Crossing the Nullarbor - Penong to Norseman

Up bright and early  for the start of the Nullarbor crossing  – well for us anyway about 8.00am! Tried to get ready and leave before our new best friends also leaving Penong Caravan Park and heading west but not to be! And then we stopped for diesel and to post a card to Amelia! The one and only local shop/café is also the post office and amazingly had a sign out front advertising Mahalia coffee- this is a Robe icon who roast and sell their own beans/coffee including to the middle of nowhere! The Nullaboor means “treeless” and is ia large plain which was once part of the ocean floor. It is the world’s largest piece of limestone covering an area of about 200,000 square kilometres and is up to 300 metres thick. There is a vast cave system within the limestone with long passages and underground caverns.

 We certainly imagined hours of driving through kilometres of nothingness but this was not the case. Treeless maybe in small parts but never without low shrubs and large bushes. All shades of green and maybe grey too!  Places to stop for a nap under shade! We saw signs warning about camels, cows, emus, wombats  and kangaroos on the road- only sighting was a dead camel which I initially thought was a large kangaroo ( must get eyes checked when home) some emus not on the road, and some dead kangaroos. And came across the Royal Flying Doctor Emergency Road Strip – where the highway turns into a runway!! Even with a small turning circle!

Our destination for the night was Eucla which is on the SA/WA border and about a 400km drive. Along the way our first stop was the Head of Bight where the white sand dunes and beaches meet the Bunda Cliffs. This a prime place to watch the humpback whales and their calves go past later in the year. There is an information and interpretative centre built on the cliffs where you enter and pay before heading off on a boardwalk which has viewing platforms and small shelters from the wind which is FEROCIOUS! Fabulous views up and down the coast of the majestic cliffs, some sand dunes and the wild southern ocean. We were rugged up to withstand the cold and wind. Amazing views and the power of the ocean is something quite special.

The Bunda cliffs are composed of limestone with 3 distinct layers- the light coloured base, called Wilson Bluff limestone formed when sea levels were higher, then the Nullarbor limestone which began forming 25 million years ago and then the Bridgewater Formation at the top, a mere 1.6 million to 100,00 years old. They stretch unbroken for about 200kms west from the Head of Bight and in places where these cliffs are the Nullarbor plain drops 90 metres into the ocean.

Due to concerns (mainly mine) about the strict quarantine restrictions on what you can bring onto WA from SA (no fruit and many vegetables, uncooked frozen seafood), I took the opportunity at the Head of Bight car park to make meals with food that otherwise would have to be thrown away and also banana muffins!! I gave our avocados, pre-made salads,  and some other produce to the rangers who were most grateful. Some hours later one of the rangers knocked on our door and said they were about to close the gates!! Luckily I had finished my cooking!!

Arrived at Eucla and the quarantine station. Thought I had done such a great job with getting rid of/ using anything on the list but no – garlic had to be peeled and some limes in the fridge. So peeled the garlic and squeezed the limes – cannot do without these!! Not much at Eucla except a hotel, cabins, campground and petrol station. Most interesting fact is that Eucla has its own time zone separate to the rest of Australia!!  Its known as Australian Central Western Standard Time  (ACWST) which is set halfway between the official Western and Central Times. So if Western time is 8.00 and Central time is 9:30 then ACWST is 8:45! It’s a time zone based on an quarter of an hour!! It’s only observed in in the SE corner of WA, about a 350km sliver from Caiguna and encompassing the Border Village and 50 metres into SA! Very rare and very weird!!  Eucla was also famous back in the early seventies  when it was reported there was a mysterious sighting of a half-naked woman apparently living with the kangaroos – The Nullarbor Nymph. Of course this was a hoax with the intention of drawing journalists and tourists to Eucla!! Next day we headed off for a very long drive of 700km to Norseman in WA. Not much stopping on this stretch. So our 1100 trip was over. And with podcasts and the view from the windows it went by in a flash. We drove the longest straightest road of 146 km and also got stopped by road works in the middle of nowhere. We waited first in line with a man holding the stop sign but talking to a co- worker in a car. Getting annoyed after 5 or more minutes with no traffic coming towards us and him eating a roll but no sign that THE SIGN would be turned to go. Eventually the man came  to the driver’s window (ME) and said thanks for your patience ( if only he knew) but I was having my lunch break! Poor thing. Then felt very sorry for him. He turned the sign around and gestured for me to follow the co-worker in his support vehicle. I had to be supported to drive the few kms along the road works. Mark said I needed a support vehicle more of the time!!

Arrived at Norseman Caravan Park to find our new best friends from Penong staying there as well!! Greeted each other like long lost buddies- helped that I had a gin and tonic on the go!! So finally we had arrived in WA. We had been looking forward to his for such a long time and we had dinner talking about all the adventures ahead!!

Port Lincoln to Penong

A short drive and we were in Port Lincoln – on the lower Eyre Peninsula opening onto the Spencer Gulf and claims to be the seafood capital of Australia. Due to the thriving fishing industry ( tuna abalone oysters prawns etc ) it is said to be the home of the most millionaires per capita in Australia!  Some of you may remember Dean Lukin the champion weightlifter who was a tuna fisherman here. Population is about 16,000 so not a big town. We hired a car so could easily access the surfing spots as well as the oyster areas! More luck with oysters- had a fantastic lunch at Coffin Bay right on the water next to the oyster beds. Couldn’t be fresher. Favourite was oysters with jalapeno sorbet – very welcome on a hot day! We ate 30!!

Went into the Lincoln National Park looking for surf at a beach called Fishery Bay. Mark was using the car’s google maps for directions. I noticed it had near Morgan St Aldinga 7.5 hrs away written on the screen and did advise Mark who wasn’t interested. Then he said we seem to be going in the wrong direction and checked the google map. Turned out we were heading to Fisherman’s bay back in Aldinga!!! This is why I prefer real maps!! Fishery Bay was beautiful –  deserted crystal clear water but not a wave in sight! Perfect for a walk and swim.

You might recall we were hoping for a latch to arrive in Port Lincoln so the fridge could be fixed. Well it never arrived! And a call to the headquarters of Dometic (the fridge brand) suggested it had never been ordered by the Port Pirie guy. So Mark found a Dometic agent in Ceduna who said he could order it and that it SHOULD arrive by the time we were there. So after a couple of days in Port Lincoln going to restaurants, bars and cafes eating more oysters and fish we set off  heading north up the Eyre highway with the POLE still in situ! We stopped in at Smoky Bay another oyster area and walked along the jetty before heading to an industrial area made up entirely of oyster companies. Not all sell to the public but we found one  with a sign out the front “oysters for sale”. Yippee! Only catch was that his licence didn’t extend to selling opened oysters so we had a quick shucking lesson and bought a dozen to be kept until my birthday. Got to eat a couple he opened and they are saltier than the Coffin Bay variety but just as tasty! We also walked along the jetty- most of these beach towns have jetties, some are very old and have been restored, some are very long- one was over a kilometre. One was famous for its  metal pylons which were screwed in with the help of camels!! All of them seem to have fisher folk at their ends hoping for a catch! And stopped at a surfing beach but no surf. Nice spot to put awning out and catch up on blog though!

Along the way to Streaky Bay we detoured to stop at some sights near Elliston. Firstly to  some spots around Talia beach – huge shelves of granite disappearing into the ocean,  caves and blowholes. Then onto Murphy’s Haystacks, a collection of granite boulders named after the original owner of the land on which they sit. These are properly called Inselbergs formed by the uneven weathering of crystalline rock. Some are boulders, others are pillars. In the middle of a sheep paddock!

We spent a night at Streaky Bay and then set off for Ceduna and were over the moon ( well I was ) to learn  on arrival that the latch had arrived and my new best friend Graham was meeting us in the caravan park to fit it.  He is a long term Ceduna resident who originally worked on the OTC (overseas telecommunications commission) as Ceduna had two huge satellite dishes that could beam the signals into space. Of course that old technology is now obsolete. More exciting for us was discovering that there was a seafood place for dinner along the highway going out of town. It was a bike ride away so off we set – Mark a little concerned as I drifted from the very  side of the road into the path of the huge long trucks heading west!!It was worth the anxiety as there was this ordinary little place just off the highway which had oysters, tacos and sushi on the menu thanks to the cultural diversity of the staff! Very ordinary  small bottles of yellow tail wine to go with it – the owner does not encourage BYO as some bring eskies full of grog!! Great food in quirky surroundings!

Then to Penong a very small place which is the last town before heading off across the Nullarbor.

For us though a small detour before the big drive to a remote and famous surfing spot -Cactus. Both Mark and I have been here before around 1974 although we were not together then. We told the ranger this and turned out he was only born in 1974!! How to make one feel old. And not helped by the fact I was spending my 65^th birthday here- Mark could have planned that a bit better! As it turned out this was the best day of our stay in Cactus- nice sunny weather, Mark had a great surf on his paddle board which I devotedly captured on film, followed by a fabulous frittata cooked by moi in my new casserole dish on the Weber! Late in the afternoon we went for a walk to explore the 3 beaches and had a swim in one. Back to the ranch and Mark shucked the dozen oysters which we enjoyed with a lovely King Island Prosecco! Back to Weber cooking for a seafood paella. Lovely sunset over the ocean and then amazing stars. Sometimes when you least expect it a birthday can turn out rather special even without a card or present!. Of course Mark says his presence is my present!

Back to Penong for a night in the caravan park which was initially deserted until 2 older couples ( probably our age) on their way to Albany for a niece’s birthday turned up. We had dinner with them in the Penong pub which my brother Stephen used to manage. And of course have seen them in many spots since then!! Yesterday they disturbed us while we were having a rest in a little place west of Esperance!! Penong is famous for its Windmill Museum which is an outside area of windmills sourced from many places around SA and Australia. Some like the Comet which was the largest windmill in the Southern Hemisphere with a span of over 35metres had been found in pieces in a property transported to Penong and restored to its former glory!!

I should mention that the areas we have travelled through on the Eyre Peninsula are mainly wheat and sheep farming and the terrain does not change much over many kilometres. Unless you head into the coastal areas. Since the Yorke Peninsula we have been following the Seafood Trail which is signposted all the way to the border with WA. Now that is my kind of trail!!