The "Big Paddock"

Friday, 27/5/11

We have started the trip across the Nullarbor, known around here as the big paddock.  Our first stop was at the BP service station on the road out of Ceduna as the price of fuel is the cheapest we have seen since leaving Griffith. Next stop was the Oyster Bar on the side of the road to pick-up another dozen oysters, they are delicious.  From there we travelled to Penong, a very small town famous for hundreds of windmills and possibly more wombats.  You can see wombat holes in all the paddocks and along the sides of the road. We called into an old wool shed museum and craft shop. It was interesting but unfortunately not at all like it would have been in it's original days.  It was last used as a piggery and now has a sloping floor. Next stop was Nundroo where we found a roadhouse with a caravan park with very basic facilities but as there was not a good campsite around the area we decided to stay the night. We had a nice roast dinner in the roadhouse restaurant.

Road to Yalata

Saturday, 28/5/11

We travelled towards Yalata, passed the sign which told us that we were at the Eastern End of the Treeless Plain. There are many signs on the trip which make interesting reading and photos, ranging from animals crossing, to the Royal Flying Doctor emergency landing strips on the road where the road widens and is specially marked for the planes to land.

Signs seen across the Nullarbor

We passed the Yalata Aboriginal Reserve then went down a side road to the Head of Bight Whale Watch area. There is a long boardwalk and viewing platform there and we were lucky to see two whales. They were very lethargic as they are still pregnant so it was a bit hard to see them clearly.The
 cliffs and beaches are brilliant in this area. We also saw the start of the "dog fence"and then found a great campsite at the 164k peg Rest Area. We met some nice people there and they convinced us to stay another day and meet their friends who were about to arrive, so Crawf and Glen went wood gathering and we had another campfire. Great time.


Eastern end of "Treeless Plain"





Head of Bight







Monday, 30-5-11

Left this campsite and continued along the long straight road until we came to Bunda Cliffs Lookout where we were told there are beautiful cliffs and beaches to see. This is so true.  We also wanted to say goodbye to "Misty" Thornton, the most beautiful border collie dog who was killed in an accident a couple of weeks ago and is buried at this lovely spot. We moved on to another lookout 13kms east of the WA border and had our lunch and used up the last of our salad veggies. We had cooked all our other vegetables last night ready for the trip into the next "country", Western Australia. We reached the WA border and passed the quarantine point without incident. I was so busy taking photos of the signs that I missed the only real wildlife we had seen all trip, three emus having a bath in a puddle on the side of the road just before the border.

From there we went to Mundrabilla Roadhouse for fuel, $1.81 p/l but this was cheaper than Eucla.



Bunda Cliffs



SA/WA Border



At the SA/WA Border

Tuesday, 31-5-11

Today we travelled to Madura, over Madura Pass with spectacular views of the Roe Plains.

As we approached Cocklebiddy Roadhouse we saw an orange vest on the right-hand side of the road. It was Andrew, the guy we met at Cowell. We talked to him for a few minutes and he seemed in good spirits and has raised a lot more money for the Cancer Council.

We continued on to Caiguna Blowhole, a limestone cave beside the road. This area has many caves which were eroded by water over thousands of years when this area was an inland sea.

From here we commenced the trip along the longest straight stretch of road in Australia, 90 mile straight, or 146.6 km. This straight stretch is then followed by several more long straight stretches. the bends in the road are hardly noticeable but they are bends.



90 Mile Straight



Caiguna Blowhole

We found another good campsite and there was already a fire still smoldering from the previous night so it didn't take much to get it going again.



90 mile straight



 Wednesday, 1-6-11

This morning we continued to Balladonia, topped up the fuel a little then found a nice rest area called Newman Rock and it sits on top of a huge granite rock from where you have a great view over the plains below and some salt lakes. There are also natural waterholes that attract lots of wildlife.

We then passed the Fraser Range Station camping area which is like a farm stay so we decided not to stay as we are over the farm experience. People told us later that tours cost $40 each and there was nothing to see as they don't have any animals yet and it is not an area that can be cropped.

We arrived at Norseman and booked into the caravan park for 2 nights to do some washing and restock the food supply.

Norse, the horse that discovered gold



Thursday, 2-6-11 



Corrugated Iron Camels at Norseman

Norseman has a very good lookout from where you can see the gold mines, gypsum mine and the salt lakes as well as the large plains of the Nullarbor.

 

Gold was discovered when a horse, Norse, got a nugget stuck in his hoof.

 

It is a very old mining town but very neat and tidy considering it's age and history.

 



5th Wheeler & Truck at Salmon Gums

  Friday, 3-6-11

Today we left Norseman and headed south to Esperance. Very few campsites on the way so we stopped for lunch at Salmon Gums, so named because of the colour of the gum tree trucks in the area. Here we saw an interesting 5th Wheeler and truck, Crawf thinks it is a Land Cruiser made to look like a Peterbuilt truck.



Green Patch, WA





 

Next town was Green Patch, an agricultural town, and then came Gibson Soak, only a hotel, shop, service station and a couple of agricultural business. As we couldn't find a good campsite we continued into Esperance and as we were not sure if we could fit into the National Park we booked into the caravan park for a week to get the generator fixed, the ute serviced and to catch up with Cyril.