(Warning: the following blog contains copious amounts of sarcasm using ‘Sarcastica’ font)
Crossing the Nullarbor is one of the quintessential travels of Australia. It has to be... there are only two bitumen roads into/out of WA. The other is 2000kms north near Kununurra!
Leading up to our crossing (makes it sound like some epic journey doesn’t it) there was a fair bit of pessimistic talk from those we’d spoken to who had done the crossing. “Boring”, “It goes on and on”, “There’s nothing to see”. Some people cross it in two days! and I think that’s where a lot of its reputation starts. Driving anywhere for that long each day with the scenery flashing by will eat away at anyone’s sanity.
...so we did it in three and a bit days!
Day 1:
We left our camp site at Lucky Bay (in Cape Le Grand National park) with our fellow travellers Anne & Ron and headed back into Esperance before heading north to Norseman and then heading east across the infamous ‘Nulla’. We had heard that taking the dirt track from Cape Le Grand north east to Balladonia was pretty rough and slow going and wouldn’t save us any time, so we opted for the longer but far more comfortable journey via Norseman. (We’ve had our fair share of corrugations from the Tanami thanks very much). So after lunch at a play ground in Norseman and a bit more afternoon driving, we had our first night at a road side rest area (Woorlba Homestead) where you just pull in and find a spot in amongst the bush to set up. We thought we’d chosen well as it was a huge area and only a couple of other cars/caravans were there. That was until nightfall and the never ending road trains kept going past all night... They’re lit up like Christmas trees and can be heard through the still of night from a far distance. Some pulled in for rest breaks, one even kind enough to leave his truck running for over an hour while he slept. Mmmmm, not much sleep that night for the adults... kids were fine as they can sleep through an atomic bomb! This was also our first (and last!) over night stay at a road side rest area for our whole trip.
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| Woorlba Homestead Rest Area. Is that a truck I hear? |
Waking up bleary eyed from our restless night, we brushed our teeth with coffee! and packed up for more of the Nulla. Not long after starting we finally reached the infamous 90 mile straight sign... and that was the best entertainment for the day!
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| Max Entertainment |
Eucla was a bit surprising, as it sits up on the bluff and gives some magnificent views of the surrounding ‘flatness’ and the beautiful view of the southern ocean from about 5kms away. You can just see it on the horizon. Anyway we managed to get a spot on the edge of the camp ground/cliff so we were happy campers that night. Great way to end an action packed day.
Day 3:
Leaving the highlight town of WA (heavy sarcasm there), we reached the WASA border. This was a bit momentous for us after having spent over 3 months of our trip in WA. SA was warned to keep up to the benchmark set by WA. For the next 100 odd kms, the road actually runs very close (100m or so) to the coast line. And the coast line (when approachable) is actually breath taking (no sarcasm).
Our third night was a great camp spot at Cactus beach, south of the little town of Penong. (#793 in the Camps 6 book!) Keen surfers may know this beach for its great left and right breaks (I googled that) so the camp ground was full of blond haired, tanned waifs.
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| The Great Australian Bight |
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| Cactus Beach |
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| Song Sung Blue... |
Day 4:
We could have spent a while at this well appointed camp at Cactus beach, but feeling the urge to move on to get to our destination of Streaky Bay to set up for Xmas, we packed everything up again and moved on.
I don’t think there’s an official ending to the Nullarbor (which by the way is Latin for Null – no & Arbor – trees) but reaching Ceduna town seems like the common thinking. We’d passed many little towns/roadhouses on the way and the scenery along the way is certainly not all boring and flat barren land... it does have some redeeming features.
So anyway we went through the quarantine check point at Ceduna and felt duped when the inspector didn’t even bother checking the containers in the trailer (just a glance in the fridge)... we could have kept some fruit and vegies! So needing to re fill the pantry we stopped at Ceduna for food, fuel and water before heading off the Eyre hwy onto the Flinders hwy to Streaky Bay.
We initially had plans to bush camp at Perlubie beach (#722) having heard nothing but good things about it, but after finally finding it (after countless side tracks) we were very disappointed with it so drove into Streaky bay town (am I the only one who’s thinking of bacon?). After being disappointed by another beach/bush camp at Sceale bay (#718) we opted to stay back at the one and only town caravan park for 2 nights. (Xmas will have to be somewhere else!!)
Anyway the caravan park was a big hit with the kids as they were in their element. TV room, games room and pedal go-carts to hire. Plus we all went for a paddle/swim in the beautiful, shallow, wave less, sheltered warm waters of the bay. That night (being a bit warm and warn out from rushing around trying to find a bush camp) we enjoyed dinner at the pub (with the great company of Anne and Ron of course).
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| Hells Angels are in town |
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| Need a tow? |
Two nights wasn’t enough for the kids, but we had to move on and find a spot to spend Christmas. As Ron and Anne had to be back in Melbourne before Xmas, we once again said farewell (again!... but this time for good) and headed south to check out the National Park at Port Lincoln.
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| A sad farewell. |
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