We left Esperance on Saturday morning and headed north to Norseman. On the way we stopped at a little village called Grass Patch, which had been built as a soldier settlement. We took some photos of a couple of memorials in the village and also a model at the entrance to Grass Patch.
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| Memorial to women pioneers at Grass Patch |
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| Town Entry sign to Grass Patch |
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| Soldiers Memorial at Grass Patch |
We then headed on to Norseman and then turned right on to the Nullabor. we decided to stop at a free camp called Wooralba Rest Area. We weren't the first ones to stop as threre was a fellow there cycling across the Nullabor and he had stopped there for the night. By the time it got dark there were about 20 other campers. It was OK but a bit noisy from the trucks going past and it got very cold.
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| Our camp site at Wooralba |
Next day we got away about 8.30am and headed to Caiguna Roadhouse where we stopped for morning tea before going to Cocklebiddy for an ice cream. We stopped at Madura Bluff to take a picture of the view.
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| View from Madura Lookout |
We then went down the pass to Madura Roadhouse and stopped for lunch. Each of the roadhouses are about 150km apart and in between them are the free camp areas. There is not much at the roadhouses, a service station and general store as well as a bar. There is also a barren looking caravan park and a few dongas (these are a basic room and toilet). The free camp area usually have a few trees and an environmentally friendly composting toilet so these are actually the better option. We don't eat at the road houses, we just stop there to make a sandwich or something.
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| Driving along the Nullabor |
We then carried on and stopped at Moorinda Bluff Rest area for the night. We were the first ones here, but not for long as it was quite full by nightfall. We had started to put our clocks forward. First by 45 minutes to Central Western time so we had a bit extra light that evening.
Next morning we got away about 8.30am but before we left we put the clocks forward 1 hour and 45 minutes as that would be the time when we got to SA which was only about 60km further on. So it was really 10.15am.
We stopped at Eucla for fuel, got some bread rolls and went down to the Old Telegraph Station to have lunch.
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| Road down to the Old Telegraph Station |
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| Old Telegraph Station |
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| Garden at Eucla Roadhouse |
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| Statue in garden at Eucla Roadhouse |
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| Caravan convoy parked at the Old Telegraph Station |
After leaving Eucla we arrived at Border Crossing where we crossed into South Australia. We didn't have to surrender our fruit and vegetables just yet. We were allowed to keep them until we got to the quarantine check point at Ceduna.
After this we started to pull into all of the scenic look outs along the Great Australian Bight looking for a suitable one to spend the night. A lot of them have been closed to overnight campers as the parking area has been made quite small because the cliffs are getting eroded away and for safety reasons they have put fences across only leaving a small area to park. We finally pulled into Bunda Cliffs Lookout and parked for the night. We were soon joined by about another 10 caravans, motorhomes and campers (we call them Whizz Bangs, because that is the noise made when the sliding door is closed). It was a lovely spot with about a 100 metre walk out to the lookout.
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| View along Bunda Cliffs |
What a funny afternoon it turned out to be. Most of the people got together for a drink before tea, just sitting around outside the van. One lady travelling on her own in a motorhome was travelling west and as she looked a little mouse got out of her motorhome and started to run around. Everyone was chasing it and it suddenly ran back and got back into her van. Well, she was trying to get it out, all to no avail. Later that evening Terry got out of his van and said that the ground was covered in mice. Next morning we were talking to the motor home and Whizz Bang travellers and they had heaps of mice in their vans all night. One lady killed 13. There has been a mice plague in SA and there are certainly a lot in that part of the Nullabor. Thank heaven we didn't get any in the van. We are all sealed up underneath so water doesn't get in so that stopped the mice getting in.
Anyway after this excitement we got away about 9.30am and as were driving down the road there was dead, squashed mice everywhere.
Next stop was at the last scenic lookout over the Bunda Cliffs before you head away from the Bight again. What a magnificent view.
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| Terry, Sue, Ray and Maura with Bunda Cliffs in background |
We then made tracks further east. The Nullabor this year is beautiful. Because there has been so much rain there are shrubs and trees growing everywhere. It is a sight that you don't see very often as it is usually quite barren.
We were going to stay overnight at Fowlers Bay so we turned off the main road to drive in. It was quite a pretty drive in over the causeway to town, with big sand dunes towering over us. When we got there though, it was blowing a gale and the stench of the rotten seaweed was nearly unbearable so we decided to go back to the main road and stay in Penong.
So we went back to the highway and headed to Penong. All around the area there are wheat fields and this time of the year the wheat is being harvested so there are a lot of trucks on the road. We also got passed by a lot of Harley bikes. When we were driving from Bremer Bay to Esperance last week there were lots of Harleys going the opposite direction. Apparently they had their annual convention in Margaret River last weekend and when we saw them near Penong they were on their way back home.
We stayed at Penong for one night before heading to Streaky Bay for a few days.
