With petrol running north of $1.40 a litre I was still tempted. Perth around 3,000 kms from here, a thousand of which is that god awful drive across the nullabor.

Then all you needed to do was to jump on a Tiger flight.... oh wait, that is me.
Drive to work (at Tullamarine Airport), Jump on Tiger, Get my folks to pick me up in Perth...
[edit] and if it is $1.40 a litre, then it is in excess of $2 a Litre on the Nullabor at the few servo's there are.
Where in Perth are you OP ?