We said our farewells to our
neighbours this morning, and Margaret had made some lovely little dolls for the
girls… perfect for our trip across the Nullarbor (they played with them for
ages in the car). It was only around 8am
when we drove off bound for a very long day in the car. Josh obviously hard the toughest job, keeping
us all safe along the long and narrow – yes it was quite narrow, especially
when it came to us trying to pass a mining truck being towed or when the 3 carriage
road trains were passing us. We reached
the sign to tell us we had arrived at the beginning of the 90 Mile Straight,
longest straight section of road in Australia and got out for a stretch before
we drove it. The weather was not too hot
nor too cold (probably great for the car) but some sunshine would not have gone
astray. We witnessed a couple of odd
things as we drove along such as a young Japanese guy walking along the Eyre
Highway pulling a trolley behind him and an elderly man going for a jog and not
carrying a thing, not even water… quite scary to think about this when you put
them alongside a flying road train. The surroundings
were very flat with just small heaths and shrubs around, not a tree in sight
for most of the drive. We pulled into
Madura for fuel (costing just short of another $300)and then ended up pulling
up at a free camp somewhere near Mundrabilla, not too far short of Eucla and
therefore still in WA for one final night.
Sami wanted to have a fire so I went with her in search of
firewood. Josh had a go too and was much
better at finding the big stuff. Our
fire lasted over an hour and then fortunately we ran out of wood so headed
inside for dinner and our warm beds – ready for another long drive tomorrow.
The next day we were bright eyed
and bushy tailed after a good sleep.
However, it began raining overnight and didn’t stop all day. It wasn’t a heavy downpour but it certainly
was constant. We pulled into Eucla to
fill up fuel once more… not that it took much – only about $80 this time. It was also a good stop for a coffee for me
and hot chocolate for Sami. Just down
the road, we crossed the border – into state number five for this trip, South
Australia. We didn’t stop for any fancy
photos as the rain put a dampener on that idea.
From here it was “only” about 480kms to Ceduna, the end of the
Nullarbor. There were a couple of places
to stop and view the Great Australian Bight along here, again though, we had to
get out in the rain to do so. The views
were nice, but could have been much nicer if the sun was shining to give that
bright glow to the water. The cliffs
were still amazing to see and we were still able to get a few snapshots along
the way. At one point in particular, our
princess Zoe climbed a railed fence to cross a rather large puddle – not sure
why as she was getting wet anyway. Eventually
we reached the “Head of the Bight” so turned in. However, a car approaching from the opposite
direction pulled us up to tell us that the park was about to shut – bugger, we
missed that one. I guess we will just
have to come back another time… Although
the sky was dark, we pushed on, picking up another load of fuel at
Nundroo. We stayed in the car and Josh
went to pay, having to wait quite a while for the Aboriginals to hand over
their fuel vouchers … wish we had some of those! On we drove until around 6pm when we pulled
into a free camp about 30kms west of Ceduna.
Another car with a similar van pulled in at the same time, we were both
looking for a nearby camp that was listed in WikiCamps which was further back
off the road – so went on the adventure together. We had turned down the road near the other
camp and it was fairly narrow – and muddy!
The van had had a lovely rinse off in the rain today but going down this
dirt track re-covered the van in mud.
We’d passed the free camp so Josh and the other driver (Barry) had to
make a hairy turn to make our way back.
Eventually we found this other free camp and hopped out of the cars and
introduced ourselves. Barry, Kylie, Aidan
and Ella Kennet had only just started their couple of month’s holiday from
Victoria. Thankfully the rain had paused
for a while, enough time for us to enjoy have a great campfire tonight and enjoy
some lovely company. It was getting late
and we had just begun to pack some chairs away, etc. when the drizzle started
once again – good timing for bed.
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