14th – 17th Sept. Crossing the Nullarbor:

When we turned the car eastward we thought this was the beginning of the long trip home.  Now we are heading across the Nullarbor.  In Alice’s words, “We are taking this road because we must to get home”.  The distance from Norseman in WA to Ceduna in SA is over 1400 klms through mostly barren flats.  Again we travel along roads where there is no civilisation except the handful of roadhouses dotted broadly about 100 klms apart.

An unexpected visitor before we left Esperence.

 The vista is similar to what we have seen in many other parts of WA & NT – broad flats covered in saltbush and other shrubs.  In patches there is grass and there is some grain crops growing along road verges as if seed has fallen from passing trucks.  The difference we have seen in recent days has been some sprawling gum trees and Salmon Gums.  These appear to grow best in high salt country.

A diffent type of gum tree for salt areas

Typical Nullarbor country with a little more than usual grass.

There is absolutely no water here.  Over the full distance of the Nullarbor we did not cross one creek.  Signs tell us we have to carry all of our own water for the total distance.  There is not even any place where one can purchase bulk water.  There are two sites where rain water is collected from tin roof shelters and made available.  The taps are manufactured to allow only small quantities through unless one is prepared to wait hours as a manner of managing a limited resource.

Night 1 we stopped at a road side rest area called Woorlba Homestead.  We had the company of about 8 or 9 other vans / tents etc. 

Night 2 we made it to Eucla on the WA side of the border with SA.  Here we were able to book into a reasonably priced caravan park where we could access showers and toilets, no water for the van though.  The park was packed.

At Eucla we climbed up from the low plains to the top of the plateau which continues almost to Ceduna.  It is about 150 metres high and flat as a billiard table.  The view from the top was quite extensive.

Day 3 was the best of all.  Within a short distance of Eucla we crossed through the border and almost immediately came back in contact with the coastline of the Great Australian Bight.  There were a few parking spots where we were able to view the coast from the top of the plateau.

The steep cliffs of Nullarbor Plain

Whale & calf at this same stop.

Up close & personal.  A tale we can tell.

Now take heed & don't give us any backchat.  There is two of us!!

At about the third of these we saw our first whale with her calf frolicking quite close to the cliff edge.

Another couple of hundred klms and we turned off to the “Head of the Bight”.  This is a tourist venue established to view the whales from July through to the end of September.  Here we really did get a fantastic view of 5 whales as well as their calves only about 50 metres from shore.  The vantage point was approx 50 metres high so we were able to easily see them playing in the beautiful blue water. 

Catwalks at Head Of Bight - Highest point in Australian Bight.

HOB - very special place

And the reason we went there was ......Southern White Whales

Big Mumma & Little Bubba

And their surroundings are great too!

That night we again stopped in a roadside parking area.

And God chose to end our day with His spectacular light show.

It only happens like this on the plains.

And a dove watched over us that night.

What can you read in this?

Day 4 saw us travelling out of the Nullarbor.  As we drew closer to Ceduna the country again turned back into grain growing with occasional silo and storage facilities.  Towns changed from Roadhouse size to small country villages.  Through the fruit fly inspection stations and we were into Ceduna.

Ceduna in centre of the grain belt.

It is a harbour city.

Vanners can choose their view each lunchtime.

 Ceduna is a town of about 2000 people at the cross roads of Eyre Peninsula and the Nullabor.  It is a coastal town and a port for the grain growing area surrounding as well as fishing.  In Ceduna we planned to restock our provisions, especially fruit & vegetables which we had eliminated for the border crossing.  We were really surprised at the price of food here.  Our purchases therefore were minimal and we chose to move on down the peninsula for the night. 

We had crossed the Nullarbor, a very interesting experience and another chance for us to see how people live in this vast and often desolate country we call Australia.