Across the Nullabor

The further South we went the colder it got. Our drive to Kalgoorlie was accompanied by gale force winds and at times driving rain. Fortunately for us the wind was behind us most of the time. After setting up and a late lunch in Kalgoorle Merilyn went to bed to rest because her cold had got worse and I visited the Super Pit Gold mine and shopped. The Super Pit is another amazing hole in the ground with 4 million dollar trucks being loaded with 3 massive scoops of gold bearing dirt from 10 million dollar digging machines, and then  trundling up long drives to a plant where the gold is eventually extracted so that we can all wear gold rings and have gold caps on our teeth. Amazing!

While I was at the viewing area a squall came through with hail - it's so good to  be back in Winter !!


From Kalgoorlie it was South to Norseman for lunch and then on to the Eyre Highway and heading East, but not too far. We stopped for two nights on a sheep station called Fraser Range Station which had a lovely, well set up camping area and good facilities. A day of reading and sleeping gave Merilyn a chance to get over her cold and Bruce the opportunity to start one. Although the weather was cold and sometimes wet we enjoyed the open spaces of the station with emus wandering through. a campfire at night and the lovely silence of the bush. We would like to have done some of the bushwalks on the property and will definitely call in for a few days if we are over this way again.

 

Two days travelling East, Merilyn doing the majority of the driving, saw us at Eucla late on the first day and just getting in, and Ceduna late the next day in one of the nicest parks we had ever stayed in. Everything a Caravan Park should be and only $28 p/n. The distances travelled are long with not a lot too see, diesel is expensive ( over $2 per litre at Nullabor Roadhouse ), and the weather was only fair, but it is still a trip worth doing. We enjoyed the cliffs of the Bight, the Baxter Range which which parallels the road for over 100 km, the changes in vegetation, the Royal Flying Doctor landing strips on the highway and he vaste open spaces. We did not enjoy the huge number of dead animals - roos, wombats, wedge-tail eagles, and the amount of litter left by some of the travelling public. 

 

 

 

Sunny Sunday morning in Ceduna. Packed up, quick shop, Merilyn went to church whilst Bruce sat in the warm car and went through half a box of tissues - how can one nose run so much? Lunch and walk at Smoky Bay where we met a lovely couple who were also travelling and then on to Streaky Bay where Carole and Ross McGregor, friends from Great Western, warmly welcomed us. They surprised us. Instead of their camper trailer they had an Avan they had purchased just before they left on their trip. We are next to each other and their van is a lot cleaner than ours. The park is right on the Bay, we have lovely views, can easily ride to town and the pier on a bike track and for 2 days the weather has been perfect. Two coastal drives, a good bike ride alongside the bay, some walks to spectacular cliffs, rambles along beaches, coffee and Magnums, board and card games, lots of chatting and laughter - it's not a bad life. We will be travelling together down the Eyre Peninsula for the next few days.

 

Streaky Bay

Sea Lion colony