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Michelle O'Riordan takes a year from rowing and travels the world. Part IV - 11th November 2003 (Michelle's outback road trip).

Michelle's Grand Tour (part IV)

Michelle O'Riordan
2006-03-12 12:50:35

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Hello one and all - long time no diary!!!! Do not despair as here is the next installment:

In my last email I was about to head off into the outback with two unknown people that I had managed to hitch a lift with - things didn't start off too well when Barbara the owner of the Mitsubishi 4x4 monster had to have a new engine fitted only the day before we left. I had visions of us breaking down in the middle of the outback, withering in the sun with no shade to protect us and running out of water before anyone came to our rescue. With gas stations some 100km apart, no mobile phone coverage and not much in between except mile after mile of red sand, scrub and the the odd kangaroo it really seemed like madness to be doing this!

I shared the journey of 2,300km with two italians Barbara and Daniele. Daniele, like me was also hitching a ride. When the two of them got chatting in italian, I sometimes didn't know if they were arguing or just talking as they seemed to be so loud and passionate!

The van as it turned out, ran pretty smoothly - she was a dual-fuel vehicle which I thought was very appropriate considering my environmental background! You could switch between liquid gas and petrol with a flick of the switch - you just had to remember to flick it back to petrol if you decided to stop as we had a scary moment when the van wouldn't start - gas just isn't powerful enough to get the engine going.

Our first major stop was Adelaide, some 700km west of Melbourne. On the way there we stopped to have dinner. Nearly every australian town has a public barbecue you can use so it was just a matter of hunting down the local park and voila, we were cooking sausages for dinner - very surreal! We spent the best part of a day in Adelaide - its a nice city, not too big and pretty laid-back. The sun was out so we made the most and sunbathed in the botanical gardens. The funniest experience in Adelaide ...