Dan Will Travel
I'm Dan and I WILL Travel
The Nullarbor could be crossed in two days. I chose to take 3 to allow lots of time and to be sure that I was not driving when I should not have been. Although beautiful in its own way, it is numbing in the visual sameness. And those giant road trains do come by every 5 minutes or so.
Everyone visiting the Nullarbor gets their photo with one of these signs. Not so easy to do when you are alone, but I got it! Sorry to say that I really did not see any of these along the way. Notice that one of them is a camel. Yes, in Australia! They were brought here for pack trains and such and then turned loose. Now, this hearty, feral version is prized throughout the Middle East and Australia exports them back! On a previous trip up around Alice Springs, I did see some. So interesting!
RFDS. Royal Flying Doctor Service. This is a famous part of the Outback, and crucial to the health of the few who live here. So, when there is an emergency, the plane with the Doctor needs to land somewhere, right? Periodically, a section of the highway is set aside for that purpose.
And, periodically everyone has to get totally off the road for one of these things to pass by.
The ruins of the telegraph station at Eucla. 125 years ago, this station had 30-40 people working in it passing telegraph information between eastern and western Australia. Since it was abandoned, the sand dunes of the beach have taken over.
The beginning of day 3. A good shot from a bluff that shows the massive scale of the Nullarbor.
Yes, 90 miles, not a single curve or anything. They say that this stretch is easily seen from space. It took over 1 and 1/2 hours to do this, with a few stops for breaks. There is nothing this long and unbroken in the US.
I stopped for a water view and a stretch. and walking around the pull out, I came across this memorial. To the left is a sort of tombstone depicting the life of a husband and father that died at 49. His ashes along with his dog are here it says. And, then they did this memorial to him as well. My guess is that he loved to fish along this area. Creepy, yes, but poignant as well.
This may be too hard to read, but Belladonia in the Nullarbor is where the Skylab crashed down in 1979. There are like 5 permanent residents, but for a brief period of time, they were world famous. It notes that President Jimmy Carter called the motel owner to apologize for the mess caused! Can you imagine our current one calling ANYONE to apologize for ANYTHING? The county did issue a littering ticket but did not assess a fine!
On my train trips across Australia, I was very fascinated by this area. It is so huge and so totally empty. Nullarbor essentially is a modified Latin phrase that means “no trees.” And that is pretty much the case. For 450 miles. (It is exactly the same size as Nebraska, slightly larger than Washington state, but with one paved road and maybe a few hundred permanent residents.) It is essentially a giant block of limestone close to the surface that along with the heat and lack of rain keeps most anything from growing or even surviving here.
Yep, no trees. And super hot.
I entered the Nullarbor on an extremely hot day, with the temperature reaching 118 degrees! I found that so amazing as the road is usually only 3 or 4 miles from the ocean. But no cooling breezes for sure! And remember, down here this is essentially like early June, still technically not even summer.
Just a quick trip off a side road gets you views like this!
This one road across Australia was only paved in 1976 and there are no towns of any kind along the way. Just the periodic road house about every 75 miles or so. These are such a part of the Australian culture, generally including gas, mini mart, restaurant, motel rooms, caravan parking, and of course, a bar. And, one hole of the sort of famous 18 hole Nullarbor Links golf course. This classic course extends for 1,000 miles, with each road house having a hole. My first night was at the Nullarbor road house, with it’s dingo den golf hole # 14.
Dingo Den #14. The tee is somewhere out there. This was a par 5, so it might be quite far away.
Now, that’s a road train! Not sure if he is getting gas or delivering gas. You can see why the ‘roos do not have a chance against this sort of truck.
The bar was quite the place to be with many people coming and going and always inviting that weird American (me) to join them. Great stories were told, I sure wish I could remember them.
Wonderful wall mural in the bar of a famous Australian rock band. Every one knew the names of all in the painting.
When I got here, it was still 118 degrees. But then late afternoon thunderclouds magically appeared, lighting striking all around, a tiny bit of rain, and the temperature dropped nearly 40 degrees in less than an hour! Wow.
Look at that storm. The blue sky above the truck train was 30 minutes prior. Scary sort of that it came up so quickly. But, here there was barely enough rain to wet the pavement.
Well, after taking many days to get to the Outback, now I must leave it for a few days. The route drops down into agricultural South Australia before heading off into the Nullarbor Plain. So, after all of the arid emptiness I find myself on the Eyre Peninsula right along the coast of the Southern Ocean. Did you remember ever learning of the Southern Ocean? I did not. Only the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Artic. Well, anyway, that is what the Aussie’s call the water that lies between them and Antarctica.
Lots of shots below, enjoy the variety of this state!
I am preparing a piece on signs so here is a classic. But, after shooting, I looked across the road and one is staring right at me.
Of course, he soon bounced away, but at least a real ‘roo, and still alive.
I love how small towns try to give that nice first impression. This is one of the better ones. I was sitting here enjoying it while talking to Ed back at the office.
And I said that I was leaving the trees behind. Guess I was wrong! This is one giant gum (eucalyptus) Just followed the signs for the town’s main attraction, the giant gum. Always interesting to just follow the signs off the main road.
And, now, the southern coast of the Eyre peninsula.
The jetty at Elliston, a tiny town along the way.
So I walked all the way out, only to find a local guy, just turned 80 fishing for squid. And, with my worthless help he caught one. I did the net. Sort of. So, I said, dinner? Nah, the wife doesn’t like squid. I did not ask any more questions……
Murphy’s haystacks. A true geological oddity just off the road a few miles. About 30 of these on this private land, otherwise just normal fields of grain. So weird. The owner had a nice set up, toilets, picnic area, $2 honesty donation box and honey for sale also by donation. Really great that they shared this site as they did.
Does it look hot out here? Well, it was! About 102.