Crossing the Nullabor - Bremer Bay to Ceduna

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Thursday 16th March 2023

Today we set off at 8am, the next part of our adventure. We had no destination in mind, just that we would head towards Esperance but to cut off before getting there and follow the highway towards Norseman.

We stopped in Ravensthorpe for a coffee, but as we had explored this area previously and found the town RV spot rather lacking we had no desire to stay. We continued on the planned route and before we knew it we had travelled over 530kms and reached Bromus Dam just 30kms or so short of Norseman. We camped on one side of the dam, four others around the other side. Bliss! Rags baited a yabbie trap and set it to see if there was anything in the dam. These dams were built for the steam trains that ran between Kalgoorlie and Esperance the water came from the run-off of surrounding rock formations. With the advent of diesel trains they were discarded. Yabbies were introduced and sure enough we caught enough for a feed within 2 hours.

Friday 17th March 2023

We arrived in Norseman quite early and after taking on 70 litres or so in 3 jerry cans plus topping up the car tank we should have enough fuel to get almost to Ceduna. Next stop from there was Balladonia roadhouse for morning tea. There is a museum there where there is a display of the remnants of the Skylab satellite which returned to Earth near here in July 1979. We have been through the museum on several previous visits so Rags gave it a miss but Judy had a quick look. Between here and the next roadhouse, Caiguna, is the longest straight road in Australia, 146.6kms (91.1 miles) long. Nothing over-exciting about this stretch, acacia bushes and small trees border the road for long stretches, interspersed with gaps of salt pans. This continued to the Cocklebiddy roadhouse which we passed, camping in the bush about 20kms further on.

This turned out to be a delightful stop, in a clearing about 500m from the Eyre Hwy, with no-one else around. Obviously not many people knew of it, for once there was no rubbish strewn around nor the white blobs of tissue paper left by "squatters".

Saturday 18th March 2023

An easy day today, driving through the Madura Pass, the last WA town Eucla, to the South Australian/West Australian border. Here we took on some fuel, just to be sure, not wanting to be ripped off at Nullabor roadhouse where the fuel was $2.86/litre. The Eyre Hwy veers back to the coast about 50kms from the border and the views of the cliffs on the Great Australian Bight never cease to amaze us even though we have driven along them at least 7 or 8 times. Judy ensured we pulled in to half a dozen places. We parked the caravan about 20m from the edge of the cliffs for the night, neither of us wanting to be too close to the edge as there were some cracks visible. Probably over-cautious but it made for a more comfortable night.

Sunday 19th March 2023

With the end of the longest section nearly over we set off early, had morning tea just past Nullabor Roadhouse, through the Aboriginal Lands of Yalata, where their roadhouse has been renewed and open for the first time in over 30 years in Rags' experience. We bought some fuel In Nundroo at under $2/litre and finally stopped at Penong for lunch. Here we ensured we ate the last of our salad and fruit as none would be allowed past the quarantine station at Ceduna.

Ceduna was packed with tourists, the three parks we had earmarked booked to capacity, and another had only limited spaces too tight for us, we finally found a spot at the Airport Caravan Park. This had many spots available and it didn't take us long to find out why. Old and not so clean ablutions, sandy and unkempt parking bays, all for $35/night. If it wasn't for the fact that the wind was so strong that it made driving difficult and we wanted to see a few things there, we would have driven on.

Monday 20th March 2023

The wind had abated a little early this morning and after doing our washing we set off into town to the Information Centre. Great help here and we were soon off to the Ceduna Museum, which is only open for a couple of hours on weekdays.

Fred and Lorraine, friends of ours, put us onto this, we somehow missing it on our various trips. It is set on a large property with the main building an old schoolhouse surrounded with large sheds and several original town buildings were transferred to this block. Inside there were all sorts of memorabilia. Displays of medical equipment, tools, weapons, farm equipment, clocks, radios, kitchen utensils, you name it, from the early days were on display. These, together with the tractors, ploughs, cars and carts, made for an interesting display.

A whole room was dedicated to Maralinga, the only place on the Australian mainland that an atomic weapon was fired. The 2 hours flew by and we left with more understanding of the early pioneers.

A visit to Baldys followed but he was waiting for his delivery of oysters. We went next door to the commercial fishery but they were closed until later that afternoon.

Back into town to get some needed supplies, then to the van for lunch.

Judy had some online work to do so Rags went out looking for a diesel mechanic as the Jeep has been making a nasty knocking sound at low speeds. To add to his frustration the mechanic could find no solution, but did agree with him that as the motor temperatures and pressures were normal we should be ok until Adelaide where hopefully the experts there can use their electronic equipment to solve it.

Oysters were not to be on the menu tonight, neither place having their deliveries in. Instead we bought some fresh whiting fillets for dinner plus a couple of feeds of frozen shark for the freezer.

The wind picked up during the day and by the afternoon had become uncomfortable enough for us to stay inside. Reading and TV was on the agenda and with daylight saving here it was quite late before we went to sleep.

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Photos

Ducks at Bromus Dam
Looking for a feed but nothing from us!

Comments

[Sue]

Crossing the Nullabor
Good read. Hi from us!