Day 8 - Madura to Esperance

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Geo: -33.8613, 121.891

Todays Challenge - As per the roadsigns ............. to spot a camel on the Nullarbor

We depart Madura at 6 50am and refuel before we hit the road, Rod notes the cost of fuel is $2.12 per litre.

We enter the longest stretch of straight road in Australia being 142km and yes this was monotonous.

Stop at Balledonia for a meat pie for breakfast and refuel at a cost of $2.17 per litre. We search for their museum advertised on the roadsign but can't find it.

On the road again we gain another 45 minutes on a time zone change which puts us in Noresman at 11.45am. We have crossed the Nullarbor in one piece and sink a Crownie to celebrate. This place was named after an old buggered horse who crossed the Nullarbor and founded the town and it's somewhat disappointing; recommend you avoid staying here if possible. We send some post cards at the Post Office but spot no Chinese Restaurant. Deb checks our mobile phones and now have our first service since Ceduna. We decide to skip lunch and head to Esperance encountering a lot of rain on the journey.

Esperance is a nice town and we soon arrive at the Best Western on the foreshore to secure our nights accommodation then check in on Facebook at the Peer Hotel right next door. We visit the museum also next door and come across a very interesting display of the Apollo SpaceLab which exploded in 1974. It dumped debris from Esperance to Balledonia.

We spot our first Chinese restaurant since Port Lincoln - the 'Golden Orient'. Very excited about that but decide to have dinner at the Hotel then return to our accommodation to update the Blog. We are fealing a little tired after the last two days of driving and hit the sack, looking forward to a break in Albany.

Another failed challenge today, not only did we not spot a camel we spotted no wildlife at all, apart from a number of very colourful parrots feeding on the side of the road.

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