Monday, 11 May 2009

I was up at 5:15 AM and got packed and organised. Breakfast was provided from 6:00-I didn’t know that it was self-serve and was waiting for a cook to arrive-I thought we would get bacon & eggs! Wishful thinking! Reasonable continental breakfast that filled us up well.

JL took my photo in the street but it was still fairly dark outside.

We had to leave by 7 AM because we have to be in Whyalla by 8 AM to change over the trailer. The countryside is low scrub and wheat fields. There was quite a heavy sea mist in parts of the road. We had a quick stop at Whyalla to change the trailers and go to the loo and then we were on our way again to Port Augusta. During the break Andrew asked Lockie why the publican kept giving out free shots to the group. Lockie reckons its because the locals stay and drink-usually top shelf spirits-because they like to watch the antics of the young ones, particularly the girls.

This road is called “Long Sleep Plain” or maybe that is the name of the countryside just here.

Lockie suddenly put on the brakes and pulled over quickly because he had seen a pair of weggies-they are such beautiful birds.

We could now see the Flinders ranges in the distance.

Port Augusta.

We stopped at what “Wadlata Outback Centre” which is a great museum/display of Australia. No special focus on the aborigines-very well done. We spent a couple of hours here it seemed. Robbie is really suffering from last night!!

I phoned Liz again but no progress regarding the contracts.

JL left us at Port Augusta as she was meeting her sister here and they were going to Coober Pedy and then back to Adelaide. I’m sorry to see her go as she was a delight.

The land now is flat and bare with the Flinders ranges on our left. They are also bare. It is quite warm today. We just passed a sign to Mount Remarkable National Park.

Port Germein-we stopped here and all walked the longest wooden jetty in Australia-1532 m so it was a 3 km return walk. On our return we had lunch which today is salad bread rolls and lamingtons. These were a treat for the overseas visitors and all seemed to enjoy them. We left at 1:15 PM.

On the way we passed a saltbush nursery?? There must be use for it!

We are now on the final leg of our journey and everyone else seems to be asleep. I hope Lockie is still awake. He seems to be driving flat out so that we can get to Adelaide as soon as possible.

Once again we hit a dual highway about 100 km north of Adelaide. This made the trip into the city very quick and from memory we were there by 3:30 PM. Then began the process of dropping us all as close as possible to our accommodation. Jo at Coodlie Park had been able to get accommodation in a youth hostel for Tara and Andrew and they were the first drop-off. Robbie went with them but to a different hostel. Next was Maryanne at the Adelaide youth hostel. Myself and the other two girls had to go to the other side of town and there we said our goodbyes to Lockie.

I trundled my way down to the Austral and the young barmaid quickly got me organised. Major problem-there is no lift and I had to drag my bags up 4 flights of stairs. My knees almost gave way by the time I got to the top. The corridors creak but the room is clean. No facilities, but the shared bathroom appears to be very clean. I sorted myself out and then went for a walk.

Sadly this wonderful experience was over. I recommend it to anyone with some get up & go. It was so out of my comfort zone, but I really enjoyed it. And I have crossed the Nullarbor without having to concentrate on driving-I just sat and absorbed the scenary, wildlife and some unique parts of Australia.

My initial worries about the bus etc were very quickly overcome. After the first day I had my own seat organised , my cameras, my diary handy and just kept making notes. I came to enjoy the company of the others and driver,the terrific sandwiches each lunchtime, the meals that Lachie put together, the nibbles and beers at the end of each day. I had been concerned that my age would be a negative as I assumed that most of the others would be very young-which they were-but this was not the case. They all helped when necessary, were concerned when I had the trots, helped with tents etc. I was really impressed!

Unfortunately I never met Hassie-Jo’s husband- as he was away on a promotional trip but always found him easy to deal with on the phone.

Summing up-do it if you want to see Australia as it is. Walk on the Nullarbor,sleep on it and gaze at the stars at night.

I loved it!

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Sunday, 10 May 2009

I was up at 5:15 AM-and it is raining still. I intended to have a shower but I forgot my towel and I didn’t want to go back and unzip the tent etc to find it. I’ll have one tonight at the Cowell pub. But I did have a shave as there is plenty of hot water. I sat in the toilet block and wrote the diary-it was very quiet and the lights were on. Dawn came eventually so after a while I moved down to the BBQ area which has some shelter and got into conversation with Trevor-he told me about his life which made me feel pretty crappy as mine has been pretty good really.

Breakfast today was very much the same, muesli and toast-we had some of it in the camp kitchen as it was still raining. Then we dismantled the tents and left about 9 AM for surfing. We didn’t have to worry about the tents being wet as last night was the LAST night camping.

JL and Robbie went off to do their swimming with the great white sharks.

It’s a long way to the surfing beach-fisheries Bay. The surf was flat so I decided it was not worth the effort as I was only going to body surf. I walked quite a distance along the beach and back again to where the others were surfing and then I went up to the toilet blocks so that I could get all the sand off my feet and put my shoes and socks back on. It was very cold and we were all rugged up. I went back to see what was happening and realised that the waves were now reasonable so I regretted I hadn’t had a go-but I most likely would have gotten too cold.

We left the beach about 11:10 AM to go back to town to collect the trailer and then head off for lunch. It took 50 minutes to return to the caravan park and then back to town for coffee before heading to Glen Forrest animal park for lunch and to see the animals.

It is a wonderful small animal park with a variety of Australian animals that anyone could pet or feed. Even a koala climbs down from a tree at 1 PM to get its lunch!!  The aviary has dozens of birds of different species-I went crazy with the camera here. Andrew and Tara got caught by a number of Rainbows and they absolutely loved just sitting with the birds all over them. One rainbow took a real liking to Andrew’s face and kept putting its tongue on his cheek-to get salt?

I was surprised and pleased to see so many families here and their kids seemed to really enjoy the experience.

We had a sandwich lunch again-and then on the road to Cowell to stay at the pub for our last night.

We are driving across flat planes from Port Lincoln. There are lots of rest spots on the roads but not much traffic. There was a sign to Arno Bay that has a big aquaculture business.

We arrived at Cowell about 3:45 PM, parked in the back yard and took our luggage inside.  

Lockie found the licensee, and were given our room keys-separate room each. Bliss! The room is small, set up for 3-double bed with single above. It would only be 10’ long and 8’ wide but had a TV and fridge. But the bed was comfortable. I had a bit of a relax in my room and then a long hot shower.

What a beautiful pub, a really old style building. Unfortunately all the floors creaked and the men’s showers are way around the other side-it seemed about a 100m walk.

I changed into clean clothes and then took the cameras to see some of the town as it was getting dark. Very small place but no modern shops just the old style buildings. I took the cameras back and then went down to the bar for the happy hour. I met Fred and Mark -locals-in the bar before dinner. They were interested to see us and wanted to shout me a beer-but I didn’t want to get involved in a round so bought my own. I was the only one of our group to come down so far, so I took a bit of a wander around until others turned up and we sat in the lounge and chatted. We got on to ages, and Tara was the youngest at 18 and the Norwegian girl was 35 with the others in between. I easily won the prize for the oldest!

Schooner-our middy -was $2.50 during happy hour but that went up to $4.10 after the happy hour. I had three or four in the hour and another couple during dinner. I had a chicken palmy-not as good as the Sherbrooke hotel. Robbie and JL arrived about 7:30 PM just in time for dinner. Then we all went to the bar again and kept drinking. The worst thing about Coopers is the total lack of a hangover-said to be because of the high vitamin B in it.

Darren-the publican-gave out shots. I declined as I knew it would be disastrous for me. There is a video jukebox in the bar. I had never seen one of those but the young ones had and they kept playing videos. We were now drinking pints which were $5.50. It wasn’t long before Robbie was up on the bar dancing and carrying on which led to a lot of laughs. I couldn’t keep up with the young ones so left about 10:45.

I was in bed by 11 PM but didn’t sleep well. A couple of times for you know what.

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Saturday, 9 May 2009

Got up about 6:20 AM, recharged the phone and started to organise. Molly howled at 7 AM. I got her performance on video.
Before breakfast I wandered around and took some photos and video of Coodlie Park and the outlying buildings. It is a very peaceful place and the morning was superb. A lot of dry stone walls-the rocks have been collected from the paddocks by the WOOFIs who then build them.

We had breakfast and were away about 8:10 AM after helping with the washing up.

We have five more people on board now-Robbie and 4 females. They are doing a six-day loop from Adelaide back to Adelaide so the bus going to Perth overnights at Coodlie. The Perth bound passengers continue on from Coodlie and the “loops” join the bus coming from Perth.

We stopped at Colton bakery-Mark and his family run a small bakery on an honesty system which works very well. Very interesting talk by Mark and he also gave us a fruit bun and bread roll each. Just as we were leaving the mail/paper truck arrived-it also brings Mark’s flour supply which he trundled around the back in a wheelbarrow. People were stopping and using the honesty system to buy bread.

Elliston on Waterloo Bay
9:10 AM fine and sunny
Lockie took us along the Great Ocean Tourist Drive and the Elliston Cliff Top Drive and Sculptures. A really beautiful drive and scenery-I could compare it to the Great Ocean Road except that there was no forest here at all. Every year there is a sculpture competition and some of the sculptures were still in place-what are they saying?

General comment-the peninsular appears to be totally limestone. There is so much white rock in all fields from very small pebbles to reasonably sized rocks.

9:48 AM now overcast again-a lot of dry stone walls made from the limestone lying around. This trip really gives you an idea of the size of this country. On our seventh day travelling hundreds of kilometres per day and still going east. Tomorrow we will start going north instead of just travelling east. Flying doesn’t give you the same appreciation.
10:15 AM stopped at Cummings monument and look out. Magnificent cliffs and one solitary rock with an Osprey nest on the top. Locals refer to this a God, as there is only the one, they are having a go at The 12 Apostles in Vic.
On the other side of the highway is a lake.
10:45 AM more lakes on right-hand side now.
11:30 AM arrived at Port Lincoln-named by Matthew Flinders after his home town of Boston in Lincolnshire. Lockie drove up to Wilson’s lookout, however it was raining so no fun no view. After that we went straight to the caravan park.
We had a quick lunch and then we went off to the harbour to the tuna tour. I decided I wasn’t going to swim because it was $20 to hire a wetsuit and after yesterday I felt I would get too cold.
Very interesting and the concept was developed by Matt the owner and has cost over $1,000,000 to set up. Underwater viewing is available-the tuna are four years old and can weigh up to 40 kg and can grow to 100 kg. We stayed here for 3/4 of an hour and then back to wharf. It rained during the viewing.
Tara, Andrew & Robbie all had a go, I was amazed at how cold it must have been as Tara just literally froze and the expression on her face showed she was really suffering. Later JL had a go and she loved it.
We got back to the wharf by a 2:30 PM and went into town, I got beer and others got a coffee etc.
Back at the caravan park we put up the tents as there was a break in the weather. For some reason I got the set up wrong but Andrew helped and set me up specifically for rain as it had been raining on and off all day.

Rang S and R again-R was much more talkative than usual.

Then we sat around talking and drinking beer until time to have dinner.
Lockie had bought some lasagne and we had this plus salad. We all moved up to the camp kitchen because it was raining and Lockie needed the oven to be able to heat up the lasagne. At least it was a lot warmer up in there. More conversation and finally to bed at about 9:15 PM as nothing else to do.
Reasonable night but quite warm. Only had two mattresses because of the extra people. Managed to get some sleep. Had a pittrip about 1 AM.

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Friday, 8 May 2009

I only had four Coopers last night but still needed to get up once-3:15 AM and then again at 6:30 AM. But I was happy to have had at least five hours sleep. Very busy after Molly howled and we had breakfast of muesli, toast and coffee.

The first bus was away about 8 AM with the 3 passengers going to Perth. The others from that tour were to learn how to ride a surfboard today. They were to join us for the journey back to Adelaide.
We got away about 8:10 AM and have approximately one hour to drive. We turned on to Calca Bluff Rd and then on to Baird Bay Road.

Baird Bay-pretty little spot of maybe 20 homes. Our first stop was to be measured for wetsuits. My first try seemed to me to be okay but they wanted me in a size smaller. That was a real job to get into-I’m glad I don’t need to wear a corset. Then we boarded our vessel-holds about 12 to 14 comfortably and is purpose built. It takes about 20 minutes to reach our diving spot. Unfortunately no dolphins as yet so we went over to the sea lions.

A couple of sea lions came straight to the boat but not much activity-we then watched a mother and pup come down the hill into the water and then some more came around. Eventually we were allowed into a specific spot to dive.

What an experience! I had my usual snorkel problems but Allen-the owner-explained a few things to me.

I was finally swimming in the open ocean! It was only about 8 feet deep but here I was in the open ocean and not worrying about sharks.

The sea lions are fascinating and swam all around us. I was doing twists and turns and one was following my actions. Others were picking up stones and tossing them around and others just generally flying all around us. We spent about half an hour with them and I was getting quite tired.
I didn’t feel the cold while in the water even though it is only 16 1/2 to 17°. However on getting out of the water I was shaking. I had a rest and went back again from another 10 minutes or so. Suddenly we were called back because the dolphins were arriving.

We sped across to another area and were told we had to get into the water immediately when told because the dolphins only stay a very short while. The boat stopped quickly and Alan shouted go,go,go. We all jumped in as quickly as we could. It was terrific again. There were about eight of them-but so fast! And they have a lot of scratches on their bodies. I had goggle problems –the strap came apart and a lot of time wasted while the deckhand repaired it-and I missed a lot of action but it was a very special experience. The water is very clean and clear which made viewing easy.

As usual I bumped something and my leg started to bleed and I had to get some bandaids.

Then we motored back and were able to change and have coffee, Milo, biscuits etc. It took over an hour for my hands to get back some feeling.

We went to have lunch at a barbecue but it didn’t work so we moved on to Murphy’s Haystacks-granite outcrops. Wandered around here for about ½ an hour, the rocks are all different shapes and sizes. On then to Venus Bay via Port Kenny for lunch. Very nice quiet village.

After lunch we went back to Coodlie and then out for sand boarding. I walked slowly up the sand hills but didn’t do the boarding as the walk back would have ruined my knees. The sand hill they were using was virtually vertical-the ride down would have been terrific but getting back would have been disastrous for me.
We had a look at a couple of caves and then went back to Coodlie. We dismantled the tents and moved inside for the first time in nearly a week!

Baked dinner tonight-great to have baked lamb and all the trimmings, followed by apple pie and cream.
Got some photos of the moon.
We then went spotlighting but we only saw a couple of roos-no wombats unfortunately. Bed about 11:30 PM very tired. Very physical day but I found it hard to sleep. I was rugged up for the tent and I was too hot inside. I was sharing with Robbie, and as always I’m always worrying about waking the other person.

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Thursday, 7 May 2009

I got up about 6:30 AM-very late for me but couldn’t lie in any more plus needed a number two. No one else stirred until about 7:30 AM. I wandered around the cars and buildings after using the better of the two dunnies. The other is a tyre stuck on an old oil drum over a long drop. It looked a likely haunt for redbacks!
Koonalda was a fuel stop on the original dirt track. Today it is just a ruin. There are numerous old car bodies around the place-they never made it. Also many old bottles-I should imagine collectors would love the place

Ate a smaller breakfast today plus an apple.

We were packed and away about 9:15 AM

A couple of kms along the track we stopped to put our foot on the original dirt track. It is amazing that anyone even attempted to cross the Nullarbor on roads like this. They were very brave.
I was surprised that the soil is red, I thought it would be more grey or white because of the limestone.

9:43 AM back on the highway.

Observation-last night was a real test for me-so completely out of my zone. I actually slept for over an hour on my right side-so sound that my arm went to sleep. Also the head pain didn’t wake me as usual.
I have become fairly proficient at putting a dome tent up and down.

10:15 AM it’s now raining
10:17 AM and missed seeing the cliffs at the great Australian bight as it was raining-as Lockie says not many see rain on the Nullarbor!-still very disappointing. I’ll have to come again.

Lockie spied some weggies so we were able to get some photos and videos-lucky break in the rain.

10:44 AM beginning of the Nullarbor as we came into the Nullarbor Road house. There were 2 wild dingos hanging around looking for food. Just don’t touch them.
I had not realised that the Nullarbor Plain is really up where the train goes-there is only a small section of it on the Eyre Highway-approx 40 kms. So driving across the Nullarbor is a real misnomer.

11:35 AM we left the Nullarbor Road house-pit break and photos near the animal sign. Lockie found out from the roadhouse owner that no whales had arrived at the Head of Bight so we won’t be going out there even to have a look.

Just on midday we came to the famous 3 animal road sign and had our photo taken again by Lockie.

12:45 PM we stopped for lunch near the dingo proof fence. I had never seen the fence, so JL, Maryanne and I walked over to it and along a short distance. Took a photo of where the fence crossed the highway also. I took some photos of the open trailer, which show how well it is organised.

1:23 PM we left the lunch spot after disposing of all surplus fruit and vegetables-what a waste, and also topping up the bus fuel tank. No fruit or vegetables are allowed into South Australia. If coming from South Australia they’re not allowed into Western Australia.

This would be a very boring drive if you drove it yourself-just miles and miles of the same vegetation and straight roads. But people at the roadhouses and camp stops are very friendly.

2:53 PM Penong-farming country with many sheep. Very small town but it has a Laundromat.
3:40 PM Ceduna-this is where we had to surrender all our fruit. Interesting fact is that the person who wrote Gulliver’s travels based all the scenes on Ceduna Harbour. Ceduna is a big grain export port. We also went to an aboriginal art museum.
We have left the Eyre Highway and are now travelling along the coast road heading for Streaky Bay. I’ve been dozing a lot today-that’s good.

Streaky Bay. Beautiful little spot with well maintained houses and shops. Saw a model of the 5 m white shark that was caught here and weighed 1520 kg. Got some more beer and then we had another 45 minutes to Coodlie Park where we arrived about 7 PM.
We had to erect our tents quickly as Jo-the owner-had dinner waiting for us. I had trouble putting mine up as needed to replace a poll and get help with the fly-it was blowing and I’m doing the tent myself. The others are in pairs.

Good dinner-mixed grill-lamb chops, rissoles, snags, spuds and onions and fresh bread. And beer of course! It was a welcome change. We were introduced to the people from the other bus some of whom would be joining us for the leg back to Adelaide.

Tara and Andrew have converted to Coopers Pale. After dinner and washing up everyone was around the campfire talking and drinking. I eventually decided to have a shower-long process as difficult in a small space when you want to keep your towel as “pure” as possible. I joined the campfire again but gave up at midnight and went to bed.
Jo has taught Molly-the dog-to howl on command and she uses this to wake everyone.

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Wednesday, 6 May 2009

Today is overcast-but not very cold.

I packed up and went for a walk and took some photos. Maryanne was up and no one else. Big mobile home with a ute in tow pulled up for a few minutes to use the long drop.
I spoke to a couple in a van and then heard our tribe waking.

It had started to sprinkle so had to pack camp quickly. JL had never had Vegemite and decided to try it. She had it separately and also with apricot jam, which she said was okay and also with strawberry jam which was not. I can’t imagine anything else with Vegemite.

We left about 8:15 AM.

Unfortunately last night was almost a full moon-this was wonderful in that it was easy to walk around but it made stargazing difficult. Still a marvellous experience sitting around a campfire on the Eyre Highway.

The fact that there are these types of stopping sites on the Eyre Highway with a long drop makes it easier to contemplate driving yourself.
9:11 AM light rain and we have just passed the first road train I have seen on the road. Appears to be an extended B double with just an extra dog in the middle.

This section of the highway is the longest straight stretch of road in Australia-90 miles approximately 146 km. Lockie took our photo under the sign using all our cameras.
9:15 AM raining heavily now
9:40 AM-at the turnoff there is a sign for the 90 miles-group photo-luckily rain had almost stopped. Time change to Central Western Time which is 45 minutes ahead of Western Australia.
10:45 AM Sun is finally coming out.

The countryside is very similar to what I saw on the Indian Pacific. At present it is flat with a few trees, saltbush and other small shrubs. Rain is still coming in small patches.

The total time change today will be 1½ hours forward to South Australian time. This was the reason for getting as far as we could yesterday as Lockie wants to be at the next stop before dark.

Cocklebiddy roadhouse

Vegetation now more small trees and shrubs etc. We stopped at the Majuro pass for the view and also to top up the fuel tanks-that is taking the fuel from the spare tank on the trailer and putting it into the bus. We didn’t realise we were travelling on an escarpment and will now go down to about 10 m above sea level. The escarpment which we had been travelling on is now on our left. We saw a wedge tail eagle in a tree-I saw a pair earlier.
Moodini Bluff

The RFDS use the highway as an airstrip in emergencies. Specific parts are marked and vegetation is cleared to 20 metres on each side of the road to allow for the wingspan.

A number of caravans going both ways here. The escarpment is still on the left and has good tree cover, but the trees have not spread down over the plains. Then all of a sudden it is all trees on both sides. Then sparse again. Very confusing.

Mundrabilla roadhouse-I needed an urgent pitstop.
We had stopped a couple of kilometres before at a shelter for lunch.
During lunch I then needed to go urgently. I was lucky that the roadhouse was just a few minutes away as I was really in trouble. The crew were very understanding.

It is a bit colder today-even Andrew has a jumper on!

I didn’t expect to see so many crows on the trip-especially in this type of area-but they must have plenty to eat to stay here.

Eucla-old Telegraph Station-out near the beach. The sand dunes are moving inland and have inundated it. The rabbits ate all the foliage holding the dunes together and the wind then blew them inland.

We then made our way up to the Eucla caravan park. And I had another quick visit to the loo. Lockie filled the fuel tanks on both the bus and the trailer. Tara had some Imodium which she offered me, so I took 2 in case. Most probably bind me up now but possibly better than being up all night.

There is a great sign within the caravan park showing distances to places Oz wide. We are 2980 km from Brisbane.

12 km out of Eucla we crossed the border into South Australia. Vegetation is very sparse-similar to the Nullarbor.

Nullarbor National Park

This is our stop for tonight. We turned left off the Eyre Highway and drove for a couple of kilometres along a dirt road and then stopped to gather firewood. We were able to get much bigger pieces this time and Lockie even stored some on top of the trailer. Finally we arrived at Koonalda just on dusk. There was another vehicle there-a four-wheel-drive with one of those pop up tents already erected, and a tinny on the top of the 4WD. The original homestead is still standing but it is condemned as unsafe. However we decided we would camp on the homestead veranda as we thought it might rain. It did during the night so it was a good decision.

We had dinner in the “kitchen” and then sat and talked until about 10 PM. I was so tired I went straight to sleep. Too many Coopers so had to go twice during the night.
Three or four times during the night we heard dingoes howling very close.

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Tuesday, 5 May 2009

I’m writing this in a little barbecue area on the shore of Lucky Bay. The sun is now up but very little wildlife moving around. No birds yet. Yesterday when we arrived there were a couple of roos/Wallabies going around the camp looking for food.

I had both the cameras with me and was lucky enough to get a shot of the sun rising. A little bit later I saw the two Wallabies from yesterday down on the beach so I went down and filmed them for a couple of minutes. I was amazed that I could walk right up to them within a couple of feet.

One of the yachts has just started to leave.

We are having an easy morning today-swim and walk and we will set off after lunch.

Breakfast today consisted of pikelets, muesli, coffee, toast and jam and then we were free after cleaning up.

JL and I walked the beach while Tara and Andrew did another two-hour walk on a different track and Maryanne went by herself. JL wanted to continue on walking but I was concerned about my hip so I returned alone and put on my togs for a swim. The sun was shining beautifully and it wasn’t too bad walking on the sand, but as soon as I hit the water I started to freeze. I kept going for a little while but by the time I got to my knees I was so cold that I decided I should get out. I just couldn’t handle the cold.

I got back to my tent as quickly as possible and got dressed again. I had a coffee with Lockie and chatted with the couple travelling in their station wagon and a tent. They had returned from London and found jobs hard to get here so they decided to travel. Gave them one of my Roamers cards.

We dismantled our tents and helped pack the van. I then had a shower before lunch and we got away about 1 PM

A bit sad leaving Lucky Bay as it is such a beautiful, peaceful spot. The campsite is terrific and the facilities 1^st class. Separate areas for campers and vans, lovely trees, and great cooking facilities.

We are heading to Norseman. We are now in undulating wheat country in between areas of low scrub. Some of the towns we went through are Gibson-which consisted of very little except the Gibson Soak Hotel. Then Scaddan, Grass Patch-very big wheat silos, Salmon Gums. We are now in Mallee country.

Norseman-was named after the horse that scratched up the original gold nugget in the area. Every street sign has a horse on it as well as the street name. The southern entrance to the town has a roundabout with about five steel camels in the middle of it. On the outskirts of town are huge tailings hills. The population is now 1500, but when the mine was in operation it was over 5000. We stopped at the BP roadhouse for Lockie to fill the bus and spare fuel tank on the trailer and a pit stop.

We left Norseman about 4:15 PM and started our journey east along the Eyre highway. We are planning on driving 2 to 3 hours before bush camping. Our first stop will be Belladonnia about 190 km from Norseman. Vegetation is gums interspersed with saltbush and other smaller shrub types. We made a short stop at the Belladonnia roadhouse to use the toilets and then continued on approximately another 45 km to the campsite. The road is very good-straight, undulating, well marked and wide lanes.

 When we finally arrived at the roadside parking area we found that there was a long drop-thank god as I can’t squat. We arrived about 7:15 PM and immediately erected tents while Lockie started cooking. But first we scouted for firewood-but only twigs available. Still it was enough for a small fire. Beer and nibbles, then stew and rice for dinner and conversation till about 10 PM. It was really pleasant sitting around the fire after- talking and looking at the stars. There was really no heat from the fire but it was just good, sitting and talking. Andrew is still in just shorts and shirt-brrr.

Another broken night

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Monday, 4 May 2009

I was so pleased when morning finally came and I was able to get up and move around. It was cold so I just kept slowly walking around our small area. The crows started about 5 AM and gradually more and more birds, it was a real choir. From 5:45 AM to 6:45 AM many varieties and different calls.

6:50 AM-I’m standing outside the tents writing this standing up. It is very cold and my hands are cold. I’m using the binoculars to look at the wildlife. The sun is rising over the phone box.

Lockie finally stirred at about 7:15 AM. We had breakfast and then packed the tents and van and were on our way by 8:45 AM. Breakfast consisted of muesli, toast and jam and coffee or tea- Skim UHT milk-yuk!!!
Mary & Yoshi were there to farewell us and we all felt sad to leavehere. She is in her 70s and used to be a school headmistress.

We made it back to the sealed roads and are now close to the coast heading to Esperance. Very little traffic again. Countryside is now rolling undulating wheat fields.

We arrived in Esperance about 11 AM and Lockie took off for fuel and supplies. We all went our separate ways and I took my watch to a jeweller and found out that the piece that broke was plastic and they told me it couldn’t be repaired. They tried to sell me another watch but I wasn’t interested. I found one of those discount shops and bought some superglue to repair my watch-hopefully! 5 tubes for $2. I needed a toilet so I found a shopping centre and then went back to find somewhere for coffee and cake.

I found Maryanne and JL in a café so sat with them but they were almost finished. They left and I finished off my cake and coffee and then walked around the shopping centre and down to the ocean.
I headed towards the wharves and silos. By this time it was lunchtime and a restaurant on the beachside was quite full. I saw a couple of blokes swimming in the ocean, which wouldn’t have appealed to me knowing the stories of the great white sharks we hear about in this area all the time.

I decided to finally ring S and R to let them know what I was doing as I hadn’t informed them. S was surprised and very pleased and told me he had been worried about me riding around in buses and things. I had to leave a message for R because she wasn’t home from work at this time-they are 2 hours ahead of us in WA.

Esperance Bay is magnificent-beautiful clear water even though there are bulk carriers there regularly for wheat etc. There are over 100 islands in the area. I spoke to a lady in the booking office for a cruise around the islands. She assured me that the CSIRO had done studies and proved that the sand in this area is the whitest in Australia-and that includes Whitehaven beach in the Whitsundays in Qld.

Lockie picked us up about 1:30 PM and we made our way to a service station to refuel. I switched on my mobile phone and found that K had been trying to reach me so I put in a call first to L, but there were no problems. I then called K and found there were some problems. We are now heading towards Cape le Grand National Park for our overnight stop. JL requested showers so Lockie made a slight change of plan. There are a lot of emus along the road and they can suddenly run out in front of the vehicle so you have to be very careful driving.

Eventually we arrived at Lucky Bay-what a beautiful spot! The whitest sand in Australia and the water is so clear.

We had a late lunch-the usual salad sandwich-and then went for a walk over the mountains. Lockie drove us to our start point at Thistle Cove and showed us how to follow the route across the mountains. We had to follow a series of small posts that were painted white on the top. Sometimes they were hard to find and we almost went the wrong way.

Before we started Lockie took us to the base of a rock shaped like a dog’s head where we could hear the sound of the surf.

I managed the walk without much problem. I’m amazed at how my hip and knee are okay. All the walking before I started this trip has paid off! Spectacular scenery from Thistle Cove back to Lucky Bay. There are 2 yachts anchored in Lucky Bay.

When we got back we set to and put up our tents in the area reserved for groups. I used 6 mattresses this time- 3 on the bottom and 3 on top of them. I also ran them across the tent so I wouldn’t fall between them. We tried to zip 2 sleeping bags together for me, but found that very difficult. The problem was solved by finding me a large sleeping bag.

By this time it was beer o’clock and we all gathered. Chilli dip and crackers tonight.
Then we all had a hand to cook dinner-cutting, chopping,-I’m not much help so I try to help with cleaning and washing up instead. Lockie does all the cooking, and he has to shop along the way for supplies. He can cook whatever he likes and tonight’s meal was very good-stir fry.

After washing up and putting everything away we sat around talking and playing cards until after nine. I had a shower then but it wasn’t real warm by this time-solar heating. My own fault for leaving it so long!

I was dreading the night because of the trots the previous night, but I had a really good sleep. The bigger sleeping bag made a huge difference. I slept until 4:15 AM which is really good for me. I kept dozing but eventually got up about 5:15 AM as I wanted to be down at the beach for dawn.

Sunday, 3 May 2009

This is my diary of a trip taken with  ”The Nullarbor Traveller” a company based in South Australia and providing about the only way of getting from Perth to Adelaide or Adelaide to Perth without using train or plane. There are NO scheduled coach/bus services doing this.

I chose the company on that basis and I wanted to get out of my comfort zone.

I had travelled to Perth from Adelaide on the Indian Pacific train and you can read my experience and comments on that in other parts of this blog.

I had arrived in Perth on Saturday 2nd May and my Nullarbor Traveller trip started very early on Sunday 3rd which is where this diary starts.

I got up at 4:45 AM and got organised. Breakfast arrived at 5:15 AM. It was OK and I was satisfied although I would have liked to have had the time to have the buffet as the promo pictures looked terrific. The washing wasn’t dry so had to put it into a plastic bag.

I checked out at 6:20 AM but the bus didn’t arrive until 6:50 AM and I was starting to panic. I even rang the company as I thought I may have said I would go to the Rail station, but his answering machine was on so could only leave a message.
Finally Lockie arrived about 6:50 AM but he turned the wrong way into the street and I had to chase after him for about 100 m dragging my roller bag. I was the first to board and my first impression of the bus was-what have I let myself in for? Not the plush seating and carpeted floor of a usual tour company coach. There were a lot of boxes and tools on and under seats and the back area was filled with “junk”.
We drove around to the bus stop at the railway station where we picked up for others.
As they sorted themselves out, I forgot about the “state” of the bus and worked out what I needed on hand from my backpack etc.

Finally we were on our way!

We drove through the eastern suburbs of Perth-still a lot of old-fashioned shops and shopfronts. We are on the great Eastern Highway which is a dual highway even east of Mundaring. Unfortunately we didn’t see the famous Weir that had been built to supply water to Kalgoorlie.

Very hilly area so far with gums and numerous grass trees and as we got closer to York sheep started to appear. It is overcast at the moment.

The dual road finished at the York turnoff.

York is smaller than I imagined and not as many buildings. It is Sunday, so not many people around but I was surprised at the number of people who were in the cafes-I presume these were all locals as there were no other tourist buses in the area. There are some wonderful buildings in the town but unfortunately we were only allowed to spend about 20 minutes here which was just enough time to walk the main street, take a few photos and video and go to the toilet.

The countryside after York is rolling plains. Wheat and sheep country. The farmers still burn off the stubble after harvest.
I remembered to hang my washing over some seats to dry.

A question-how did to gum trees spread across to Western Australia seeing the Nullarbor is treeless?

The speed limit is 110 km an hour-and this is just an ordinary road!

These are some of the towns we passed through
Quairading-a very big wheat area
Corrigin-pit stop-home of the world’s largest dog in a Ute rally. Last rally had over 2500 Utes
so far the roads have been good. They are fully sealed and line marked-however the traffic is very sparse.
Kondinin
Kalgarin
Hyden
From Hyden it is only a couple of kilometres to Wave Rock and we arrived there just on lunchtime. Lockie left us at a spot called the “Hippos Yawn” and he drove back to set up the lunch. This was really the first opportunity for us to meet our fellow passengers.
Tara and Andrew from Ireland
Maryanne from Belgium
JL  from Perth.
We ambled over to the actual wave rock, but we took each other’s photos at Hippos Yawn first. I had always thought that the wave shape of the rock had been caused by wind but this is incorrect. Investigations show that it was water seeping down from the top had weakened the rock at the bottom which weathered away quicker and so formed this wave shape. You learn something new every day.

We all had a great time at wave rock taking numerous pictures of the rock and each other. It is one of the places that I have always wanted to see so I was very happy.
We continued wandering but eventually Tara told us that we were going the wrong way so we had to go back on ourselves. Eventually we came across Lockie and all got stuck into helping him get the lunch ready.

Lunch consisted of sandwiches. Everyone helped chop up the ingredients-tomato, lettuce, cucumber etc and a wide variety of sauces. Then we all made our own individual sandwiches. Little did we know at the time but this was to be lunch every day. After this we all hopped in and did the washing up and putting everything back into the van.

We were back on the roads by1:30 PM.

Next stop was Ravensthorpe where we stopped to pick up any alcohol that we wanted. I got a carton of Coopers $53 which was a bit of a blow but as I really enjoyed Coopers I decided to buy it.

Countryside is now hillier and not much farming. Ravensthorpe has been caught up in the global financial problems. A nickel mine had recently been built here but as soon as the financial problems started the mine was closed and 700 people left town.

We turned off on to a side road heading for Springdale Courtyard Cafe where we were to spend the first night camping.

As soon as we arrived we put up the tents. I have one to myself thank goodness. They are called Dome tents. I’d hate to be sharing as they are very small. I had no idea where to start but I was lucky that Andrew and Tara met when they were in Boy Scouts and Girl Guides respectively. Andrew came over and showed me exactly how to put the tent up- easy when you know how. I was fairly cold, but Tara & Andrew were getting around in shorts and T-shirts. I suppose coming from Ireland, this was like summer to them.

The biggest shock was to be shown the toilet. About 200 m away was what looked like an old red telephone booth. Inside was what is called a long drop. None of us were looking forward to making the trip there during the night.

After erecting the tents we had some nibbles-nibbles were provided every night- and drinks and then made our way up to the cafe for dinner. This was the first time I had used a headlight and they are great. The property is owned by a lovely old lady called Mary and she runs this cafe which was doing really great business while the nickel mine was in operation but of course now that it has closed down Mary’s business has basically disappeared.

But you wouldn’t realise it from looking at the tables set up when we arrived. It was really beautiful with glasses, shiny cutlery, lovely serviettes, candles burning and baskets of bread rolls and butter.

Our first course was a lovely soup, followed by fettuccine with wattle seed and herbs and then a lovely crumble with bush fruit and cream for desert. Tea and coffee of course at the end.

A lot of interesting conversation because we were really feeling each other out-getting to know each other. We had a Japanese bloke called Yoshi with us at the table. He was working with Mary on what is called a WOOFI program-something to do with working on farms free of charge so that they can learn our language. In return for work they get their meals and accommodation.

Finally we made our way back to the tents. This was a real learning curve. The headlight allowed me to get organised.

I knew I would have to get up during the night, so I had to get headlight, toilet paper, boots etc all placed correctly to be able to go. Then get the sleeping bag set up and pillows. I had a pillow with me but it was pretty small, so I had taken 2 cushions from the bus and used all 3. It was adequate. I did sleep-but uncomfortably.

In fact, I had a dreadful night. My sleeping bag was so small that when it was zipped up I couldn’t move my arms and shoulders at all and then for some reason I got the trots. Also I had used 2 mattresses side by side but I slipped between them during the night. Three times to the phone box-struggle to put on boots, struggle out of tent, zip tent up, find way to phone box-thank god I had a headlight and I remembered to take paper- and then reverse the whole process. Hand wipes were really appreciated.
I was ready to go home!

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