Day 14 – Wednesday 11 June – Streaky Bay to Head of Bight – 402 km
The Nullarbor beckoned. Our time on the Eyre Peninsula was over.
We started a bit later than scheduled at 8:40 am with gusty winds from the west and the north. Neither were good. The sunrise photo provided ominous warnings.
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| Our Streaky Bay sunrise view from behind the caravan |
Our first stop was Ceduna for diesel, bread, cappuccino and a lamington. Three were good, one was necessary.
Soon we braved the winds again with some trees on both sides of the road – which actually shielded us from some of the side winds. We checked out the biggest windmill in Australia at Penong.
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| Penong Windmills |
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| Nullarbor road with trees |
Lunch and more diesel at Nundroo, the latter just to be careful with the head winds eating into the fuel.
We arrived at Head of the Bight, paid our $8 and went whale watching. We got a few glimpses of whales but no photos were forthcoming. The cliffs were impressive. The trees were gone.
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| Head of the Bight cliffs |
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| Nullarbor road without trees |
As we had covered 402 km for the day and the winds were getting stronger we called it quits and stopped for the night at the Head of Bight free camp spot – with about 18 other caravans.
When cooking dinner
came about we realised that we had veggies for two days and one night to eat
them – as fresh fruit/veggies needs to be handed over at the WA/SA border. So
all veggies were cooked with 60% of them to be re-purposed tomorrow or the next
day. Picture veggie burger or ‘bubble and squeak’.
Day 15 – Thursday 12 June – Head of Bight to Cocklebiddy – 520 km
The gale force winds made it a 'rock & roll' night with no music. The time change yesterday caused some debate on when Shirley should get out of bed. She won.
Soon after departure we stopped for more fuel and soon after Lookout No 1. No whales but the cliffs were again impressive.
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| Cliffs at Lookout No 1 |
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| Flat. Straight. Windy. Wet |
We stopped at Lookout No 2. No whales but the cliffs were again impressive.
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| Lookout No 2 |
Lookout No 3 was similar and had the same result - no whales.
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| "Checkpoint Charlie" on the border |
We travelled a bit further than we had planned - long story - but we stopped the night at Cocklebiddy where the most prominent residents are Samantha & Bruce.
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| Wedge Tailed Eagles Samantha & Bruce. Confined to life in an aviary as their road-trauma injuries leave them unable to return to the wild |
Our dinner was veggie patties from the SA leftovers from last night, and they were superb.
Day 16 – Friday 13
June – Balladonia to Fraser Range – 335 km
After 1257 km in three
days we have virtually crossed the Nullarbor – east to west. We are 105 km from
Norseman the nominal end of the Nullarbor.
We started the day in
overcast and foggy conditions and again headed west. The strong head and side
winds prevailed. There was not much to look at. Birds and animals have been
virtually absent for the entire trip from Ceduna, maybe a dozen birds, one
flock of sheep and three road kills. No emu, no camel, no kangaroo, no birds of
prey (apart from the two in captivity).
We checked out the Caiguna Blowhole, that has an interesting story.
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| Caiguna Blowhole |
Soon after we stopped at Caiguna for fuel, then later for a road-side breather that had us stop beside “BallGNOMEia”. The photo tells the fully story. We got talking to three young girls who were totally entranced. Magic was in the air.
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| “BallGNOMEia” |
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| I got sucked in |
By now we were on the longest/straight road in Australia – 146 km. The sign seems to be a haven for stickers – and only since 2019.
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| Main image - The 'patched' sign in 2025 Insert - The 'clean' sign in 2019 |
Two hours later we stopped at Balladonia for more fuel and a lunch stop – Thai curry pumpkin soup. It was excellent. The girls from “BallGNOMEia” soon pulled in and came over to say hello. We walked through the museum that has a piece of ‘sky junk’ from July 1979 – huge news at the time.
Ninety km later our
travelling for the day ended at Fraser Range Station. We booked a site and a
table for fish n chips in the restaurant/woolshed. A coffee, a few jobs, then a
3.5 km walk through red dirt.
A haircut, a shower,
then dinner.
Tomorrow we travel on
a major road that we have never ever travelled before – Norseman to Esperance.
Day 17 – Saturday 14
June – Fraser Range to Bromus Dam – 149 km
Our last 100 km of
the Nullarbor were the easiest and most pleasant to drive. The wind has gone
and the sun was behind us. It was a chilly 3 degrees when we woke, 9 degrees
when we departed and 16 degrees when we got to Norseman (pop. 560).
Along the way we admired (again) the magnificent copper-coloured gums. According to who you ask they are either Salmon Gums (E. salmonophoia) or Gimlets (E. salubris).
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Above & Below - Either Salmon Gums or Gimlets or both |
We checkout the local lookout to view some of the local mine workings, then headed south on a heritage trail that told some of the story of the gold rush days.
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| The grave of a 27 year old who fell down a mine shaft |
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| The road along the heritage trail |
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| Some relics |
It was around 1pm when we found a lovely spot beside Bromus Dam where we camped for the night. One of our best free camps ever.
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| Bromus Dam |
A fire was lit. Damper was placed in it. Damper was burnt. Chris not popular. But was Ok inside.
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| Left - Fire just lit Right - Fire & Damper in Camp-oven |
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| Coffee beside the campfire |
We have travelled the 1200 km from Ceduna to Norseman in four days, plus some additional bits and pieces (1406 in total). The major Nullarbor road (the A1) over that sector must surely be the best long stretch of road in Australia. It is a superb stretch of road.
Day 18 – Sunday 15 June – Bromus Dam to Esperance – 171 km
The final leg of our journey to Esperance started in lovely sunshine and ended in rain. It took 18 days and 3905 km.
The side wind buffeted us for most of the trip, but we were not in any hurry. The Nullarbor bareness was duly replaced by grain crops and sheep grazing land. We saw our first green paddocks and crops since leaving home.
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| Healthy looking & green countryside |
A very informative lady at the Tourist Information Centre gave us a stack of good information, before we checked into the caravan park around 11:20 am. Our site is about 300 metres from the east-facing (sunrise) beach.
The park manager was a Victorian who needs to supplement his retirement income with jobs as he travels. He is here for around 12 months. He loved a chat and gave me permission to wash the caravan - against park rules. "Who cares" he said. So the red dust from yesterday's heritage trail was removed.
We had a quiet afternoon that included lots of planning for our time in Esperance. There was even a route change.
*** This chapter is now complete ***
Last updated at 8 pm on Sunday 15 June 2025 (WA time)
Bird pics are great!! You are bringing back so many memories!
ReplyDeleteWe saw a true blue in-the-wild wedgie today, but a photo was not an option.
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