Final cannon ball run.....

Unbelievably today was our last day, and it was to be a big one, in terms of kilometres at least as we would be driving from Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills to Home, just outside of Geelong, Victoria.

I started the day before the alarm clock, as with most days, I have been getting up at sunrise and normally hitting the pillow each night around 9pm, this touring lifestyle is much different to the daily grind that will resume next week.

As we had packed the car the night before all that we needed to do was have
a shower and jump in the car, breakfast would be in a roadhouse.

There was a little rain in the air, but this didn't deter Katie, she took the first stint to (United) Tintinara Roadhouse.  We were hopeful this would be a good spot for our hearty breakfast, as the parking lot had a few trucks in it and the fuel prices appeared good too.

On entry, we were disappointed. The venue was not much more than a hot bain-marie with dim sims, chicken strips and one egg and bacon sandwich.

We made some selections as we were starving and then ate and basically ran, I worked out that we had enough fuel to reach Horsham, so we skipped refuelling and pushed on.  Personally, I didn't want to support this very poor operation any more than we had already and the operators were unclean and scruffy, in a bad way.

Onward it was now my turn to take the reins of the trusty Subaru Forester realistically there is not much to report.  Field after field, of ever-changing wheat, canola, cows and sheep.

Horsham was time for fuel, we had around 10 litres left and could have made it to Stawell but we also needed a pit stop too.  It was hoped that this would be a good place for lunch but after eating a bag of Allens Part Mix there was no chance of that.

Further, from Horsham, this time Katie was master and commander till we arrived at the Golden Arches in Ararat, sometimes when in a hurry it is best to go with what you know.

The Western Hiway is never a favourite of mine but this stretch from Horsham to Ararat was particularly busy today so it was appreciated when i took over that the route took a turn from this and followed mostly back roads south of Ballarat through Skipton Rokewood and Fyansford to Geelong.

Please come with us for the final journey.  It took us over 8 hours, here you can do it in 2 minutes!

Some final stats from entire the journey

• Distance - 7788 km
• Fuel Consumed 561 Litres
• Fuel Cost $983.71
• Avg Fuel Eff 7.49L/100km
• Ave price/Ltr $1.751
• Highest Price $2.209 (Shell, Ayres Rock Resort)

Katie's final comments:
I thoroughly enjoyed our trip. Not having been to Central Australia before, I didn't really know what to expect. But I'm pleased to report it's more than red dirt and some famous rocks. One of the biggest things I enjoyed were the country people. They were so friendly and so willing to have a chat about life. We met some characters certainly too, who gave us a laugh and we even made a few new friends. Passing through each new town you can visibly see the hardship that many have had to endure due mostly to drought, but also shrinking population. Small towns are fading away. I hope that the tide may turn and people start heading to the country once more to rebuild these beautiful places. The drive can get quite boring in places, but at the same time forced me to stop and appreciate exactly where I was. At one point we were in such a wide open space, I thought it may go on that way forever. We have learnt quite a bit on this trip about Aboriginal culture and have witnessed that unfortunately a large divide still remains in areas of Australia, between indigenous and non-indigenous people. 

Some trip highlights for me included the 10km base walk of Uluru, The Field of Lights dinner, our bush camp in Alice Springs, the power and silence at Standley Chasm, meeting and feeding Alpacas, star-gazing, coming across amazing wildlife in their natural habitat and wine tasting. I would happily return the red centre one day.

Thanks for following along with us and till next time, Happy Travels