Melbourne to Gawler

The drive begins.  First stop Coffee & Soul for my double-shot latte and toasted banana bread.

They were open for my 6:40am departure - a welcomed relief indeed.

I then set off down Burke Rd towards the freeway and my first photo opportunity presents itself - 3 hot-air balloons.  Out comes the camera within the first 3 minutes of driving to WA:

The camera stayed on the front seat untouched for the next couple of hours.  Freeway works held me up a bit, but once I got onto the Western Highway, the traffic wasn't too bad.  Mind you, at 7am why would you expect anything else?

Bacon and egg burger at Maccas Ballarat went down well.  

Here's some windmills that you've all probably seen.

It's probably not the right thing to do so early in the piece, but the truth is that I didn't really want to stop to take that pic - I was forced to make my first pit-stop at the side of the road.   Maybe it was all the tension of getting going being released, but whatever, I'm glad I packed a roll of toilet paper!

All good again... I'm away at 110Km/hr.

I'm not sure if it's just my circle of friends, but when I tell people I'm going to drive across Australia, it's common to be reminded not to fall asleep at the wheel.  I'm beginning to wonder if this is because of the millions of dollars of marketing going into the campaign.  

I suppose its a sensible message, but I don't appreciate the shock tactics employed to make a statement of the obvious:

Next they'll be leaving dead bodies on the side of the road to remind us not to fall asleep.

Anyway, awake at the wheel, on I went through Victoria's wheat belt.  I decided I needed a photograph to cheer myself up so here's one of some piles of grain just piled up on the ground.  Now these are nice piles.

I wondered if this meant it was a bumper crop this year, but apparently not.  

Have you heard about the silo murals?  A nice break in the journey to photograph grain silo artwork.  This one is at a place called Kaniva.  It's in Victoria about 30 minutes short of the SA border.

A close-up:

Here's a photo that captures the sort of terrain I was driving through for a few hours.

Here's a 10 second panoramic view.  This gives you a pretty good feel for the area.

I crossed into South Australia without a peep from the COVID police.  The SA premier had announced that from midnight, people coming from Victoria will have to quarantine / isolate.  I made it to the border at about 1pm... plenty of time.

Even though I have a permit to enter SA, the announcement asked for those who had been in the greater Brisbane area to get tested.  So over lunch in Bordertown, I researched into where I could go get tested to comply.  

So of course I googled "COVID testing near me"!  

I found that a testing station was at Talem Bend, a mere 175km from where I was having lunch.  They closed at 4pm, so I couldn't dilly dally!  I was told there is likely to be queues given COVID was now appearing in NSW, Victoria, and Queensland.

I arrived at the testing station to find no queues whatsoever.

The lovely people shoving things up my nose told me I'd be notified of the result by text message in 1 or 2 days time.  I just hoped I wouldn't be crying after I received the text message.  My whole trip is being overshadowed by the growing realisation that not only may I not be able to drive into WA, but, if I turn back, I mightn't be allowed to return to Victoria without 2 weeks in a quarantine hotel at my expense!

Unfortunately I travelled from Brisbane to Melbourne on the 7th January - that coincides with people having been infected with COVID in the greater Brisbane area - that incorporates Brisbane airport!

The next leg of my journey takes me across half of SA, from Gawler through to Streaky Bay.  I look forward to sharing that part of the journey with you.