Crossing The Nullabor

We set off early from Fowlers Bay - our earliest departure so far, and headed towards Ceduna, the start of the Nullabor. In 41*c heat we reached Ceduna at lunch time and enjoyed sitting in the shade beside the jetty having lunch and a quickly melting icypole.

Time to hit the road and get as far as we can - Hopefully Cocklebiddy. Along the way we stopped at "The head of the bight". The staff member there was lovely, chatting about the whales (not there at the moment), the Yalata Aboriginal community and life living at such a isolated spot. We enjoyed looking around at the very bottom of Australia, and saw a very scrawny dingo wandering around the carpark.

At our first petrol stop at Nullabor Roadhouse we caught up with Hamish and Sara & kids, much to the excitement of our kids. Here the boys had a hit of golf at one of the holes on the "Nullabor Links" course. Nick noticed the valve on one of the campervan tyres had a slow leak when touched, so he decided to put the spare on.

Not far from the roadhouse we saw a dead camel on the side of the road. The kids were fascinated - not your average road kill I guess.

About 10km from here - BANG - we had a blowout - the spare, so back on with the tyre with the leaky valve. It was a slow and cautious drive to the border, where we were told there is a mechanic in Eucla that might be able to help. After being searched for fruit and vegie smuggling (which involved us winding up the van and emptying all the stuff out of the front half so they could inspect the fridge and cupboards), we made a slow trip to Eucla. Fortunately we made it, however the mechanic was out of town on another job 400km away. Guess we're staying here the night. Hamish and Sara stayed here as well and all the kids loved exploring and finding a horse and 3 week old foal which were incredibly friendly. Nick, Hamish, Sara and I enjoyed a quiet drink in the beer garden once the kids were in bed. Adult time at last.

In the morning we had the valve replaced and got a new tyre, and were on the road by 9:05am. Not bad really.
Today's drive was long and uneventful. We were amazed at the number of trees and even a mountain range on the desert, then suddenly endless kilometers of scrubland. The only animal life we saw were a few eagles and a couple of dingos and many dead kangaroos on the side if the road.

We had been told of a lovely campsite called Newman Rocks about 150km east of Norseman. As we were driving in we commented how nice it was to camp back off the road as many of the other stops were literally on the side of the road. Driving down we came to a waterhole, which was absolutely full of tadpoles with bodies the size of 20 cent pieces. We set up camp with amazing 360 degree views, (again with Hamish and Sara) and off all the kids went catching geckos, and tadpoling. After tea we lit a campfire, had hot milo and listened to Hamish read "The Far Away Tree" complete with funny voices for each of the characters. Certainly this spot will leave us with some very special memories as we near the end of the Nullabor.

Crossing The Nullabor

We set off early from Fowlers Bay - our earliest departure so far, and headed towards Ceduna, the start of the Nullabor. In 41*c heat we reached Ceduna at lunch time and enjoyed sitting in the shade beside the jetty having lunch and a quickly melting icypole.

Time to hit the road and get as far as we can - Hopefully Cocklebiddy. Along the way we stopped at "The head of the bight". The staff member there was lovely, chatting about the whales (not there at the moment), the Yalata Aboriginal community and life living at such a isolated spot. We enjoyed looking around at the very bottom of Australia, and saw a very scrawny dingo wandering around the carpark.

At our first petrol stop at Nullabor Roadhouse we caught up with Hamish and Sara & kids, much to the excitement of our kids. Here the boys had a hit of golf at one of the holes on the "Nullabor Links" course. Nick noticed the valve on one of the campervan tyres had a slow leak when touched, so he decided to put the spare on.

Not far from the roadhouse we saw a dead camel on the side of the road. The kids were fascinated - not your average road kill I guess.

About 10km from here - BANG - we had a blowout - the spare, so back on with the tyre with the leaky valve. It was a slow and cautious drive to the border, where we were told there is a mechanic in Eucla that might be able to help. After being searched for fruit and vegie smuggling (which involved us winding up the van and emptying all the stuff out of the front half so they could inspect the fridge and cupboards), we made a slow trip to Eucla. Fortunately we made it, however the mechanic was out of town on another job 400km away. Guess we're staying here the night. Hamish and Sara stayed here as well and all the kids loved exploring and finding a horse and 3 week old foal which were incredibly friendly. Nick, Hamish, Sara and I enjoyed a quiet drink in the beer garden once the kids were in bed. Adult time at last.

In the morning we had the valve replaced and got a new tyre, and were on the road by 9:05am. Not bad really.
Today's drive was long and uneventful. We were amazed at the number of trees and even a mountain range on the desert, then suddenly endless kilometers of scrubland. The only animal life we saw were a few eagles and a couple of dingos and many dead kangaroos on the side if the road.

We had been told of a lovely campsite called Newman Rocks about 150km east of Norseman. As we were driving in we commented how nice it was to camp back off the road as many of the other stops were literally on the side of the road. Driving down we came to a waterhole, which was absolutely full of tadpoles with bodies the size of 20 cent pieces. We set up camp with amazing 360 degree views, (again with Hamish and Sara) and off all the kids went catching geckos, and tadpoling. After tea we lit a campfire, had hot milo and listened to Hamish read "The Far Away Tree" complete with funny voices for each of the characters. Certainly this spot will leave us with some very special memories as we near the end of the Nullabor.

Fowlers Bay

Before we set off across the Nullabor we decided to stop at a small place called Fowlers Bay. I say place rather than town as there are less than 50 residents here, a kiosk, small caravan park and a jetty, powered only by generator or solar panels and water supplied from the sand dunes near by, pumped by windmills.

We did our first "1 night stop set up." this only required the van being set up and not the tent, and the boxes and bags stowed under the van. Apart from the 41*c heat making the campervan quite stuffy it worked out well, and only took 1/2 the time to set up and pack up compared to the usual 1-2 hours for a full set up.

The caravan park was opposite the jetty and beach.

Over at the jetty were a number of Aboriginals. We walked past and said "hi" with no response and Nick tried talking to a couple of Aboriginal kids about fishing spots but they walked away. We were puzzled at our inability to communicate with them, it appeared to us there was somewhat of a cultural divide. It wasn't until we stopped at "The Head Of The Bight" and engaged in a discussion with someone who was employed there by the Yalata Aboriginal community that their customs are so much different to ours, in particular children don't look you in the eye as a mark of respect. Abbey wouldn't even go and play near them as she was scared they would shoe her away, which was a real shame as we wish for our children to develop a deep understanding and open mind for the indigenous community.

After and early and quick pack up we set off across the Nullabor......

Fowlers Bay

Before we set off across the Nullabor we decided to stop at a small place called Fowlers Bay. I say place rather than town as there are less than 50 residents here, a kiosk, small caravan park and a jetty, powered only by generator or solar panels and water supplied from the sand dunes near by, pumped by windmills.

We did our first "1 night stop set up." this only required the van being set up and not the tent, and the boxes and bags stowed under the van. Apart from the 41*c heat making the campervan quite stuffy it worked out well, and only took 1/2 the time to set up and pack up compared to the usual 1-2 hours for a full set up.

The caravan park was opposite the jetty and beach.

Over at the jetty were a number of Aboriginals. We walked past and said "hi" with no response and Nick tried talking to a couple of Aboriginal kids about fishing spots but they walked away. We were puzzled at our inability to communicate with them, it appeared to us there was somewhat of a cultural divide. It wasn't until we stopped at "The Head Of The Bight" and engaged in a discussion with someone who was employed there by the Yalata Aboriginal community that their customs are so much different to ours, in particular children don't look you in the eye as a mark of respect. Abbey wouldn't even go and play near them as she was scared they would shoe her away, which was a real shame as we wish for our children to develop a deep understanding and open mind for the indigenous community.

After and early and quick pack up we set off across the Nullabor......

Catch Of The Day

When deciding on this trip we were introduced to a book called "Are we there yet" by Alison Lester. It is a kids book about a family who take off around Australia and the places they see along the way. On the way to Streaky Bay we had our first "are we there yet" moment and saw Murphy's Haystacks. They are a group of rocks (inselbergs) that from a distance look like haystacks. The kids enjoyed running up inside the rock and sliding down on their bottoms.

From Murphy's Haystacks we went in search of some bush/beach campsites. Unfortunately they were a long way from the beach or full of march flies, so we decided to head into the town of Streaky Bay, the road into town was dirt and being graded, and had recently been watered, consequently our van was covered in thick sticky red mud.

Arriving at beautiful Streaky Bay we decided to stay at the caravan park, in an unpowered site, which was right on the edge of the beach. It was so tranquil and peaceful looking across bay and not a breath of wind. As we were driving in the kids spotted Oliver, their friend they made at Port Lincoln. As soon as the bikes were unpacked they rode off to find the rest of his family. (leaving Nick, Josh and me to set up camp).

The next morning we set off to explore and find a good swimming spot as it was going to be a warm 38 degrees. As we were driving the kids spotted many shingle back lizards. "Stop the car dad stop the car" yelled Zach. As Nick was slowing down Zach jumped out of the car, and without hesitation caught one of the lizards - Steve Irwin Style. Matt followed as well but a bit more hesitantly, & caught one too.

We found a place called The Granites. A beautiful sheltered area with large granite rocks, many of which formed rock pools, and a lovely beach area for swimming and snorkelling. We came here 3 days in a row, once enjoying it with our friends Sara and Hamish and kids, with BBQ sausages cooked on our little webber for lunch. We caught in total 16 fish here (I think they were some sort of coral or flower cod, but the boys think they were groper - either way they tasted good). One of the fish Josh caught was huge- about 50cm long and at least 1kg in weight. The snorkelling in the rock pools was pretty amazing, there were fish galore, little zebra striped angel fish, longer grey ones, squid and much more. Matt & I were snorkelling together, and Matt (the avid spotter) saw a large strongy on the sea floor. I aimed with the hand spear and got it. Unfortunately I had a bit of a girly moment and squealed, through my snorkel and the fish struggled off the spear and got away much to Matt's disappointment.

More highlights of Streaky Bay were seeing Australia's only mainland colony of sea lions, viewing whistling rocks and seeing the replica of the largest white pointer shark caught on a reel at the shell service station in town (this was also another "are we there yet moment) and Matt caught a large razor fish, which sliced the tips of his fingers) in the bay in front of our van.