A first trip ‘round the world, part, part 21

During the previous evening, JP and I had vaguely envision hitchhiking on land from Perth to Adelaide, while leaving our personal belongings and the team’s ski equipment on the ship. 

We figured that with the continuing strike, the ship wouldn't leave Adelaide, our next stop, till July 16, and looking at some map we found on board, we thought that we might rejoin the Galileo-Galilei on time and board it well before it would depart for Melbourne, our final destination. 

While it never came to our mind that leaving all of our gear onboard and chancing a trip hitchhiking was not really a responsible thing to do, we also underestimated our land itinerary. We would travel the one section of Australia's Highway 1, that cuts across the famous Nullarbor Plain from Western Australia into South Australia. 

In 1971, this road wasn’t fully paved either and among other peculiarities, it included the longest straight stretch of highway in the world, namely 91.1 miles without any single bend or turn between Caiguna and Balladonia. In total, we were looking at covering 2,046 miles in less than six days. 

We had no clue if that was possible, if we could get enough rides to take us there, but we thought that by traveling as two separate parties, JP and Gisele, me and Helen, we should have no problem getting rides. We went to collect our per-diem allowance (AUS$15 per day) to have a few more dollars handy and were now ready to hit the road. 

At the last minute, however, JP’s girlfriend, had a change of heart and decided to stay on the ship instead of taking a chance hitchhiking. Mine stuck with me. We immediately walked out to the port area, and thirty minutes later, we got a ride on a big Australian truck that was headed east on Route 94. 

 

Everything was going as planned, our driver was a happy-go-lucky chap and about 7 hours later he dropped us at Coolgardie, a small, old mining ghost town, some 360 miles from Perth. It was about 6 pm and night was falling fast in that early winter season. 

Quite rapidly it became cold and we didn’t have enough warm clothing with us to stay comfortable. This was typical desert climate, with cool nights that turned even colder during winter. Traffic quickly slowed down to a trickle and no vehicle was picking us up. 

We grew quite worried. Hours passed as the air became more frigid and to make a long story short, we sad alongside the highway all night long. 

By himself, Jean-Pierre was able to get to Norseman, another small town, about 100 miles farther from where we were, in several rides, but at night, just like us, his luck ran out..