Week 2 · 4th April to 10th April
The Nullarbor
Day 8 – 4th April
Went for a shortish bike ride (after fixing my tyre) and found a 400yr old Red River Gum tree – ‘The King Tree’. Packed up and headed in bright sunshine (approx 27C) to Whyalla (Fitzgerald Bay campsite).
Well, Fitzgerald Bay is definitely nothing to write home about! Awful wasteground with terrible facilities with flies to beat the band! Arrived too late to find somewhere else so had to drink lots of red wine to ease the pain. The only consolation was the sunset.
Day 9 – 5th April
Remember we said that it was a disaster that Max’s water tank fell off. Well, that couldn’t been further from the truth. We pulled into Whyalla last night to buy some milk from the local store. The friendly shopkeeper pointed us to the plumbers supplies to get Max fixed.
The next morning they supplied us with brackets and rang a local fella (Wayne Carn) to do a cash job. We ended up at his place where he had all the tools to do the job. All done, no probs. He then showed us his passion - Aquaculture! His 10 years of research has enabled him to cultivate Marin (a sort of fresh water Crayfish) in fibreglass cages in his backyard. It was a hi-tec, but completely natural fish farm. He hopes to expand the fish tanks into the 000’s and break into the tourist industry. He was an amazing man who was passionate about simple things: his hobby and generally helping people along. I’m sure that his passion will translate into a healthy tourist venture and he’ll be remembered for his work. THANKS WAYNE!!
Wayne’s wise words:
“Love your family and you’ll have a great life”
“Goodness and finding good in people is my God”
“Find goodness in people and you won’t be afraid of death”
Day 10 – 6th April
We got up before sunrise and drove to Mt Wudinna – a smaller version of Uluru in the North of the Eyre peninsular. We climbed it and watched the sunrise which was a spectacular sight given that we’re normally in bed at that time. We went back to the campsite and had a breakfast of tea and porridge!
We had intended on driving to Streaky Bay by the coast but as it was a dull and cloudy we decided to head straight for the Nullarbor instead.
We arrived at the Nullarbor Roadhouse which is a bit of a dump so cooked up a massive dinner and contemplated our first night in Max!
Day 11 – 7th April
Crossing the Nullarbor
We were on the road for 7am as there was lots of driving planned as there isn’t much to see between here and Esperence – over 1000kms away. We did stop at Bunda Cliffs though which run for thousands of kms into WA.
We planned to head for Balladonia today which is over 700kms away so we took it in 150km chunks each. Not much happened for the first 400kms except seeing the odd Dingo (also 3 wedge-tailed eagles) and of course crossing into WA. On the way to Caiguna we ran into a few locusts which messed up the windscreen. However, closer to Balladonia, they seemed to get more numerous. Later I spotted what I thought was a dust cloud about a km ahead – wrong! – it was a swarm of locusts. Millions of em and they splatted on the car like hailstones! In fact, so many were killed that the road began to look like it had just been resurfaced and there were loose chippings everywhere.
25kms from Balladonia and disaster struck, Max had a puncture! Of course we knew how to change the wheel (not!) and that the spare was at the correct pressure! Eventually through dodgy practices (not to be mentioned on this site) we managed to change the wheel and limped into Balladonia – a very welcome, nice spot.
Day 12 – 8th April
Met a few lovely people at Balladonia: a couple from the ACT called Lou and Helen who gave us lots of tips re: Max – the puncture etc; a Queensland couple who advised us to keep our shoes indoors when crossing the Nullarbor as his were chewed by a Dingo!; and a family of four from WA. So, today we drove at 70/80kph (still on the spare wheel) into Norseman. Had lunch, spoke to a few people about tyres (is there any other topic of conversation these days??) then headed to Esperence and yet more tyre outlets! Met a fantastic man called Heyden Thomas who gave us lots of advice. In the end we finished up with four (nearly) new tyres and a spare wheel and extra spare tyre. Let that be the end of tyre talk for now please!!!…
Camped at Esperence at a decent park.
Day 13 – 9th April
Woke after a good sleep, packed Max and headed for Cape Le Grand NP – 50km East of Esperence. Camped at Lucky Bay – a beautiful spot but a little busy as its Easter weekend. Decided to go for a swim in the amazingly blue sea just two minutes from the campsite. For some reason we decided to walk along the beach for a while first.
Imagine this if you will… you’re on the other side of the world, you’re in one of the least visited states in Australia, you’re in one of the smallest towns in WA (over 1000kms from Perth), you’re in a National Park away from civilisation, you go for a walk along a deserted beach in Cape Le Grand NP, and……you bump into an old friend from college who you haven’t seen in 8 years!!!
HOW WEIRD IS THAT!
Day 14 – 10th April
Lucky Bay is amazing. I went for a run along the beach first thing – Dean has a sore knee then we both went for a body-surf in the waves – great way to start the day. Then we headed back for brekky and a few chats with other campers. Met a Swiss couple called Stefan and Charlotte who are on a similar route to us. Headed out for a scramble on the rocks and onto a trail where where we spotted a snake basking in the sunshine. However, it started raining not long after so we explored the rest of the NP in Max where we spotted a Goanna. At sunset I went for a swim and was awe inspired by the colours of the rocks, sky and water – breathtaking.
