I was recently offered a job in Melbourne and so I decided to leave my home town of Perth, Western Australia and move to Melbourne, Victoria.
Not wishing to do things the easy way I decided to drive my 38 year old Alfa from Cottesloe Beach, Perth, Western Australia to Sydney Opera House, Sydney, New South Wales across the Nullabor Plain.
I arrived 2 days ago and I will drive from Sydney down to Melbourne next week. I am pleased to say that in spite of my car’s age (1974 Alfa 105 GTV 2000) it didn’t skip a beat in all of the 4,000 km. Testament to an excellent restoration if I don’t say so myself.
I have attached some pictures but if you follow the link you can view a more complete set of pictures from my Perth to Sydney trip.
https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/35225118/1/Perth to Sydney?h=0c181e
I call this trip my Sea-to-Shining Sea Tour. I actually took about 500 ml of sea water and sand from Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia and plonked it in the waters of Sydney Harbor, New South Wales. I wonder if this will precipitate a major climatic event?
In total it was a distance from Perth to Sydney of 4,255.81 km (adjusted for non stock tyre size) driven in 4-5 days. The car was fully laden with spare fuel, luggage, tools, various spares and a rather tubby 96kg driver. Again adjusting for a non stock tyre size of 195/65 R14 89H my average fuel economy was 9.86 liters per 100km (23.85 mpg). The best fuel economy I got was 9.00 liters per 100 km (26.13 mpg) which was form Perth to Yellowdine (the very first stop of my trip). The worst fuel economy I got was 10.73 liters per 100 km (21.92 mpg) for the trip from Eucla to Nundroo - then again I did let the car idle for 30 minutes while I sat and ate lunch at Eucla so maybe that didn't help. I also wonder how fuel quality impacts on fuel efficiency and how much more fuel I could have saved if only I had been a little less tubby? For those of you who are interested, the total fuel cost for the journey using normal unleaded (91 octane) was $718.43 and I used about 460 litres in total.
For those who are interest. Fuel costs for 91 unleaded per litre in February 2012 were as follows:
Yellowdine - Western Australia - $1.459
Coolgardie - Western Australia - $1.485
Caiguna - Western Australia - $1.940
Eucla - Western Australia - $1.800
Nundroo - South Australia - $1.569
Poochera - South Australia - $1.690
Port Augusta - South Australia - $1.379
Burra - South Australia - $1.459
Mildura - Victoria - $1.419
Darlington Point - New South Wales - $1.499
Goulburn - New South Wales - $1.429
I took an extensive collection of spares and tools including a low entry 20kg trolley jack! and ended up needing none of them. My friends and family thought that such a trip was fool hardy especially given the remoteness of the Nullabor Plain. Thankfully the only thing that went wrong was my seat belt buckle broke on the evening before my departure and this forced me to make a quick swap with the passenger’s seat belt. I suppose I was lucky to be travelling alone in this respect. I can also confidently add that at no time did my engine temperature exceed 180 degrees F (82 degrees C) and 98% of the time it remained at a constant 175 degrees F. I had two electric fans fitted to the car (12 inch pull & 10 inch push) before I left. Outside temperatures often ranged from 35-40 degress C. I did learn that the harder one drives the more oil one burns and that only BP service stations sell Castrol GTX 20W-50 (my oil of choice).
I only drove after dawn and before dusk to avoid hitting a kangaroo or other marsupial. I thought it odd that while I saw many dead kangaroos on the side of the road I didn't not see a single living kangaroo during the entire journey. There was a mouse plague (perhaps plague is too strong a word) at Caiguna and when I opened the bonnet of my car after staying the night there, a few mice darted for cover - they were probably eating out the electrics!!! Next time I'll put a mouse trap or two in the engine bay.
Now who says you can’t drive an old Alfa across this great continent of ours in the middle of summer? Piece of cake!
Not wishing to do things the easy way I decided to drive my 38 year old Alfa from Cottesloe Beach, Perth, Western Australia to Sydney Opera House, Sydney, New South Wales across the Nullabor Plain.
I arrived 2 days ago and I will drive from Sydney down to Melbourne next week. I am pleased to say that in spite of my car’s age (1974 Alfa 105 GTV 2000) it didn’t skip a beat in all of the 4,000 km. Testament to an excellent restoration if I don’t say so myself.
I have attached some pictures but if you follow the link you can view a more complete set of pictures from my Perth to Sydney trip.
https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/35225118/1/Perth to Sydney?h=0c181e
I call this trip my Sea-to-Shining Sea Tour. I actually took about 500 ml of sea water and sand from Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia and plonked it in the waters of Sydney Harbor, New South Wales. I wonder if this will precipitate a major climatic event?
In total it was a distance from Perth to Sydney of 4,255.81 km (adjusted for non stock tyre size) driven in 4-5 days. The car was fully laden with spare fuel, luggage, tools, various spares and a rather tubby 96kg driver. Again adjusting for a non stock tyre size of 195/65 R14 89H my average fuel economy was 9.86 liters per 100km (23.85 mpg). The best fuel economy I got was 9.00 liters per 100 km (26.13 mpg) which was form Perth to Yellowdine (the very first stop of my trip). The worst fuel economy I got was 10.73 liters per 100 km (21.92 mpg) for the trip from Eucla to Nundroo - then again I did let the car idle for 30 minutes while I sat and ate lunch at Eucla so maybe that didn't help. I also wonder how fuel quality impacts on fuel efficiency and how much more fuel I could have saved if only I had been a little less tubby? For those of you who are interested, the total fuel cost for the journey using normal unleaded (91 octane) was $718.43 and I used about 460 litres in total.
For those who are interest. Fuel costs for 91 unleaded per litre in February 2012 were as follows:
Yellowdine - Western Australia - $1.459
Coolgardie - Western Australia - $1.485
Caiguna - Western Australia - $1.940
Eucla - Western Australia - $1.800
Nundroo - South Australia - $1.569
Poochera - South Australia - $1.690
Port Augusta - South Australia - $1.379
Burra - South Australia - $1.459
Mildura - Victoria - $1.419
Darlington Point - New South Wales - $1.499
Goulburn - New South Wales - $1.429
I took an extensive collection of spares and tools including a low entry 20kg trolley jack! and ended up needing none of them. My friends and family thought that such a trip was fool hardy especially given the remoteness of the Nullabor Plain. Thankfully the only thing that went wrong was my seat belt buckle broke on the evening before my departure and this forced me to make a quick swap with the passenger’s seat belt. I suppose I was lucky to be travelling alone in this respect. I can also confidently add that at no time did my engine temperature exceed 180 degrees F (82 degrees C) and 98% of the time it remained at a constant 175 degrees F. I had two electric fans fitted to the car (12 inch pull & 10 inch push) before I left. Outside temperatures often ranged from 35-40 degress C. I did learn that the harder one drives the more oil one burns and that only BP service stations sell Castrol GTX 20W-50 (my oil of choice).
I only drove after dawn and before dusk to avoid hitting a kangaroo or other marsupial. I thought it odd that while I saw many dead kangaroos on the side of the road I didn't not see a single living kangaroo during the entire journey. There was a mouse plague (perhaps plague is too strong a word) at Caiguna and when I opened the bonnet of my car after staying the night there, a few mice darted for cover - they were probably eating out the electrics!!! Next time I'll put a mouse trap or two in the engine bay.
Now who says you can’t drive an old Alfa across this great continent of ours in the middle of summer? Piece of cake!