Nullarbor-not a bore!

 As a family unit we love being somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and we guess the Nullarbor fits that description incredibly well. We have no particular destination in mind for this first day. Our only aim is to travel as far as we can and find a rest spot before nightfall.

At this point we have travelled the 80 odd klms back into Esperance and are now heading north towards Norseman in order to join the Eyre Highway which will then take us through the Nullarbor Plains.

E.C.S

We do a quick toilet stop and mandatory sticker purchase at Norseman. Perhaps when we come back next time we will have time to check out the sights. Norseman is a prosperous mining town that has had over 5 million ounces of gold extracted from the gold fields, thus making it the second richest goldfield in WA.

The music playing at this time-Wide Open Road by the Triffids. Classic song for an iconic highway.

  This museum is at the Balladonia Roadhouse, about 191klms east of Norseman. The Skylab Satellite disintegrated and fell to earth in 1979, with its pieces landing across the Nullarbor.

As we were heading towards this sign, Linda somehow managed to miss the photo opportunity as she was busy giggling about the van in front of us doing a u-turn, apparently for the same missed photo opportunity. We ourselves then needed to pull over to take the picture, and had a lovely chat with them. They are from WA and are only 3 weeks into their year long adventure. They were envious of our experience and we envied the amount of time they have in front of them.  

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We really wanted to stay the night in Cocklebiddy, for no other reason then the name made us giggle! However the sun was starting to set and we decided that a free rest stop 21klms past Caiguna will have to do.

Almost there.

Not a bad place to stop in the middle of nowhere!!! We were followed into this rest stop by the family we had met previously and after dinner we stood around chatting, with us reminiscing and them asking lots of questions. This was us only 4 1/2 months ago and we remembered asking all the same questions. We were all in awe of the incredible full moon rising over the horizon that we could see in the distance, only to discover that it was no dramatic moon rising, but rather the headlights of a roadtrain. It only further emphasised how flat the terrain in the Nullarbor is as it took a good 10 minutes for the it to actually appear from when we first saw its headlights.

Back on the road again! Once more, with no particular destination in mind, we decide to let the day dictate where we land.

The Nullarbor was certainly not living up to its name. What is with all these trees? 

This sign indicates that there is a Royal Flying Doctor service landing strip on the highway itself up ahead. There are 4 airstrips along the Eyre Highway.

This vista is a little more like it. We are not far from Eucla, which means we are not far from exiting WA as the border is about 12 klms from there.

Eucla itself therefore stands as the  easternmost locality of Western Australia. This also means we are fast approaching the Great Australian Bight. It seems quite incredible that on one hand you are driving on one of the flattest runs and on the other we will soon be able to see the incredible views of the bight!!!

Oh my goodness so many choices, and the first time we see Melbourne on a sign post, although it still appears far enough away. The scariest of all is that we really could cross the Nullarbor today. It is only 495 klms to the end, Ceduna, and as it is only lunchtime we start considering the possibility. We refuel and then park our rig to have lunch. With a quarantine station approaching (just before entering Ceduna), Linda does some last minute cooking of some potatoes we forgot we had. Excluding that, we have not got much left over, perhaps some carrots and unripe avocados. We try passing them on to other travellers, but unfortunately all around us are travelling the same way!! So we think we will be eating carrots for the next 5 hours!!! When paying for the petrol we notice in the visitors book that our friends Tania and Peter had stayed here last night, so they must not be too far ahead of us...perhaps we will meet again! It is here in Eucla that we start getting a little confused with the time changes. Apparently, despite not yet having crossed the border, our clocks should already have moved forward 45 minutes, and then when we do cross the border we then need to move them 1 3/4 hours forward???? As our brains try to work this out, when then remember we regain daylight savings!!! Maybe we should just turn back now???

We have actually left WA. Apparently it is only the adults that are not very happy about this.

Just a little reminder of what we need to be wary about.

From here on there are many photo opportunity stops, and Linda is fairly insistant that we see them all. She is on a search for a specific kodak moment. Little do we realise, at the time, that the particular shot she is after is going to remain unshot. There was one very well signposted lookout that we approached but were unable to access as the gates were closed. We later learned that this was the one she was after. This lookout was part of a manned observatory point and closes at 4pm. Who actually knows what time we time-confused travellers actually passed through!

In the end it did not really matter. We had a lot of fun checking them all out, and even had the privilege of watching a hang glider flying above us at this particular spot. He came down close enough for us to see him waving at us.

Getting closer.

The town of windmills. There were windmills everywhere.

Quarantine stop. Not much to throw away, and now the reality kicks in that we have crossed the Nullarbor in 2 days!!!!

We made it!! In Ceduna we stop to wee, refuel, swap a gas bottle and consider where to go next. The guy in the petrol station suggests for us to go to Streaky Bay.

Starting to get dark now but we are inspired by another beautiful sunset.

We do actually make it to Streaky Bay, in the dark, at 9.30pm. What a legend Robbie is, we clocked 905 klms today, clearly making this the farthest we have travelled in one day. This was helped by the extended day light hours and 3 champion children who travelled incredibly well. They read, sang,  laughed, slept, listened to music and they nearly ate all the carrots!!!! We set up the van in record time and go to sleep eager to wake in the morning and see why Streaky Bay comes so highly recommended.

Down at the Duke

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Duke of Orleans Bay is situated between Cape Le Grand and Cape Arid National Parks. What we did not realise is that Duke of Orleans is quite close to Cape Le Grand and that half of Wharton Beach, the main beach we will play and explore, is actually part of the Cape Le Grand National Park. We are also so pleased that we took note of advice given to us regarding this spot as, WOW, it is more than we could have ever imagined. We are looking forward to playing in the water, driving on the beaches and exploring. The other advice one of our new/old friends shared with us, was that we should suck the marrow out of every day and not waste any time concerning ourselves with our return home. We think that is advice we are going to do our best in following.
 

E.C.S

Such beautiful flora. The only downside to this moment was that during the photography session Rob had an altercation with a march fly, the march fly won and Rob was left with an incredibly swollen right hand. Oh the lengths he goes to secure that perfect shot!

The beach we were blessed with.

This is looking back down onto Wharton Beach, from the cliffs protecting the bay from the prevailing south-easterly wind.

 We discovered that by the late afternoon we got to enjoy this beach almost all to ourselves and no-one in our family was ever in any rush to leave. We rediscovered the benefits of the eco pot as we would prepare dinner in the morning and let it cook during the day whilst we were out playing....too easy!! 

How beautiful!

The kids are absolutely loving boogie boarding. Timna has had a few issues with a new fear of sharks, but even her fear can't compete against the pull of this enchanting bay. 

It is such a hard life, time to catch up on some journal writing with a nice cold beer. It is while we are chilling out on the beach that we decide that perhaps we should just soak up the last of coastal WA here in Duke of Orleans and leave Kalgoorlie for another day on another trip. Linda accepts there will be no superpit and Robbie no first hole of the Nullarbor Golf Links. We all agree to stay here in Duke of Orleans for a total of 4 nights and the added bonus is we move into the unpowered section for 2 of those nights. Linda is so happy as she loves a basic bush camp experience. Anyway, the unreliability of the power in the powered section has been such that we had ended up running most things on battery or gas.  

Robbie looking very relaxed and pretty impressed. He was actually watching the boys out in the bay catching waves on their boogie boards. After a few lessons with Robbie the kids are now showing pretty good talent for reading the waves. This particular day we are  on the beach with far more people, and therefore cars, than on previous days. But with such a wide beach you hardly notice so you just have to be a little more careful when heading to or from the water.

This is not an optical illusion, Benj is really sitting in the drivers seat and yes he is actually driving, pedals and all. We think we made his holiday after this little experience along the beach. It was  not an unfamiliar sight seeing little people in the drivers seat along this beach. This was one time he was pretty pleased he was the oldest sibling in this family. 

The winds were blowing for pretty much the entire time we have been travelling through Western Australia, and Duke of Orleans Bay was no exception. We have been trying to capture the sand blowing off the dunes for weeks now, and we think we finally got it with this picture.

Our site in the unpowered section. We really felt like we were back in the bush alone as we were much further away from any neighbours. 

Looking back at the van from the sand dunes within the caravan park. The christmas tree in flower has been one of Rob's favourite trees of the west.

After a hard day at the beach followed by an exhausting effort of toasting marshmallows by the fire, Linda and Timna take a well deserved rest.

Some incredibly beautiful flowering gums.

Some interesting ground cover.

Not only live trees can be interesting and beautiful.

The morning we drive out of Duke of Orleans we prepare ourselves for the short westward travel back to Esperance, followed by 200klms north to Norseman and then the long haul east. Actually, we are all pretty excited at the prospect of crossing the Nullarbor. What is it going to look like, how long will it take and will it live up to its name; null = none,  arbor= trees?????

Esperance excellence

With only 85klms to the Duke Of Orleans Bay caravan park this morning, we tour the Great Ocean Drive through Esperance to check out all the city beaches. We found it so hard to pick the best pictures to put in, so here are our finalists.

We have seen quite a few pink lakes during this trip. The first was in Kalbarri. It is quite an unusual sight and doesn't cease to impress us. These hypersalinated waters breed algae that produces extremely high levels of beta carotene in order to protect itself. It is the beta carotene that produces the pink effect. Unfortunately this is often better seen with the naked eye, but this was our best effort.

It is really starting to sink in that we are on our way home as, after the Duke of Orleans Bay, we will be leaving the west to head east. Well not quite, our last stop in WA will actually be in Kalgoorlie in order to visit the Superpit and all things mining related. But first lets get moving to the Duke!