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Published: April 15th 2009
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This was what we were first going to buy, a roof top tentDAY 158
We got up and had a shower and decided to treat ourselves this morning and before we pack the trailer away we would go and have a breakfast Mundrabilla Roadhouse. We think that the Roadhouses on the Nullarbor have been quite good and very much a welcome sight when it gets to that time of afternoon. The order was placed and we waited in anticipation of this morning feast, something that we have only done once or twice on the whole trip.
When it arrived our decision had not been wrong, it was a great breakfast (big) fits in there somewhere and would set us up for the rest of the day.
Everything was packed away and we were rolling by 9.15 as the mornings are so much lighter in Western Australia.
Our journey started this morning at 610K’s from Ceduna with about 740K’s to go and we were thinking about trying to punch most of that out today.
Shortly after leaving Mundrabilla, we see a flock of birds around some roadkill. The large object in the road appears to be a dead kangaroo, we have to pull out and overtake it, the
Support Vehicle
Supporting the cause birds don’t seem to move until you are right next to them, as we got closer we could see one giant bird standing out from the rest that seemed reluctant to move from his prey, it was a Wedge Tailed Eagle, this bird was huge and only flew away when we pulled past it. The Eagle was standing on top of the road kill and appeared that when he put his wings out it shooed the other birds off, there was plenty for all of them though.
We had gone past; there were a couple of vans behind us and some traffic coming up towards us, however Andy said “shall I turn round and go back?” I said “no, we will cause a traffic jam and besides the birds won’t come back yet, we would have to wait ages for a photograph.”
I could kick myself for that, a photo opportunity lost, I was convinced that we saw one there will be others. As we move on I am sure that I have seen about six of them in the first part of our journey, but they were all too far away for a decent photo!
The
The Tuckey's
Joyce & Ken Tuckey raising money for charity Western side of the Nullarbor is quite different to the Eastern side, as from Ceduna there are quite a few things to stop and look at, but the Western side seems to be a vast expanse of low shrubbery before breaking into a vast expanse of trees, there is only one scenic lookout at Madura Pass, we stop and look at the view and all you can see are trees reaching out across this vast landscape.
Driving along in the distance we could see flashing lights and slow moving vehicles, when we got up close a vehicle that resembled a golf cart, but was in fact a Massey Ferguson Agricultural vehicle, the sign on the back said left hand drive vehicle, there was also a small car and an old truck towing a large circus type Caravan who were in support of the Little Massey trundling up the road and large banner said that money was being raised for Children’s Cancer Charities and Breast Cancer.
As we slowly drove past Caroline had got some money to donate and leaned out of the window to hand it to the passenger of the Massey which was now the lead vehicle,
Massey on The move
Ken Tuckey holds the door a lady reciprocated by putting here arm out of the truck to receive the money from us, and as soon as the transaction had been done, we waved and accelerated away.
It was brilliant, so much fun in a short space of time, we hadn’t even got a picture between us, we decided to pull over about 1K up the road and take some photo’s as they trundled up the road towards us.
The little Massey Ferguson pulled over on to the side of the road as they got up to us, and the little Massey’s engine was revving away, lights were flashing on the roof and the side door opened and a very tall man greeted us, “Thanks for the Donation”, “that’s OK” we said “what are you doing?” “We have driven from Coolah in New South Wales, and this Massey can only go at 38 Kilometres an hour top speed, and the switch is broken so we can’t turn it off”.
I had noticed that tarps had been taped in to protect the 2 occupants from the wind and the rain as it has a cab but it was open, so to speak to the
elements. Joyce the other occupant talked to us for a while, and they told us they had raised what can only be considered as a small fortune for Charities over the years, I thought to myself that the world is a much better place for people like this. They dropped us their business card, and we wished them well and jumped back in to the truck and drove off.
Along the highway we decided to stop for Coffee at the Caiguna Roadhouse, the coffee was absolutely vile so we left it, a guy walked in whom we had seen at Ceduna campsite a few days ago, he said hi again, then vanished.
Our next stop was the Caiguna blow hole, “Seen one you’ve seen em all” Caroline said pull in because if we don’t this would probably be the best blowhole in the world. I was not that bothered. In the car park we see the guy we had just seen back in the roadhouse and at Ceduna, he and his family were peering down the blow hole, we walked up to them all and they said hi, the chap reached his hand out and said hi I’m
90 Mile straight
The straighest road in Australia Ken, this is my wife Jody, and Kahlia and Josh.
All introduced we got in to conversation about free camping, Camps 5 and all the usual stuff, and Jody his wife said she was a little uneasy about bush camping on their own, and Caroline acknowledged her anxieties, as she felt the same.
They told us that they were thinking about staying at Newman Rocks tonight, it had been recommended to them, if they could find it which was about 50K’s on from Balladonia Roadhouse, we said that we were looking for a good place to stay and would they mind if we crashed the party.
“Jody would be delighted”, Ken said, as she would be so much happier if other people were around, we know that feeling. We all jumped in the trucks and headed off towards Balladonia which was only 150K’s away.
Back on the road again, a sign said “90 Mile Straight, Australia Longest Straight Road, 146.6K’s long” it was amazing, not a lot to see but it was straight as a die, so you just drive and drive and drive until finally, up ahead we could see a bend so we knew
then we had reached the end.
Pulling into Balladonia, it became famous in 1971 as some of Skylab, the American Space Laboratory had fallen out of the sky and landed in a sheep paddock, the Australians had charged the United States $400.for littering (apparently).
We stocked up on a few light provisions, as it was so expensive and headed off, we took notice of the odometer on the speedo as we wanted to see when we had covered 50K’s and sure enough just as we were on 50 we saw a sign for Newman’s Rocks.
Turning left we pulled in, with Ken and Jody in their Patrol towing the Caravan, and we drive down the track looking for a nice place to pitch for the night. Joyously we saw another 2 Caravans parked down at the bottom and drove down so see what space there was for Ken and Jody’s Van and our trailer.
I saw one of the chaps say something to Ken, then Ken came over to us and said that they “wanted a bit of space” and would we not park by them, I thought we had left all this small mindedness behind
us back in the UK. This chap was not at all polite to Ken when he said it so Ken did make some retort back. This is the first time we have come across this in Australia, so many people we meet are really some of the nicest people. Usually you ask people if they mind, but this chap did not even give Ken time to open his mouth.
We drove around a bit more a found a nice spot where we could pitch, and as the official Fire season was finishing today we had gathered some firewood for a small fire.
The evening was magic, we walked down to the Billabong, then sat around talking for a while, then we all got the cheese and biscuits out, for a light snack. Kahlia and Josh then toasted marshmallows on the open fire, they were hot but absolutely delicious, something we have not done for a long time, we used to toast them when had a chimnea in the garden and after a party we would sit around and chat and toast the marshies. A short while later Jody cooked up a dish for dinner as did we and
Time Zone
3/4 of an hour difference we just put them on the table and all six of us dug in.
Ken, Jody, Josh and Kahlia are the Truman family from Inverloch, Victoria they are on a 14 week trip, and are in the second week of their adventure, they are also doing a blog which is www.getjealous.com/travelintrueys, so give it a look and send them a message, they would love to hear from you guys.
The evening started to get cold and as the fire was not very large we all called it a day around 9.30.
Our washing up was just loaded in to the truck until tomorrow, and we hit the sack.
We both agree that we had a great evening and what a fabulous family to meet on our trip. We may not have known about Newman Rocks if it wasn’t for them. Sitting by the fire chatting and looking up at the stars and knowing that we were bush camping on the Nullarbor, this is the real Australia, what a fabulous place to be.
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Travelin Trueys
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Toasted marshmallows
G'day Kangaroo Jack its the Trueys. We are back in the land of technology and have finally updated! and read some of yours. All those words and the toasted marshies missed out. That was kind of dessert before dinner I guess. Hope Kalgoorlie was great 'cause Lucky Bay was awesome. Kangaroos on the beach with you Caroline. Stay safe and keep having fun, hope to catch you somewhere along the way. Trueys