Thursday 5 June 2014

The Nullarbor

After leaving the last of the green wheat fields behind us near Ceduna, the plant life will remain relatively unchanged for the next 1200 kilometres all the way to Norseman. The Nullarbor Plain is the world's largest limestone karst landscape with one third in South Australia and the remainder in Western Australia.

Our freedom camp just within the Yalata Aboriginal Land was undisturbed: no one came and banged on our door as some people fear can happen. Watching the sunrise in bed through the big windows of Delvy was the best way to start the day. We crossed the grid near the beginning (or end) of the Dog Fence, which stretches for 5614 kilometres all the way to the Darling Downs in Queensland. Completed in 1885 the world's longest fence was erected to keep dingoes out of the south east of the country to protect sheep flocks.


Intermittent signs warn drivers of animals they may encounter, but we only saw a mob of camels and a rabbit as we drove towards the Head of Bight. This is a must see destination for two reasons: the magnificent sea cliff and sand dune views, and for the sighting of whales. Southern Right whales congregate here every year to mate and calve between May and October, and we were lucky to see about six, including a new born. There have been up to 170 plus whales sighted at any one time in past years and the purpose built viewing platform provide optimum photo opportunities: you can even hear the whales from there.


On to Nullarbor Roadhouse to fuel up, but first I need to take out a bank loan. At $2.04 a litre thank goodness we didn't need a full tank. It's also just as well that I have managed to economise down to 13.27 litres to the 100kms!


The drive to the border is broken up with three coastline viewing points: number one the most striking as it looked so surreal, like a movie set. I half expected Harry Potter to be soaring in and around the cliffs on a hippogriff.


We made it to the WA border in the late afternoon, finishing our last apple before going through quarantine. We thought we had eaten everything but forgot about the cardboard apple box that I use as dry food storage, thus it was confiscated.


After a night at the Eucla Caravan Park for showers and washing, I enjoyed a sunrise ride back to the border before another 400km driving day. Sights seen along the way were a wedge tail eagle, an emu and numerous bras hanging from a dead tree. I had to drop Delvy down a gear for the first time in about 500kms as the Eyre Highway climbed up the Madura Pass for views of this seemingly endless plain.


A rest stop at Caiguna Roadhouse, and more fuel at the bargain price of $2 a litre, we sit back and watch the road trains come and go with their heavy loads. Here commences the longest straight stretch of road in Australia, but we pulled off just under halfway along at the 60km mark for our overnight camp and to capture another beautiful outback sunset.



No comments:

Post a Comment