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Published: April 10th 2012
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The highway across the top of the Great Australian Bight, including the Nullarbor was first opened in 1941 and was finally sealed in the late 1970’s. From Kalgoorlie to the border is 900km, and then to the agreed end at Ceduna in South Australia a further 500km. From Perth to Adelaide the total is 2700km to give an idea of the distances involved.
It’s a very good road all the way with one straight piece of 140km, the longest in Australia. As the main highway there was quite a bit of traffic, mostly large trucks and caravans. Some of the trucks were oversize, and we had to pull over to let them past. We either had no wind or a following wind, so traveled at about 85 to 90kmh. Fuel consumption (diesel) is about 17.5 litres per 100km. As it is starting to be the caravan season, there were lots of vans on the road. Some have come west instead of north because of the floods in NSW.
On the 30
th, we stayed at Fraser Range Station nearly 300km down the track. We enjoyed it so much we stayed a second night and did some of the station walks.
Murphys Haystacks
Another amazing example of crazy erosion It was also our wedding anniversary.
There are roadhouses every 100 to 200km along the road, so fuel, etc is not an issue, although the price is. We paid 1.499 for diesel in Kalgoorlie, and 1.60 in Ceduna, while the highest we paid on the road was 1.98. (We didn’t buy much) We saw fuel at one stop at 2.30, but didn’t buy any. So it’s a great source of conversation when caravanners meet going in opposite directions. As there is hardly any rain, there is no grass.
All roadhouses have a sort of caravan park beside or behind and some motel units. Fraser Range and Eucla were the only two OK ones, the rest were all terrible, dirty, smelly, etc. We only called in to play the golf hole and got fuel a couple of times. Had to stay at one. It’s probably an unfair criticism, but we reckon they could have made a bit more effort, but with a captive clientele, why bother?
Lots of caravanners free camp at roadside stops. We didn’t, but did note that none of them had any toilet facilities. The side of the road and the stops were quite full
Immovable object
Base swell plus strong SW of rubbish, although there was less in SA, probably due to their deposit scheme on bottles and cans. It seemed to be a lot more than we had seen in other parts on our travels in Australia.
The striking feature of the trip is the complete lack of water. For 1400km from Kalgoorlie to Ceduna we went over only 3 bridges, and they had no signs of having had water under them. Everywhere there were water shortages and limitations. Life is hard. There is not a lot of wildlife in the area. You tend to judge it by the roadkill. Some kangaroos/wallabies, but in recent stretches quite a few foxes. The bird life is mostly crows.
The golf holes are lots of fun. They ranged from medium par 3’s to long par 5’s. Artificial grass for the most of the tees and greens, which made the putting interesting. The fairways were outlined by roadside markers and sometimes the bushes or scrub had been mowed. It was usually sand or gravel around the greens which makes for interesting approach shots. There were two grass greens and three oiled sand greens and the rest were artificial grass. Pattie scored 100
and beat Don who scored 104. Apparently the average is around 150, and the course record is a net 72.
A lot of the road is some kilometers from the coast, so there is not a much of a view. The road only follows the coast for about 100km from Eucla towards the roadhouse of Nullarbor. The coast is spectacular as the land is flat and level right to the edge of a 100 to 200 foot drop into the ocean. No beach at all. Just after Nullarbor, comes a short diversion to the Head of the Bight, which is the northern part and the coast turns from just north of east to definitely south easterly. The amazing part is that the road just goes on and on for days. Drive most of the day, stop for the night, then next day do it all again.
About 200km later, we turned off to the small coastal settlement of Fowlers Bay, which has a permanent population of 22 and a very nice caravan park. It was founded as a whaling station in the 1860’s, was a ghost town for a while and is now on the up and up.
When we regained the main highway, there were signs of wheat growing, but the fields were very dry and dusty. It looks as though the huge paddocks are not sowed every year.
On the 4
th we arrived at Ceduna which is on the coast and is a pretty town, although anything looks good after the Nullarbor. So now we are back into agricultural land, although it’s pretty parched. We stayed for 2 days at Streaky Bay which has a really safe beach, great for kids, and the surrounding coastal land is quite spectacular.
We had lunch at another nice small town, Kimba, home of the Big Galah. Kimba is halfway between Sydney and Perth, so we are back in the east again.
Finally moved on to Nuttbush, this is the name of a sheep station, not a type of tree. It’s been farmed by the Nutt family since 1895. We missed the shearing by only a week, pity. They farm 400 sq miles and carry 25,000 sheep.
We’ve traveled quite quickly over the past week or two so will slow down now !
Scroll down past the ads, etc for more photos.
PandD
Halfway
The big Galah at Kimba 9 April 2012
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Tony & Gill
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Happy Anniversary
How many years is that? Bet you didn't find a five star restaurant! Keep the blogs coming.