Sunday, Monday 12 and 13-Jan
Some relaxing time in Streaky Bay, however, we had to move caravan park. We only had to drive 5 KM to the next stop, the previous park did not have availability for the Sunday and Monday and this park had no availability for the Friday and Saturday. Island Bay park is fairly new with very clean facilities and a nice walk to the beach. Jen had time for a paddle and Arno washed the car (again). We did some more shopping, filled up the water tanks and are now ready for our trek over the Nullarbor plain.
Tuesday – 14-Jan
The next few days we will be crossing the Nullarbor Plain which stretches between Ceduna in South Australia and Norseman in Western Australia. At its widest point, it’s about 1,200 kilometres. The Nullarbor is famous for many things, with the world’s longest golf course, historic outback towns and the biggest temperate woodland on Earth. We will also have to drive the iconic 90 Mile Straight. At 147km (91mi) long between Balladonia and Caiguna, it’s the longest and straightest stretch of road in Australia.
We stopped in Ceduna to fill the extra diesel tanks that we carry on the back of the caravan, just in case we might find a petrol station on this long stretch that has no diesel available. It happens. Arno also got his score card to play the longest golf course in the world (1350 KM). Our first stop was Penong, famous for its windmill museum. We stopped next to the museum to have lunch.
And Arno was able to play his first hole at our overnight stay at the Nullarbor Roadhouse. We supported the local business with a drink and an excellent meal.
On our route we stopped at a lookout to admire the Nullarbor Cliffs. They are a 200-kilometre long precipice in the Nullarbor Plain of South Australia. The cliffs are 60–120 meters high and are made up of limestone, crystalline rock, and a hardened layer of windblown sand. Some layers contain marine fossils. The cliffs formed when Australia separated from Antarctica about 65 million years ago.
Wednesday 15-Jan
We had a good night sleep at the Nullarbor Roadhouse park although the road-trains did not stop during the night and we were close to the road.
We crossed over to West Australia and had to hand in our honey, we made sure the rest of the vegetables where either eaten or frozen. But we did not thought about the honey. Anyway, we are now in WA and will have to stock up when we are in a town with a supermarket. We are also going through two time zone changes while crossing the Nullarbor and WA does not have daylight saving in place. It is all very confusing.
Arno played a few more holes today and we also encountered a few things we hadn’t seen before. One was expected, a few emus on the side of the road, the other one was unexpected. It was a guy, dressed as a cat pushing a wheelbarrow. We did not stop but this seems to be a 25-year-old Japanese national, whose real name is Kentaro Jin, and he has made it his mission to walk from Carnarvon, down the coast of Western Australia and across the Nullarbor to Sydney — all while dressed as a cat. We also saw a guy on a push-bike but Arno thought he was fixing his bike. What some people do to get across the Nullarbor 😁
These things happen in a flash and with many road-trains around you don’t want to stop on the road and there is no verge so we kept on going. However, here is the link to his Instagram page and you can see for yourself https://www.instagram.com/catman6701?igsh=M2F5NG84MHJsZDVx
We stopped at a free camp called Madura pass with a great view of the Nullarbor plain. It is close to the road so hopefully there will not be too many trucks tonight.
Thursday 16-Jan
The sun was up before 5 AM, and it promised to be another beautiful day. We stopped for fuel and another hole of golf. At this roadhouse we saw one of those special transport with a mining truck loaded on top that was 8 meter wide. Luckily it was behind us so we did not have to get out of the way while driving. The road trains are huge, and can be up to 42 meter long, the one in the image below is 36.5 meters long! And they will let us know on the two way radio when they want to get passed us 😊
We will be continuing our travel across the Nullarbor Plain, today via the longest straight stretch of road in Australia – 146 kilometres without a bend! Incredibly, it is sometimes used as a landing strip by the Royal Flying Doctor Service in an emergency.
Our stop tonight is another free camp under a very blue sky.
Friday 17-Jan
We stopped in Balladonia for Arno to play another hole of golf this now means he has played 9 out of the 18 holes and will do the remainder on our way back. We also visited the Skylab museum.
The Skylab space station was one of the biggest things ever fired into space, clocking in at a hefty 77,000kg. But by July 1979, it had gone rogue, entering an unstable orbit. It was going to crash to earth. No-one quite knew where, but they sure as hell didn’t want to be underneath it. Balladonia in Western Australia – population 14 – is an odd place for a museum about a NASA mission. 1,787km from Adelaide and 910km from Perth, next to the longest straight stretch of road in Australia, it is essentially a remote roadhouse surrounded by enormous sheep stations. You’re not going to go there unless you’re crossing the Nullarbor (as we did). Or, perhaps, if you’re chasing a crumbling space station 😁.
There are many dry lakes around here, Google Maps shows them as blue but in reality they are as dry as a bone. However, we do see signs along the road to warn drivers about wet weather so we suspect it can get wet here.
We planned to stay at a free camp in Norsman and do some shopping. However, it was getting 40 degrees today so we decided to do some shopping and drive another 80 Km to a campsite with power so we can run the aircon. We stopped at a community run park in Salmon Gums, a tiny town but a lovely campsite with water and power for only $25. This will keep us cool till the temperature drops as promised by the weather report.
This also concludes our trek (East to West) across the Nullarbor, we will do this all again (West to East) on our way back.