#4: [06-Aug-10]

#3: [08-Feb-05]

#1: [21-Oct-02]

07-Dec-2004 -- The long suffering boyfriend and I ventured to the west (from Sydney) in a humungous campervan – “how appropriate” our queer and not so queer friends quipped back home. The over eager young man at the rental vehicle company had given us an upgrade to this huge two bedroom and luxurious bathroom and toilet palace on wheels, we didn’t have the heart to tell him we were going off road to do a bit of confluence hunting, let alone mention that our fuel costs would automatically treble. He was cute, so that was our excuse.

The CP is easy enough to find, just south of the main road at a major roadhouse called Madura. Big Bertha (we won’t call it “Priscilla”, as she doesn’t look as good in drag as her more famous sister) managed the dirt tracks surprisingly well. However those rain clouds were looming and we’d be bogged to our Big Bertha bathroom in the mud that would quickly follow. We managed to park Big Bertha and hike the last 1.5 km (in sensible shoes, of course).

Did the Confluence dance, took the obligatory photos and made a small temporary marker out of the many quartz stones lying around (I know, I know, we're not allowed to this, but try telling that to my bf). Made it back to the Campervan just as the rain started and managed to lumber back to Highway One with just minutes to spare. The old biddies in the Roadhouse did a double take when they saw us comming out of the scrub in Big Bertha. We’re trying to do a CP in each of the Australian States and the Northern Territory. After this one in Western Australia, we’ve only got Victoria and Tasmania to do. Hopefully, in something a little less conspicuous!

This CP is located halfway in the “Central Western Time Zone” – an unofficial time zone adopted by the locals, otherwise there is a massive two and a half hour leap in time zones at the Western Australian / South Australian border, in summer. As it is UT (Universal Time, formerly known as Greenwich Mean Time) + 8hr: 45mins, it fits between the two time zones neatly, if not a bit clumsily when it comes to adjusting clocks. You won’t find it marked on any official time zone maps anywhere. Only this official looking (WA Government) sign at 125° 30’ on the Eyre highway proclaims this little known geographic oddity. And you saw it here first, courtesy of Izzy & Collin…with a bit of help from Big Bertha and the good folks of the Degree Confluence Project!