Border Village to Ceduna - Bunda Cliffs & Koonalda Homestead

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Last night while we were having dinner Bernie and Cathy found notices online indicating that the Eyre Highway east of Border Village was closed and a detour via the Old Eyre Highway was in place. We decided not to worry too much about it last night hoping that the way would be clear this morning. Anyway, we thought, that ‘could’ facilitate a visit to the Koonalda Homestead because it looked like the detour went on the old highway to the homestead and then returned to Highway A1 via the access road to the homestead?

Aiming to leave at 8.15am this morning we were packed and ready to go at 7.45am … even though all the digital watches said it was only 7.00am! Groan, it felt like we were on the road again before we went to bed, ha, ha. With the SatNavs plotting a route via the old highway we resigned ourselves to some dirt road driving and set off east. After 800 metres, there were no signs up to indicate an actual road closure and no detour signs directing us onto the alternate route, so we continued on the A1.

We had decided not to pull into the first/last Bunda Cliffs photo point as it had been deemed ‘boring’ on the trip over. Arriving at the next photo point we did pull in to photograph the cliffs again from this vantage point. It was about the same time of day … or was it? Tracey’s watch had got ahead of everyone else and even though we’d only been on the road about half an hour all of a sudden it was 9.30am. Not according to Bernie and Cathy though. We’re all with Telstra why did only one watch switch to Australian Central Daylight Time??

Continuing east we pulled in at the next photo point too. We were walking out to the viewing point when Tracey noticed that the couple already out there were flying their drone. She said to Bernie - what about the drone, are you going to take drone shots of the cliffs? It was not a consideration on the westbound journey as it was far too windy that morning. The breeze seemed light at the moment and other people had tested the wind conditions with their drone hadn’t they?

Bernie returned to the car to collect the drone and the rest of us continued to the viewing point. We felt our age when we said good morning to the (very) young couple already out there with their drone. OMG, they didn’t look old enough to be on holidays without their parents!! Anyhow, they packed up and headed off with their drone and Bernie arrived and wasted no time launching his drone. Fingers crossed for some great shots from an elevated vantage point.

We drove on towards the last/first photo point counting down the Ks to be 88 kilometres from the border so we could take the road into the Koonalda Homestead. We did spot a track on the left but discounted it. Hmmn, have we missed the turnoff or are we yet to reach it. Anyhow, we soon arrived at the final photo point for the Bunda Cliffs and exited right towards the coast. With a few more photos taken, and some tips shared with westward bound travellers we returned to the vehicles.

Bernie was keen to search a bit more for the homestead and Tracey was happy to go along for the ride. Cathy and Steve declared they were not venturing down the track we had passed and they would see us later in Ceduna. And so commenced one of Tracey and Bernie’s whacky holiday adventures or, if you prefer, a wild goose chase.

We drove back to the highway and turned left, now heading west again when we are supposed to be on our way home! We found the track we discounted earlier and started driving inland. After just a few kilometres we found an ancient car wreck. Beauty, photo op. Even if we found nothing else, we had a photo of one rusty car! While Tracey was getting the shot taken Bernie announced that he really needed to pee … so he did. Yeah, good on you mate, said Tracey, what about me? You’ve got your Go Girl he said and don’t you think it’s important to look after the driver’s comfort!!

After about 16 kilometres we reached the Old Eyre Highway. We were staring at a T-intersection. Ahem, we thought it was supposed to be a crossroad with an option to cross the old highway and continue to the homestead. With no phone signal we were without Apple Maps. The MU-X’s maps had got us this far but were no longer helpful. Left or right, left or right? We turned right and bounced along the Old Eyre Highway for a while looking for evidence of homestead buildings, but … there was nothing!

Not to be deterred Bernie turned to the ExploreOz app on his phone. Bernie downloaded this navigation system as a back up for emergencies. Not that this was an emergency. We knew where we were and how to get back to the highway, but Bernie was determined to find the old homestead. Ooh, the app says there’s a car wreck a bit further along the road, maybe it will be at/near the homestead? Nope! But at least it was where ExploreOz said it would be.

Bernie turned the truck around and we started bouncing west along the Old Eyre Highway. We encountered a shingleback lizard so now we had photos of two rusty car wrecks and a lizard for our troubles. Tracey was becoming more and more convinced that this was definitely shaping up to be a Gaffney Wild Goose Chase!

We reached the turn off for the access track from the highway, but Bernie wasn’t admitting defeat yet, he wanted to drive ‘just a bit’ in the other direction to see what we could find. ExploreOz said there would be a tank ruin, we duly arrived at a pair of rusty old tanks, ExploreOz said there would be a grid, we crossed a cattle grid. Woo hoo, ExploreOz was now showing the Koonalda Homestead and Shearer’s Quarters if we turn right at the next crossroad.

And as we drove in past the Koonalda Homestead sign the thing Tracey was most excited about? The sign showed there was a toilet! When we pulled up adjacent to the homestead, we were surprised that we did not have the place to ourselves, there was a 4x4 and caravan already at the site parked over behind the shearer’s quarters. Gotta give Bernie points for perseverance … or stubbornness?

We climbed out of the truck and ventured over to the homestead. On the verandah we learnt that the Gurney Family leased the Koonalda Station from 1938 to 1988. The station was only feasible because water for their stock was pumped from the Koonalda Cave. We were also able to see some of the fittings from the Old Eucla Telegraph Station with windows and doors at the homestead recycled from the abandoned telegraph station. And if we looked at the exterior walls and the fence around the homestead, we could see it was made from railway sleepers salvaged from the Trans-Australia railway near Cook.

We opened the screen door with an eerie crreeeaaak and entered the homestead. There were a few few flies buzzing about which brought to Tracey’s mind the opening scenes of The Dry, the film starring Eric Bana adapted from Jane Harper’s book of the same name. Now it was feeling very creepy inside the homestead!

By now Tracey’s need to pee was becoming more urgent so it was time to venture into the long drop toilet. Honestly whose crazy idea was it to hunt for the old homestead rather than continue to the relative civilization of the Nullarbor Roadhouse? Someone with a sense of humour (?) had added to the instructions about it being a dry composting toilet (or some such thing) that they had heard something moving in the deep, dark hole. Happy to report that Tracey survived the experience but will need to replenish the toilet paper stash in her bag! There were only empty toilet rolls blowing around the floor of the bush toilet.

We completed a circuit of the rusty car graveyard. Back in the old days if your car broke down on the original Eyre Highway you just walked away from it. By the time the Eyre Highway was moved closer to the coast when it was sealed in the late 60s and early 70s the old highway was a junk yard of rusting car wrecks. At some point a decision was made to tow all the wrecks to the homestead to clean up what is now the Nullarbor Wilderness Protection Area. Walking around the rusty wrecks of car abandoned in the desert brought to mind The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

We returned to the Eyre Highway using the access road that we should have come in on because, yes, it is a crossroad and you drive straight in for 14 kilometers, cross the Old Eyre Highway continue for a kilometre or so and, voila, there you are at the homestead. Compared to the track we drove in on, this unmade road was a veritable superhighway! At this stage we were thinking that the 88 kilometres from the border that we were told at the Visitor Information Centre in Ceduna perhaps should have been 88 kilometres from the Nullarbor Roadhouse?? Will try to check the maths later.

Back on the highway we were well west of where we were an hour ago so now had some time to make up to reach Ceduna before dusk. We pulled in at the Nullarbor Roadhouse for a quick, late lunch with it now gone 2.00pm. What was that that was said about the relative civilisation at the roadhouse?? There was a notice on the door saying – Please be aware there has been a snake hatching today! Whaaaaat?! The notice went on to say – You may see juvenile snakes around the roadhouse. Please advise Management immediately if you should see one. Ugh, we managed a quick sandwich and a quick visit to the loos without seeing anything slithery.

Despite it being straight after lunch Tracey took a short turn at driving between Nullarbor and Yalata. Bernie piloted the truck from Yalata and back through Nundroo. We talked about trying to find the Big Wombat at Scotdesco but we were not even sure if we were talking about it early enough or if we’d already passed by it again? So, we didn’t see the Big Wombat this afternoon, but we decided to stop again at the Windmill Museum at Penong. The late afternoon sun was reflecting off the blades today, so it is hard to say whether the overcast conditions in February were better than the overly bright conditions this afternoon?

It was just after 5.30pm when we arrived at the Quarantine Checkpoint at Ceduna. There was only one caravan in front of us, but we didn’t even have to wait for it to be cleared with another quarantine officer coming out to conduct our check. We said we didn’t have any fruit or vegetables but had to open our fridge for her to have a look anyway. When Bernie opened the tailgate, the officer complimented him on how neatly packed it was. Oops, there WAS a half a bulb of garlic in the fridge, but it was OK, garlic is not on the prohibited list. We were asked again to confirm that we didn’t have any potatoes. No, no potatoes. OK, thank you very much you can go through. Except, pulling the fridge slide out had broken the fridge slide and Bernie struggled to push it back in enough to close the tailgate. That’s a nuisance. Was it the rough trip out to the homestead this morning that jiggled it out of alignment?

Our next stop was at the BP Roadhouse to fill up ready to head out in the morning. With the truck needing 67 litres that was the lowest the tank had been on this trip. It still had thirteen litres in it, so we were far from arriving in Ceduna running on fumes. We’ve been driving into a headwind most of the day, so our fuel economy was lower than it has been.

We made our way back to the Ceduna Foreshore Hotel and Motel and checked in. Even though Bernie booked both rooms they have put us in separate parts of the motel again tonight. In February we had an upstairs room and a ground level room. We took the upstairs room then, so Cathy and Steve took the upstairs room tonight. It’s strange why they wouldn’t just book us into rooms side by side like most other places have?

We took a brisk walk along the foreshore and out the jetty since we spent so many hours on the road today. With 30 minutes of exercise achieved we met Cathy and Steve in the Bistro for our farewell dinner. From tomorrow we will go our separate ways for the rest of the journey home. Cathy and Steve will continue via rural SA and western Victoria. We are going to swing down to Adelaide to visit friends for a couple of days and then make a final push through to Melbourne on Thursday.

And I have to note that at the ‘relatively civilised’ Nullarbor Roadhouse Cathy and Steve managed to avoid juvenile snakes too, but they spotted a dingo skulking around. They also drove into the community at Scotdesco and found the Big Wombat. Perhaps we should have tried a bit harder so that we could have added the wombat to our catalogue of Big Things ha, ha.

After reviewing the photographs of the odometer that we took at the homestead, at the highway and at Nullarbor Roadhouse we are still confused about the instructions for reaching the homestead. The turnoff (the ‘right’ one that we came back out to the highway on) was 97 kilometres from Nullarbor making it 85 kilometres from Border Village. That’s not very different from the 88 kilometres we thought it was, but we completely missed the turn off. Of course, it’s not helped that it is not signposted at all from the highway. Once you make the turn off, there is a signpost that proclaims - Nullarbor Wilderness Protection Area, Koonalda Homestead 18 kilometres but there’s no way of seeing that rocketing past at 110 kph. Ah well, Bernie’s perseverance paid off and we got our photos of the rusty car wrecks and learnt a little bit about the tough life of the early pastoralists.



Steps: 8,442 (5.84kms)

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