The vast Nullarbor Plain
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.