When plans don’t work out
My first idea was to go to Perth by train. Seemed, I had to travel back to Adelaide to catch the train. Unfortunately, two weeks before the trip, the train tracks were washed away by flooding. Now, I had to look into alternatives.
Next best option would be to go by bus. There is, for sure, no bus for the whole tour. I tried to figure out if I could find a way all through. Not possible! The Eyre highway isn’t covered by any bus service. Partly, yes. Pieces from Adelaide and Port Augusta to the west, and pieces from Balladonia to the west, but nothing through the Nullarbor. Though, that also wasn’t an option.
Renting a car? I looked into what it would take for driving all the Eyre highway by my own. Seems to be doable. When I looked into the rentals… I learned that – different from a German international driver license (I’m used to) – with a dutch one you need an additional paper from the wheelers club. Why would be a paper from a wheelers club be more official than a drivers license from the government? Makes no sense to me, not at all. Thus, I didn’t have that paper (I didn’t plan to rent in the first place, thus I hadn’t looked into requirements back home). This option, also, gone…
Left me with the one thing I didn’t want: flying. There was a flight from Alice Springs to Perth, with a price tag like I wanted to buy the plane. And there was the option via Adelaide, less than 30% of that price tag. (What is the logic in that?) I also had already booked a bus back to Adelaide. Seemed, available flight tickets wouldn’t match the bus times.
Thus, canceling the bus, booking the flight, add a hotel in Perth.
Had to reschedule three days and make things work, according to a different time zone.
This kind of challenges also belongs to travelling. Love the puzzle!
At the airport control I had to realise, that I forgot to put some camping gear back in the checked-in luggage, which wasn’t allowed in the cabin. No worries at this airport: the called my check-in bag back, gave me the opportunity to put these things in it and go through the process one more time. All fixed. Still early at the gate: time to get productive.
After I got settled in Perth, I took a first stroll through the neighbourhood, did some groceries for breakfast. And prepared for a midnight video call.
