'Wherarwee' in Oz: Log 30-01 Port Augusta

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 1^st 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 3^rd 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.