It’s been my intention for a while to go to each of the capital cities by road. To see the points between the cities, between the states of our country.
Australia is huge, but when most people go between states, between the capital cities they go by air. By air you see tarmac–sky–tarmac. Air travel is just walking onto an aluminium-composite tube that’s hurtled into the sky and then shoved back onto the ground. It’s essentially a bus for the air. It can be dressed up with a bit of food, maybe a comfy chair if you pay for those extras, but essentially it’s means of getting you moved from one location to another. There’s little regard for the
travel
itself. The
travel
the
journey
is a necessity, it isn’t something enjoyed or found or even discovered. Or if it is, it’s something you do when you arrive, your travelling begins when you arrive following being shoved onto the plane.
For me the destination is a secondary consideration. The destination gives you a direction to travel in. But the actual travelling is the primary purpose. That is what I find interesting, what I enjoy. To see the landscape roll past.
So that’s what I’ve been doing driving the highways, freeways, roads and other bits of bitumen between the capital cities.
On the way to Woomera
On this trip I did have a destination in mind, somewhere I wanted to see.
Woomera.
A name that probably conjures different things for different people.
It was a name synonymous with a detention facility in the late 90s/early 2000s.
in the 1950s and 60s it was the centre of Australia’s space, rocket and defence research.
It was for this that I wanted to go to Woomera for. Space research and Australia’s part in is something I have something of a fascination with. The potential that was there for Australia at that time and where it could have gone into the future fuels the imagination.
On the way up to Woomera I had to stop a few times, for sleep and that sort of thing.
I did not however stay in motels, even though, as I am driving that would seem the most obvious fit for me.
I dislike motels.
I think they service a need, but they are so very **boring**.
Every motel is going to give you a broadly similar experience. They’re usually built out of brick. They’ve got a bed which is nice enough with an awful bed spread in some beige, brown or a dreadful multi-coloured pattern. The bathroom will be there, there’ll be a shower/bath combination or possibly just a shower.
There’ll likely be some sort of tea and coffee facilities to make really awful cups of those beverages. Even if you bring and use your own tea bags it’s still awful (I know. I’ve tried). There’ll be a TV and maybe there’ll be some sort of single chair to sit in that will be comfortable enough but not for any length of time.
Boring, predictable and some various degrees of bland.
That’s kinda what you’re paying for in a motel; a predictable expectations. It generally won’t be outside of these expectations. You expect to get all those things, it’s part of the motel experience. Somewhere to sleep, shower and make really bad cups of tea.
I don’t want this.
I’d rather have somewhere interesting than somewhere nice and predictable.
So when looking for accommodation I seek out hotels. Hotels in the traditional usage of the word rather than the modern usage of it. Hotels as in pubs. As in those places with a pub downstairs and accommodation (usually) upstairs above the pub.
Two sites especially have helped me in this.
and
If the town’s small enough even just looking on Google Earth and looking for a large building on the corner of the town’s main street usually helps to find the town’s pub.
Staying at a pub means you’ve got your accommodation there, you can go downstairs for a drink and a meal.
It also means, after I’ve arrived at my stop for the day I can park, stop and relax, there’s no where else to go. Not always the case with a motel which on many occasions may not have somewhere to eat nearby, meaning you have to go into the town to get a meal and then return to your accommodation.
Pubs are also interesting, and there will be a compromise or three to be made when you’re staying at a pub / hotel.
The biggest one which some people may not be able to go past when looking to this sort of accommodation is basically a historical one.
Because pubs are generally old buildings, which have historically offered accommodation and the idea of an ensuite is something of a luxury that has not existed as long as the pub has been in existence or when the pub was built.
The short of it is; shared facilities.
This does however mean much cheaper rates more than half the price of a motel.
The shared facilities come in the form of a toilet / shower block, generally on the same floor as the accommodation.
Some pub rooms may have a basin in the room, this again is because of historical reasons.
I don’t have much issue with shared facilities.
I balance it against the fact that I am getting a cheap room, and staying somewhere interesting and convenient.
I know that others do have issue with the idea of shared facilities. But, you shower once when you’re staying at your accommodation, you’ll use the toilet a couple of times (maybe). For that convenience it basically would double the price from a pub room to a motel room to have those conveniences attached to your room.
It’s not something I’m very precious about.
I shower at night as opposed to others who shower in the morning, so I do not encounter the queues for the facilities. I am very much likely to use said facilities early in the night rather than later because I have been driving throughout the day and will usually get an early night. So again no queues to be encountered.
With pub rooms there are a few other things to consider, there may or may not be a TV. It’ll be unlikely there’s any hot beverage making facilities and you’ll probably not get anything like a bedside lamp or anything aside from bed and towels.
But the bed will be relatively comfortable, it’ll be clean, the towels likewise will be clean, perhaps not the fluffiest towels but there’ll be there.
Some may be reading this and drawing comparisons between a pub room and ‘backpacker accommodation’.
Probably because of the shared bathroom facilities which is something they share.
However backpacker accommodation will usually make you bring your own towel and there may be some bedding requirements. And of course you generally have to share a room with upwards of 4 people in order to get a cheap room.
Pub rooms you’re not sharing with anyone, although the room you get may have a bunk bed in it, so you could have a room with a mate or whatever.
Pub rooms aren’t perfect by any stretch, each location where I’ve stayed I have had many issues of note with the accommodation, though only on my last night did I actually consider leaving, and it was only because I had decided to combine my last 2 days into one, something I’ll get to in that post.
Finally, or rather to begin proper, the route.
In general I went for the most direct with a modification or two.
I wanted to travel along a bit of the coast line, originally, though some time ago now I’d planned to go along the Great Ocean Road and Mt Gambier and work my way along like that through Adelaide and up to Woomera.
Over time that plan changed and Mt Gambier has become something I’ll do on another trip. Yet the coast idea remained so aside from my first night’s stop in at Kingston SE it was a mostly direct route.
The route
I planned the route using Google Maps / Google Earth. Yes my car has GPS, as does my phone. But I like to
know
my route, having a GPS is being informed about the route.
I also write my route out, where to turn at which intersection and where I need to be heading towards. Which major towns I should be heading towards.
I use the road signs.
With the road signs and knowing not just where I’m going but which towns I have to pass through to get there I feel much more confident when I’m driving.
The GPS is there as a last resort.
I am also very thankful for Google Street View having that so I can check intersections before leaving. Ones that look like they might be problematic or to look exactly where the exit for a highway or whatever might be has on every road trip I’ve done been of great usefulness. Likewise checking to see what sort of parking is available for accommodation and other such things has been useful.
I didn’t take a huge amount of photos during this trip (I did it in mid-May 2014) as, well I’m driving, kinda hard to take photos when you’re doing that. Also I only take photos of stuff that I find notable, so there’ll be a mix of room photos, and Woomera photos. Also probably a few photos that I may or may not have tweeted.