4,288km later

Well, we did it. We travelled from Adelaide, in South Australia, all the way along the coast into Western Australia and to Perth.

Firstly, Sebastian brought the car. Or should I say the Monster Truck. It's a Nissan Patrol, with a lot of extra hustle; the biggest tyres you can get, a 4inch lift, 2 extra tyres on the back, and is setup with draws and a fridge that slides out in the back. It is a BEAST! You climb in and feel the world fall away beneath you, towering over people in normal cars.

Bad news was that we didn't manage to sell the Pathfinder in Adelaide before we had to leave. We were on a short time scale as Masa had to be in Perth to see a friend before visiting family on the Gold Coast and then flying back home at the end of March. So we ended up travelling in both cars. Which meant a lot more driving for both of us as we weren't able to share it, and a lot more money spent on fuel! Fuel stations do not exist in the middle of the wilderness we drove through, and those that did were around 50-60cents more per litre than inner city.

I'm warning you now, the South and West coasts are SO gorgeous. So I took a lot of pictures. I've managed to narrow it down to just a few of the best for you, but there's still a lot, because let's face it, 4,000km is a long way!

So the first exciting thing that happened was Sebastian's first beach drive. It was going great for a while, until "I want to try driving on those sand dunes". You'll never guess what happened next...

Yep, bogged it. 3 attempts to get out ourselves failed, so as it got darker we went for help. It took 9 other people to help us dig it out and push it back to harder sand. Not embarrassing at all!

Next thing that happened was this. (that's a mechanic). 

There is a leak in the gearbox, and explorations say it's most likely the top seal, so the whole gear box will need to be taken out and resealed, but the mechanic told us that if we keep pumping oil into it, it will get us to Perth.

And then this happened. (that's a different mechanic) (and a different problem).

The carburettor shook itself loose. So it needed a new one. Which needed ordering. And then fitting…

So while we waited we went a found a giant shark.

Finally back on the road we found purple salt lakes and a road separating them from the ocean.

And we found a cave. Or a sinkhole. Or just some giant footprint in the ground.

We slept in the tent - sideways on the mattress to fit all three of us on it. And every morning we woke up to sunshine and a beautiful view.

We found so many beautiful spots.

We crossed the Nullarbor Plain - a vast endless road of nothing for miles and miles - sorry I'm in Australia, for kms and kms!

Followed a side road which took us to the edge of a cliff.

It was a bit windy!

We found the thirteenth apostle.

And Seb had chance to play off-roading with his new car.

I was reborn as a baby kangaroo...

And we finally crossed the border into Western Australia

Where it became even more rural

At the end of the Nullabor we were greeted with a longer long straight road

And still Seb was under the car every morning to put another litre of oil in the gear box.

Found an old mine

Seb discovered he could walk on water

And we wanted to know what it would be like to be birds...

I found some great places to do some yoga

It was white sand beaches galore

The second beach driving attempt went much more smoothly!

And finally Masa and I found a tree to climb...

It was 'only' 52m, the smallest of the 3 in the area. There are metal poles sticking out to make a spiral staircase, and a thin wire mesh to create a sort of tunnel. But it's not enough to catch you if you fell. There's no harness, no people around… You wouldn't find that in England!

Then finally, 200km from Perth, tragedy struck. Sebastian pulled over on the freeway after the Patrol had stopped steering. Roadside recovery found that the front right bearings had broken and the swivel hubs had shattered. The car was immovable. So the tow truck comes along as we pile everything from the Patrol into the Pathfinder, and takes the car to a garage in Bussleton, about 30km away. The Pathy had been sat with the hazard lights on, and when we tried to start her up the battery was flat. So Mr Tow Man turned around, gave us a jump start and we drove off to find a quiet spot in the forest to pitch our tent for the night, revving the car a lot before turning the engine off, praying it would start in the morning.

It did start, and we managed to drive to Perth and drop off Masa with his friend. 

So 2 weeks and 4,288km further down the road it was time to say goodbye to Masa, split and go our own ways.