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 My plan was to drive about 500 km today and do the final 100 km into Perth tomorrow in time to drop off the van by 14:30 as required. However, I've just learned from the hotel staff here that because of the rain, the road to Perth has been closed since the early hours of this morning. The Main Roads website, Twitter feed and telephone information line all confirm that the road is closed but give no indication whether it is likely to reopen in the foreseeable future. The weather forecast says that the rain will get a bit lighter but might not actually stop for days so it seems unlikely to me that the road will reopen before tomorrow. My options are to stay here and wait for the road to reopen or to take the only other paved route to Perth, which is about 500 km further but is far enough South that it's out of the region of heavy rainfall. The hotel staff here are happy for me to stay for a second night because they've got a lot of rooms free now that people from Perth can't get through to here. However, after spending about an hour or so doing as much research as I could, I've decided to go round the long way since I know how much extra time that will take whereas I have no idea how long I might end up waiting here if I choose to stay. I've just phoned the van hire company to warn them that I might be late returning the van but actually I think I might still be able to get to Perth on time. My attempt didn't get off to a good start when I drove the length of one building and then found my way out of the car park blocked by this dustbin lorry. UTC Time: 02:15, Thursday 23 January 2014 Local Time: 10:15, Thursday 23 January 2014 Estimate of longitude: 121° 27' 34.09" E = 121.459470° Estimate of latitude: 30° 45' 30.89" S = -30.758580° Possible error on position estimate: 2000 metres | |