Total distance across The Nullarbor (Ceduna to Norseman) is 1194km
Living the Dream!
Left Ceduna and travelled towards the WA border at Border Village. Long straight road through scrub with very little traffic mainly roadtrains and a few caravans. We saw the dog fence complete with grid across the highway - designed to keep dingos out of the South Australian coastal area.
 |
| Camels, Roos and Wombats Crossing |
 |
| Straight road through flat scrub as far as the eye can see and more |
Water is a scarce commodity on the Nallarbor. We saw only a few signs along the road stating where drinking water is available. Roadhouses had signs asking travellers not to ask for water because they had only a limited supply.
 |
| Nundree Roadhouse (our van in middle) |
 |
| Sign at Roadhouse |
We had to fill up with fuel wherever we could as there were long distances between roadhouses.
You see dots on your map which turn out without exception to be only a roadhouse, rest area and possibly a few basic motel units and a few caravan sites (no water) - Absolutely nothing more!
Edward John Eyre was the first person to explore the Nullarbor overland. He described it as..... "a hideous anomaly, a blot on the face of Nature, the sort of place one gets into in bad dreams",............
The main (and only) road across the Nullarbor is called the Eyre Highway. It touches the coast at various points on The Geat Australian Bight with some magnificent scenery. The Head of the Bight is one of these and Bunda Cliffs another. There is no land between this coast and the Antarctic. During the winter months the whales come from the sub-Antarctic to this area. Whale watching is very popular here in the winter with great views as they play in Great Australian Bight.
The main (and only) road across the Nullarbor is called the Eyre Highway. It touches the coast at various points on The Geat Australian Bight with some magnificent scenery. The Head of the Bight is one of these and Bunda Cliffs another. There is no land between this coast and the Antarctic. During the winter months the whales come from the sub-Antarctic to this area. Whale watching is very popular here in the winter with great views as they play in Great Australian Bight.
 |
| The Head of the Bight |
 |
| A lot of work has gone into the contruction of the viewing walkways |
 |
| The Head of the Bight |
 |
| The Head of the Bight |
 |
| And we travelled across here in 1972 - by train
I am just going to digress from my usual blog here to describe when we last crossed The Nullarbor........
In 1972 we arrived by boat in Perth from South Africa with our 2 sons Jarrod (4) and James (2) with the intention of settling in Perth, WA. However Perth is very remote from the rest of Australia. Also it is hot in summer and cold in winter. Someone told us about funny houses on stilts in Queensland and we decided to leave. We bought a Crysler stationwagon intending to cross The Nullarbor by road but at that time most of the road across was dirt. (It was not sealed until 1976). Also the aborginies were causing problems and it was even more remote that it is today with little or no communication across the route. So we decided to travel by train with our car on board - so we boarded the Indian-Pacific train which runs from Perth to Sydney. (We disembarked at Port Pirie South Australia). We had a 4 berth sleeper with sink - there was a shower/toilet at the end of the carriage. We enjoyed 3 nights on the train - food included - with various stops across The Nullarbor to top up with water. The stops were in remote communities - no platforms etc - you just jumped down from the train onto the ground. We arrived at Port Pirie 3 days later and continued our journey across Australia to Queensland by car.
|
 |
| Nullarbor Roadhouse |
Above pic is a prime example of travelling hundreds of km & then arriving at a dot on the map expecting more and what you see above is IT! We stopped here for lunch.
 |
| Nullarbor Bus Stop |
Further on there were more viewing opportunites. Below are view on the Bunda Cliffs. Everywhere you stop, you meet people and everyone stops and chats like best friends. On the road, because there is so little traffic, everyone waves to you, even the truckies.
 |
| Bunda Cliffs |
 |
| Bunda Cliffs |
 |
| Top of Bunda Cliffs |
The next stop was at Border Village (again this was only the servo and the check point into WA) no village. No fruit or veg are allowed into WA and they are very strict about this because they don't want any eastern coast bugs, fruit flies etc. They search every car, caravan, boat and truck. They
even took my Queensland honey!!
 |
| WA/SA Border Crossing |
 |
| Checking the van & car at the WA Check Point |
As you can see from the notice above, there is no doctor between Ceduna and Norseman (1194km) except for The Flying Doctor.
That night we spent the night in the scrub behind the roadhouse at Madura. There were several caravans/ campervans there.
No comments:
Post a Comment