The Nullarbor

Everyone approaches crossing the Nullarbor in their own unique way:  we have met some who prefer to do it quickly, some who take it really slowly, some who free camp the whole way, some who prefer roadhouses/van parks; many who LOVE it and a few who hate it and can't wait for it to end.  However you feel about it, there is no escaping that it is a bloody long way:  Norseman (in the west) to Ceduna is 1194 km!  At Nullarbor Roadhouse they are charging $2.03/L for diesel (we didn't buy any there of course!) and at Madura we saw a teatowel for $9.90 then saw the same teatowel in Ceduna for $8.00 (we bought it in Ceduna).  I guess if I had to travel 673km to decent shops I would whack an extra $1.90 on too.



We began our journey on Friday, heading out of Kalgoorlie and on to Norseman, where we fueled up at the BP for $1.55/L.  Our destination was Fraser Range Sheep Station, a mere 303 km away.  Our initial plan had been to head for Balladonia the first day, but as we had hooked up with our friends Sue and Pete, and as the word on the street was that Fraser Range was pretty great, we headed for there.  We were not disappointed.  This would be like heaven for those people coming the other way as westwards from Eucla is pretty dismal...and in fact, we met a couple at Mundrabilla (the fellow was complaining that it had taken him 4 days to get from Brisbane to Ceduna and I'm pretty sure they had left Ceduna that morning, 558 km away!!)...I told them about Fraser Range and he said, "Oh, we won't need that".  I looked at the woman, she looked at me... and I said, "I HIGHLY recommend it!" The poor woman had been woken at 3:30am in order to head off...I do hope they stopped there for her sake at least!   For a small fee of $28 you get power, water, great ameneties, a wonderful communal fire at night (unless there is a storm which we were unfortunate enough to get), access to a phone, a shop, a beautiful outlook on the Fraser Range, sheep and horses to look at and a wonderful clean, scenic environment.  This is way, way more than you get for much of the rest of the Nullarbor Crossing, so it is pretty popular.  The boys even had a sandpit and small playgym to burn energy on. 



Fraser Range Station was the first station settled on the Nullarbor,
so it is steeped in history. 



Saturday morning and we were off again.  We stopped in at Balladonia 91km down the road to fuel up ($1.86/L).  This would not have been a bad spot to have spent the night, and they have a really great museum in the Roadhouse showcasing the history of the area - well worth a look.  This was the day that we had the best wind direction - coming from the west and pushing us along so we made really great progress.



From just after Balladonia, to Caiguna:  a pretty famous stretch of highway. 

 

Things were going so well, I felt confident enough (and had permission from the master driver) to drive the car.  A special day indeed!

 We settled on Madura for the night (having accomplished 424km).  This was $25 for the night and the only appeal was being able to have power for the heater and a shower in the ameneties blocks.  Otherwise it was a pretty dismal stopping point....but then so are the free camp spots in that area.  $1.94 for diesel here so we fueled up elsewhere.



Signs warning of snakes, uneven ground, no water to your van...worth $25?? 

Sunday was Father's Day, but poor Tony opted to wake early so we could get a good start.  He did receive his Father's Day gifts complete with a mobilo trophy from Charlie- for being the best cook.  Hmph, said Mum :) We got off nice and early and had good wind until mid-morning after which it changed to a cross wind.  This slowed us down a bit, but Eucla was like a breath of fresh air...why can't all the roadhouses along the Nullarbor be like this?  The boys played for ages on the playground here (Mummy having vetoed the few previous playgounds as they had looked to be tetanus zones).  We had mobile coverage here for the first time in two days, so we were able to make a Father's day phone call home to Tony's dad.  How I missed my dad so much this Father's Day - he really would have loved this trip that we are doing.  After lunch we headed for the free camp spot we had chosen for the night, stopping at lookouts along the way.  Oh, what a relief to see the ocean again.  And the cliffs that form part of the Great Australian Bight are truly magnificent. 

Our free camp spot for the night was just west of the Head of Bight, where you can see the whales...so we were set to stop at that the next morning on our way to Ceduna.  After settling in to our chosen spots, we all headed off for some firewood gathering and the boys proceeded to enjoy the natural environment.  We were well away from the highway and the grass around wasn't too high, so they were able to enjoy themselves in safety.  Tony got out his saw (ha ha wait till you see it!!!), and all the male folk enjoyed getting the fire set up while the women prepared dinner. 



No surprises that part of the saw is broken off and
in the branch!  Check out how dirty Matt is.  Good times!






This is one of the best parts of free camping: sitting around a campfire.



Although we all had a great time at this spot, we all froze in our caravans overnight!  Now we realised why we paid $25 at a scungy roadhouse so we had power for a heater!  Never mind, we survived, and can laugh about it now :)  It took us a little while to defrost so we didn't arrive at Head of the Bight until about 9:30 am.  We were all so excited to be seeing the whales; we had heard so much about them from other travellers.  For $12 per adult (they didn't charge for the boys, thank goodness) we were able to walk down to the excellent viewing platforms and watch the mother Southern Right whales and their calves.  The mothers are fattening their calves up in preparation for going out to sea, and they are right there for us to see.  There were probably about 20 pairs that we could see on the day.  In fact, a sign we later saw in Ceduna says there are 142 whales currently in the Head of Bight area.  On the other viewing platform you get an excellent view of the Bunda cliffs - magnificent. 


The main attraction.




The boys were interested for about 10 minutes,
then proceeded to wrestle and run around.
In their defence, Southern Right Whales are not as fun to
watch as Humpbacks. 




The Nullarbor Gang :)



Get a look at those gorgeous cliffs!



Whales aren't the only animals to see at Head of the Bight:
there were HEAPS of native budgerigars!


We still had 297km to go, so it was back in the cars and on to Nundroo to fuel up ($1.54/L).  Then we decided we might as well have lunch in Fowlers Bay, as it was really only 30km out of our way.  What's 30 km when you've already done so many!!??!!  After nearly 30 km of dusty corrugated road and kamikaze stumpy tailed lizards (there were about 10 of them all up, with a death wish!) we arrived at Fowlers Bay.  Lunch beside the jetty and the beautiful blue sea, a play on the playground for the boys, a quick photo foray into the sand dunes for Tony (he is obsessed with them) and we were off again. 



Worth the detour, and even a couple of nights if we had more time in S.A.

Finally, at around 3 pm we went through the fruit and vegetable checkpoint and made our way to our van park in Ceduna...where within a very short period of time I had done two loads of washing, swept and mopped the floors.  Ah, return to civilisation!  We had crossed the Nullarbor. 



No other reason to put this photo in...
We just really like Matt wearing Daddy's hat - so cute!