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.