To the Nullabor and beyond.......

Waking up bright and early we had breakfast and hit the road again stopping at Iron Knob for a look and a loo.  The little town was quiet and tidy with a great campground, in the memory banks for next time, and with the mines still operating it seems it will survive for a while longer.

Many kms later we arrived at Kimba and found it's claim to fame is that you are halfway across the country.  The board also tells the story of how in 1908 the first permanent settlers planted the first grain and grew the first crops in the district.  As more settlers came to grow crops Kimba was proclaimed a town in 1915.  It goes on to tell us that the surrounding district is now the largest wheat growing area in the driest state, in the driest continent, in the world.

I must say that as we drove that day approaching Kimba and for many hundreds of kms after I was surprised at the amount of grain crops we passed.  Acre after acre of grain and nowhere in sight was any visible means of watering them.  At the SA/WA border Bill read that the average property is one million acres.  I would not to guess how many million acres of grain we had passed but it all looked very healthy and ready to harvest - what a huge job!

One other sight Kimba had to offer was the 'Big Galah' out the front of the Tourist Gift Shop and Bakery.  Why, because they could apparently, there was no explanation anywhere but of course I couldn't not take a photo could I!

Back in the car we drove to the Wundinia where we found another 'Big' thing, a marble sculpture paying homage to the Australian Farmer.  It was impressive to say the least.

We drove on for a while then stopping next at Minnipa for lunch in a local park.  The storyboards here were all about the Gawler Ranges and the Gateway to Minnipa.  Somewhere to put in the memory banks for another time.  Another very quiet and tidy little town.

A couple of hours later we were arriving at our final destination for day 5, Ceduna, and we found a lovely little caravan park on the beach and set up quickly.  We walked along the Main Street and back down to the foreshore and the jetty.  It was terribly windy here and I did not follow Bill out to the end of the jetty once the rail ran out.  I was convinced I would be blown off.

Ceduna seemed to be a lovely town on the coast with plenty of accomodation to cater for the summer holidaymakers.  During the offseason it seems fairly quiet though our park had lots of overnight vans making their way East 

Leaving reasonably early the next morning we headed west for a long day across the country.  We still had fields of wheat either side as we travelled and still not a sprinkler in sight.  Our first stop was at Penong, a very little town but the general store/cafe had a coffee machine - bonus!

Each time I thought we had left the fields of wheat just a bit further on there were more acres upon acres but finally we came across the sign stating 'Eastern edge of Nullabor Plain' and there was no more grain.  In fact not much of anything, though unlike what most people think, it is not bare, the ground is covered by low bushes.  We drove on and on only stopping for lunch at one of the many truck stops along the way.

Our next stop was to follow a sign to a lookout over the Great Australian Bight.  We had stopped here on our last trip in 1977 and there was just a low fence and signs warning of the danger.  Now it is a National Park and fenced safely with a walkway out to the edge and the view is just magnificent!  Standing right on the edge of Australia in the middle of nowhere is another just do almost equal to visiting Uluru.

There were two more lookouts along the way to the border, one 37 kms and the other 96 kms.  We stopped at both and they were set up the same with paths and safe viewing areas.  They all had amazing views.  A third unmarked one also had great views but it was now time to continue on and cross the border.

Of course the border has a quarantine check for any fruit and vegetables and it was only on the way that day that I realised I had a fridge full of these.  I had been so intent on not taking anything into SA that I totally forgot WA had the same restrictions. I had shopped in Adelaide catering for five days meals and we had eaten out twice.  We had eaten some along the way that day but I had to hand over the rest.  Strangely enough they let me keep the carrots and so I managed to throw together something for dinner that night.  Thank goodness for frozen beans and frozen chips!

Crossing the border here is a big non event.  The only sign is very old and looks like it.  We parked here to have a look then walked back over to Border Village which is essentially a roadhouse and truck stop.  The big kangaroo and the signpost invite a photo and once done we crossed back to WA and drove the 12 kms into Eucla where we set up camp for the night.

The Campground here is right on the coast and that night was very cool and blowing a gale.  We stayed inside to keep warm and had an early night after our big drive.  

One thing that did confuse us was the time.  Knowing that WA is 3 hours behind Vic during daylight savings we put our time back but the clocks in both Border Village and Eucla Roadhouse had another time.  Known as Central West Time this is a third unofficial Timezone and is 45 mins ahead of WA time.  We just worked on the time as we know it so got an early start the next morning.

A quick getaway in the morning saw us at Mundrabilla by 7.45am or was it 8.30 am.  And the road trains were getting bigger.

Another quick stop at Madura Roadhouse before driving through Madura Pass and stopping a the lookout at the top for a sweeping view of The Roe Plains.

We continued on stopping at Nullabor Station and then Cocklebiddy to stretch the legs and have a drink.  I loved the population sign here, one of the eight obviously has a sense of humour!

Soon after we passed another sign on the roadside telling us that we were on the 90 Mile Straight.  Australia's longest straight road!  146.6 kms and it seemed to go on forever!

We had stopped for lunch along this section of road at a big truck/van stop and Bill filled the car here from the two jerrycans we had saving us the expense of buying fuel we we got to Balladonia.  It was $1.95 per litre here, the most expensive we had seen so far.  We did stop and grabbed a coffee here and were happy to see that we were all on the same time again.

Back in the car we drove another 100 kms to a campsite Bill had picked out from the camps book.  Ten Mile Rocks is a large free camping area and we settled in for another quiet and early night.  Two big days on the road had tuckered us out.

Up and out early again we were soon in Norseman for fuel, coffee and a look.  I loved the roundabout with the herd of camels. And especially liked the sign at the Post Office - Eyremail!

Leaving here we continued our journey on to Esperance where we stopped.  On the way we passed this tiny little town called Grass Patch and this sign caught my attention.  

In Esperance we found our home and set up for two days here. While Bill got us settled I got the washing done and the wind took care of the rest.  We will explore later.

Until then..........