusaders, Lotus, Titanium, Masterpice, Wonderland, Urban, Eternity, Snowy River, New Age, JB, Viscount, Millard and many, many more van brands, I think we’ve only previously seen one other SR19 the entire trip.

These two were parked close together, but the two couples didn’t know each other. Incredibly, it was the first trip in their brand new vans for both of them.

I was all set to impart my extensive Forte SR19 knowledge, but they didn’t really seem that interested.

Probably related to the guys with the Adventra!

We continue to work away at our reversing onto sites at caravan parks.

At both Port Denison and Cervantes we got the basic reverse into the site pretty quickly and crisply, but then buggered around for ages on the details.

The awning is so small it means the van has to be parked just so on a concrete or cloth patch so its legs can be nailed down when it’s extended.

The whole deal was made more complicated in Cervantes by a rather tatty and definitely not square piece of stretchy material we were meant to park next to.

So I edge forward and back.

Tuck a little left.

Correct the angle.

Over-correct the adjustment.

Turn the steering left when it should be right.

Jump out of the car.

Scratch my head.

Consult with Jane.

Jump back in.

Turn off all the parking buzzers … again.

Query Jane, “what exactly do you mean by … (whatever she has just said)?”

We get there, but it just takes time and it looks more chaotic than it feels. Admittedly, it does feel a bit chaotic at times.

Anyway, in Port Denison (lovely little park, clean amenities), some stoic Swiss travellers watched with some bemusement as we performed our routine.

The next day we moved to Cervantes and there they were again, right next to us.

We went through our process again and, while staying stoic and neutral, as all good Swiss do, I’m sure they were thinking, “what the actual f--- are these people doing?”

We wonder sometimes ourselves.