Log 30-01 Port Augusta
Jan. 20, departure day, we awoke to find an
ominous, multihued cloud above us. It didn’t cover the whole sky, but it
covered us & it varied from black, through a gamut of greys, browns &
green tinges, it didn’t look good. Before we finished packing up we were soaked
by a sudden deluge which lasted all of 10 mins. After our goodbye’s we
travelled into Midland for supplies for the trip back East. We were once again
treated to WA’s spectacular lightning shows, brilliant flashes all over the sky
(we heard on the news that night that there were over 3000 lightning strikes
around Perth with 4 people killed). By the time we had finished our shopping
the rain had settled in & it continued till we were about 50K’s out from
Perth with minor flooding in some places.
We drove to Southern Cross for our 1st
night’s stop & then pushed on to Norseman & onto the Eyre Highway to
cross to the Nullarbor. Our next stop was at a sheep station called Fraser Range.
It is a delightful little privately owned c’van park with a playground for kids
& one hole of the Nullarbor Links Golf Range. (This is the worlds longest
golf course stretching from Kalgoorlie to Ceduna with several of the holes over
500 mts.)
I didn’t know what to expect from the land
itself but it changed as we travelled along. At first there were stunted,
gnarled trees to about 5mts high, this changed to vast grasslands &
shrublands with small areas of trees along the way. The whole of the Eyre highway
is bordered by a low range of hills to the North, which were sometimes near the
road & sometimes far in the distance, to the South it is vast open planes.
The longest stretch of straight road was 146.6 K’s long but you could only see
about 500mts ahead as it disappeared into mirages. We stopped at Eucla for our
3rd night, a very fast trip
for us but a very hot one as our cabin A/C (as distinct from our house A/C) has
broken down again. Eucla is very near the Ocean & was many degrees cooler
with a nice sea breeze when we arrived, quite a change from the last 7 weeks.
What a nuisance to find, once again, that we had to turn in all our fruit &
vegies at the border.
Eucla is only 12K’s West of the border
& soon we were into the Nullarbor National Park with the Great Australian
Bight off to our right. That night we stopped at a lookout somewhere along the
coast, we had the place to ourselves & it was so tranquil & peaceful.
Sitting in our chairs we could hear the crows cawing, see hawks hovering &
listen to the sound of the waves washing against the shore. It was a beautiful
feeling.
Our trip across the Nullarbor took 4 days,
2 days into an Easterly breeze & then 2 days with an South Easterly gusty
wind making travel a snakey drive along the road & increasing our fuel
consumption by another 2-3 lts per 100K’s. Stopping at the quarantine point at
Ceduna to donate any fruit or vegies, we found Ceduna to be another one of
those great little coastal towns with a
high aboriginal percentage but they were different here, better dressed, better
looking & happy to look you in the eye & make contact. We spent an hour
here replenishing our food & looking around before moving on to Streaky Bay
where we stopped for a couple of days at the waterfront caravan park. The temp
was 10º cooler with a strong breeze keeping it down to a very comfortable level
& the ocean temp was almost lukewarm. We spent Australia Day here & the
townspeople put on a hot breakfast for all. This is an amazing little town with
a great sense of community.
The time changes in Oz are strange to say
the least, ¾ of the way across WA is Oz Central Time, advance your time by 45
mins. Then at Ceduna it’s SA time, so advance your time another 45 mins., but
it’s also daylight saving so advance another hour. At the moment we’re 30 mins.
Behind Sydney time but still 2000K’s away.
Proceeding onwards our next stop was Port
Lincoln, there has been one fantastic bay after another all the way down &
pt. Lincoln was no exception. The aprk we stayed at was on the side of a hill,
the roads through were circular & each site was approx.. 600mm lower than
the previous one. Because of the circular formation each van was parked head to
toe so that everyone had a clear view of the bay, Oz day celebrations continued
on over the weekend so we spent 2 days here as well before moving on to Whyalla.
Whyalla turned out to be just another
country town, nothing bright & cheerful & although we picked another
waterfront park, when the tide went out it was at least ½ K to the water.
Still, we enjoyed the shade & the wind that has been blowing ever since we
left Norseman, continued. We had an electrical storm in the evening but it had
blown itself out within an hour.
Next morning we left early & drove to Port Augusta which is quite large, attractive & very busy. After a look around we continued on our way.
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| Norseman, where you turn onto the Eyre Highway. |
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| At Fraser Range Station, sign to tee, (they didn't say it was over a K. |
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Nullarbor Links, holes are named.
This is sheeps back, par 3 |
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| Sign at Eucla |
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| I think this is about the end of the bike cover. |
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| Looking West from Eucla across the Nullarbor |
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| A bit of the bight. |
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| One of our overnight stops. |
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| How the Nullarbor looks |
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| Streaky Bay, Lib would love to move there. |
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| Australia Day celebrations |
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| And again |
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| Streaky Bay Hotel |
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From the jetty,
looking back towards the caravan park |
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| Port Lincoln, waterfront carnival |
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They said this was the real red dog,
but is it??? |
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| The parade |
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| View from our C/park site |
