Streaky bay to Ceduna and across the Nullarbor

Streaky Bay to Ceduna

Thurs. Feb. 10

Streaky Bay will remain in our memories as a friendly and attractive town.  The time had come to move closer to the Nullarbor as the weather was looking good for a weekend crossing ie. not hot and a tail wind. We drove on to Ceduna, stopping at Smoky Bay to read about the whaling history of the area but no longer impressed by fishing spots.

Ceduna came as a very pleasant surprise as it was clean, well-presented and situated on the lovely Murat Bay. I think that we had an ‘edge of Nullarbor’ desert town in mind, not at all like the relatively prosperous place that we saw. Ceduna has a large Aboriginal population and this was reflected in the art work on some of the town buildings, people gathering in the shade of the verandas to avoid the afternoon sun and the kids swimming off the end of the jetty after school. We went to a local art gallery and also the Aboriginal gallery where we saw the work of Beaver Lennon and his family. We even went back after to meet this talented 22yo artist and almost bought one of his paintings .... but we decided that we really want to dispossess rather that possess things now. If he keeps painting, he should experience further success as he was a committed and capable artist, keen to establish his own style.

We checked into the ordinary beach-front caravan park as we knew that we would need shade shower on such a hot day! GVS cooked our razorfish on the BBQ for our late lunch and they were tasty but not great. Dinner at the pub was much better as Graeme had Port Lincoln flathead fillets and I had local whiting. Delicious!!!!

Ceduna to WA

Friday, Feb. 11^th

There was quite heavy rain overnight and we had the rare sound of rain on the roof. The morning was fresh and the air had that beautiful after-rain smell. Once again, our departure was well after our anticipated leaving time, so we didn’t hit the highway until after 10am. Driving conditions for travelling the long distance required to reach the WA border were almost perfect as although there was a little drizzle, the wind was light and the temperature was quite low for this time of year. No air-conditioning needed today! However, as we travelled west, the rain became heavier and the mist meant that we didn’t see the Bunda Cliffs at the head of the Bight or anywhere else. The wind picked up in the afternoon but we were most grateful for the good driving conditions. Many oversize transports, some caravans and campervans and a few cars shared the road, most of them heading east.

The Nullarbor Plain is almost as large as Victoria!!! It averages around 200mm of rainfall a year however, it was very interesting as the vegetation changed quite often and, much to our surprise, once we passed Eucla, (where our fuel bill was $110!!! Ouch!!), there was a range of granite hills that went for hundreds of kilometres and provided a pretty view. We did laugh to think that our expectations of both Broken Hill and the Nullarbor were of dry, red desert conditions and in both areas it was raining and there was plenty of vegetation in a range of colours! In the middle of summer!!!

At the border we handed over any fruit and vegetables that we had so when we stopped overnight at a roadside camp near Mundrabilla, we enjoyed a casserole made previously to use up our capsicums, onions, snow peas etc and it was delicious, particularly in the cooler weather conditions.

Streaky Bay to Ceduna

Thurs. Feb. 10

Streaky Bay will remain in our memories as a friendly and attractive town.  The time had come to move closer to the Nullarbor as the weather was looking good for a weekend crossing ie. not hot and a tail wind. We drove on to Ceduna, stopping at Smoky Bay to read about the whaling history of the area but no longer impressed by fishing spots.

Ceduna came as a very pleasant surprise as it was clean, well-presented and situated on the lovely Murat Bay. I think that we had an ‘edge of Nullarbor’ desert town in mind, not at all like the relatively prosperous place that we saw. Ceduna has a large Aboriginal population and this was reflected in the art work on some of the town buildings, people gathering in the shade of the verandas to avoid the afternoon sun and the kids swimming off the end of the jetty after school. We went to a local art gallery and also the Aboriginal gallery where we saw the work of Beaver Lennon and his family. We even went back after to meet this talented 22yo artist and almost bought one of his paintings .... but we decided that we really want to dispossess rather that possess things now. If he keeps painting, he should experience further success as he was a committed and capable artist, keen to establish his own style.

We checked into the ordinary beach-front caravan park as we knew that we would need shade shower on such a hot day! GVS cooked our razorfish on the BBQ for our late lunch and they were tasty but not great. Dinner at the pub was much better as Graeme had Port Lincoln flathead fillets and I had local whiting. Delicious!!!!

Ceduna to WA

Friday, Feb. 11^th

There was quite heavy rain overnight and we had the rare sound of rain on the roof. The morning was fresh and the air had that beautiful after-rain smell. Once again, our departure was well after our anticipated leaving time, so we didn’t hit the highway until after 10am. Driving conditions for travelling the long distance required to reach the WA border were almost perfect as although there was a little drizzle, the wind was light and the temperature was quite low for this time of year. No air-conditioning needed today! However, as we travelled west, the rain became heavier and the mist meant that we didn’t see the Bunda Cliffs at the head of the Bight or anywhere else. The wind picked up in the afternoon but we were most grateful for the good driving conditions. Many oversize transports, some caravans and campervans and a few cars shared the road, most of them heading east.

The Nullarbor Plain is almost as large as Victoria!!! It averages around 200mm of rainfall a year however, it was very interesting as the vegetation changed quite often and, much to our surprise, once we passed Eucla, (where our fuel bill was $110!!! Ouch!!), there was a range of granite hills that went for hundreds of kilometres and provided a pretty view. We did laugh to think that our expectations of both Broken Hill and the Nullarbor were of dry, red desert conditions and in both areas it was raining and there was plenty of vegetation in a range of colours! In the middle of summer!!!

At the border we handed over any fruit and vegetables that we had so when we stopped overnight at a roadside camp near Mundrabilla, we enjoyed a casserole made previously to use up our capsicums, onions, snow peas etc and it was delicious, particularly in the cooler weather conditions.

The long straight road.

Look out for .... everything!

Mundrabilla campsite .. the man and the van!

Mundrabilla – Norseman

Sat. Feb. 12th

From camp we headed off to complete our Nullarbor crossing. A long day’s driving but the landscape changed subtly many times and we did find some of those wide treeless plains that we had expected once we were closer to Norseman. Looking for the decorated trees – bra tree, teddy bear tree, thong tree etc. – and ensuring that the flying doctor didn’t land on top of us at the occasional emergency  ‘airstrips’ on the roadway, and checking out the holes of the longest golf course in the world kept us occupied for some of the trip. Once again the lack of wildlife was noticeable. Music was the key to the trip this time and ‘American Pie’ was the right length for a song on a trip of this length!

We arrived in Norseman in mid-afternoon and discovered a red-dust covered town, wide streets, boarded-up shops and businesses and few people. We drove up past the mine, and its mountain of grey tailings and collection of rusting trucks, cars and mine equipment, to the lookout. The view was quite spectacular as it provided a panorama of hills, salt lakes, enormous plains and then the mine and the poor town. W also completed part of the 27km heritage trail and enjoyed the historical information at the stops along the way.

Mountain of tailings from mine

Don't throw anything away ...
it might come in handy some day!

Norseman was not a place in which we wanted to stay, so we headed out to a roadside camp some 20km away on the Kalgoorlie road. When we stopped, we took care to keep close to the road as we did not want to become bogged in the now soft red dirt. We later regretted this decision!