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!!