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Published: November 25th 2012
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Approaching Norseman we scored another passing manoeuvre. This time Joan managed to capture the evidence. This makes five vehicles passed in 14,000 km. Joan suspects this will be our last, but Greg lives in hope.
The Nullarbor has a reputation so when we stopped at Norseman we decided to get the 4WD wheels balanced as we had noticed a vibration at 70kph. It seems that the Wolf Creek Crater road had also caused us to throw off some wheel weights.
We crossed the Nullarbor in two very long days, both days starting at 5:30am. Initially we planned to stop at Cocklebiddy but the cave has been closed to the public so that killed that plan. Joan was delighted – Greg much less so.
The last time we crossed the Nullarbor we saw vast areas of beautifully coloured salmon gums, so we were in anticipation of seeing this again. However this time we must have been in a different season as we did not see those colours at all and struggled to identify any salmon gums.
People had told us to expect tail winds as we crossed, but from our experience, and the comments of others the tenancy
is for more easterly winds. And this is what we got – head winds all day, both days. Fortunately the petrol price was below $2 a litre but even then we were consuming $300 worth a day!
With nothing better to discuss on the long drive, we came to the conclusion that nobody should go hungry crossing the Nullarbor. That is, so long as they do not mind eating pre-tenderised and minced road kill! We were amazed at the number of kangaroos that had been hit. There seemed to be one every 500 metres. Later wombats were added to the count.
We experienced a sense of deja vu when a wedge tail eagle was slow to lift from road kill and drifted in front of the 4WD. Luckily it lifted a bit more and we passed without incident. Still, it was too close for comfort.
14,000 km and we are yet to see a camel. Joan expected to see herds of them as we know they are in plague proportions.
We were reminded to advance our clocks 45 min to central western time, but we were never told when the change to SA time occurred.
Our half way stop was at Madura, located at the foot of the old sea coast escarpment. This was a basic, very dusty caravan park with no fixed sites and no water connections. We did have power – we could hear the massive generator chugging away all night. It seems this is a major stopping point for road trains as we counted 17 two and three trailer rigs stopped out the front for the night. All were gone when we got up in the morning.
Joan spent time cooking up the remainder of our vegetables in anticipation of the quarantine station at the border. However when we arrived at the border we found the quarantine station was outside Ceduna.
We stopped for fuel and our morning coffee at a small roadhouse. As Greg paid he heard about the Pt. Lincoln bushfires. It was then we noticed the fire trucks also fuelling and realised they were headed off to provide assistance, all the way from WA.
Towards the end of the day, near Yalata, we came across a caravan that had spun out, passing the tow vehicle, finishing up facing backwards. Amazingly they survived without rolling and were
not obviously injured. The road was very narrow and at places the drop offs were substantial, so they were very lucky. We believe they had run off the bitumen for some reason and then overcorrected causing a spinout. It reminded us of the potential dangers and how careful you need to be when towing.
Late in the afternoon we discovered one last trial – another 16 kms of corrugations on the road into Fowlers Bay. After a long two days we were happy to arrive safely.
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Sheila
non-member comment
Hi
Hi Joan & Greg, Wow! You've covered some kms since we last logged in. Great days! Loved the Head of the Bight - I used to go there often when I worked at Yalata & it brought back memories when I saw Joan with beautiful cliffs in the background. Last time I was at Fowlers Bay I stayed in the church house & there was a mouse plague - I wish you a more pleasant stay!!!!!! Can't believe the cost of driving across the Nullabor in 2 days!!!!!!!! Greg, give up on fishing.............. Joan go & buy the man a can of salmon for goodness sake. B & I just got back from a weekend in the van at Murray Bridge. Brian went fishing & I wnet shopping for the can fish! Yippee Brian has his 4WD......... it is big & scary to drive. Check my contribution to Autism on Facebook! See you soonish. S & B & the Nissan