Day 56 – Fraser Range Station - Norseman – Wave Rock, Hyden , 29th May

We packed up early and headed out east to Norseman, to replenish fuel at reasonable prices. Norseman, itself looks like an old, forgotten gold mining town that is a little worse for wear. It has a series of corrugated tin camels which add some brightness to the town. Nevertheless, the best price to be had for diesel on the Nullarbor - so who's complaining? 

Tin camels at Norseman with Biggle & Co

From Norseman, we decided to take the Norseman Road eastwards. It was a deserted dirt road through to Hyden and the world-famous Wave Rock, the road used mainly by mining camps. This straight dirt road moved through salt lakes and then through endless unbroken kilometres of scrublands and red soils as far as the eye could see.

Car surfing the Norseman Road

Salt lakes on Norseman Road

We arrived at the small town of Hyden, had time to set up camp at the Wave Rock Caravan Park adjacent to Wave Rock and took the short walk to the sight. Wave Rock certainly is a beautifully sculpted natural sight, looking like a rising wave, cresting several metres high. We clambered on and around it, taking some of its short walks and pictures of the kids in surfing poses.

In the evening we battened down the hatches on the trailer, as the calm night was expected to be altered by an upcoming thunder-storm coming from the south-east.

Wave Rock

Fishing in rock-pools on Wave Rock

Hippo's Yawn

Spot Biggle in Tin Sculptures in Hyden

Day 53 – Eyre Bird Observatory – Fraser Range Station, 27th May - 29th May

Today we packed quickly and headed further west along the Nullarbor to Fraser Range Station. On the way we passed another walker – Mike who is walking from Melbourne to Perth, raising funds for Arthritis. You can check out his blog on www.thearthritisway.wordpress.com and donate if you like. What is amazing, is that he is in his seventies, travelling by himself, carrying his own food and bush-camping. A truly inspiring character – and of course he must be as mad as a hatter! 

Mike making his way from Melbourne to Perth

 

Between Caiguana and Balladonia we passed Australia's straightest stretch of road at 124km. It's pretty straight with little to interrupt the views of red dirt and shrubs the Nullarbor Plains. 

They forgot some of the Skylab debris!

 

We also stopped off at the Ballodonia Roadhouse, to fill up with petrol. It has a free museum with local history as well information on the Sylab satellite, which crashed nearby in the 1970's. Apparently, Jimmy Carter rang the roadhouse to apologise for the inconvenience. Miss USA also visited to take advantage of a unique photo-shoot , which sounds like more fun.

Watch out for camels, emus and kangaroos!

Then we finished our drive for the day by camping at Fraser Station, a working sheep station that also has a lovely camping ground. We ended up staying for two days, to give everyone a bit of a pause. It was time to cook with the remains of our meagre supplies, cooking pancakes and cake, play Uno, cricket with Jasmine and practice the guitar some more. It got a free music lesson one evening from Mike and Di who were travelling in the opposite direction to SA. A perfect end to a great day.

The station has a great camp kitchen, open fire, and is well laid out – certainly this oasis in the Nullabor is a recommended stop.

Fraser Station, an oasis in the Nullarbor

 

Walking down a creek

Making rock-piles

Lots of bush-wallabies

Bush-tucker?

Longest golf-course?

Ben practicing his swing

Adam is a long way behind

Day 52 Euchla – Eyre Bird Observatory 26th May

In the morning we took the short diversion to visit the ruins of the Euchla Telegraph Station. The long abandoned station, which opened in 1877, had been taken over by creeping sand-dunes and is a poignant reminder of the harsh conditions the the telegraph operators and their families had to endure. Apparently a rabbit plague stripped the ground-cover, destabilising the dunes and causing the dunes to creep forward. I think the kids would have been happy just to play in the Telegraph station all day – a great fort.

Our next stop was a detour to visit the Eyre Bird Observatory, recommended by Vic. A 4WD track, which meant I had to lower our tires to 20 psi and even get out and check the depth of waters where we couldn't see the bottom. After a steep incline, 12 km of sandy, heavily grooved track led to the remote bird observatory, weather monitoring station and ex-Telegraph Station. Apparently, one of the best in its condition. This place with its stunning backdrop of native flora, was full of the sounds of Honey Eaters. The caretakers took us for an informative tour of the station, the surrounding grounds and then suggested a climb of a mega-huge sand-dune. This awesome dune led to amazing views over the station and the sea. The kids tries to slide down the dunes – next time we need to make up a cardboard sled. They left only their footprints and bum-prints behind.

Robyn drove back up the track and we bushed camp near the microwave tower, having the area to ourselves, enjoying the peace and quiet.

Euchla Telegraph Station ruins

Trees along the Nullarbor

Diesel is not cheap along the Nullarbor

Bush camping near the Eyre Bird Observatory

Don't mess with the oversize loads

4WD down to the Eyre Bird Observatory

Inspecting the fossils

There's drinking water under 'em dunes

Cool sand dune

View of Eyre Bird Observatory/Eyre Telegraph Station from top of dunes

Robyn & Jassy sliding down dunes

Jazzy falling down dunes

Ben & Adam sliding down dunes

Caretakers Penny & Tony at Eyre Bird Observatory

Leave nothing but footprints & bottom-prints behind

Day 51 Fowlers Bay – Euchla 25th May

Today was the day to tackle the Great Australian Bight. The Nullabor Plains stretched out in front of us and one of Australia's most famous routes beckoned us forward. One of the challenges of this stretch is not to rush to cover the kilometres, but to take the time to stop, enjoy its stark beauty and gain memorable experiences that will remain with you.

Another challenge is to put up with endlessly playing the kids playlists – there's only so many times you can put up the the repeating vocals of a Nintendo song! I'm not sure why, but the kids have developed an aversion to my playlists!

Our first stop was the Head of Bight. At this sheltered point, with sheer limestone cliffs and calm aquamarine waters we were fortunate to see four Southern Right Wales playing it its waters. As we continued westward, we stopped at several vantage points to take a peek over intimidating cliff edges to waters far below.

The car chewed through the kilometres and the diesel as the day moved on. We got to the WA/SA border at dusk where the car and camper-trailer was checked for fruit and veg. Thankfully, the experience was not as arduous as the checks while traveling to Tassie and we were soon off to camp for the night. We camped at the nearby Eucla camping grounds and quickly set up and had dinner watching the mice scuttle through the camp kitchen.

At the campgrounds we met Andrew, who is on a very different adventure of his own. He is walking across Australia to raise money for charity on memory of one of his friends who died a year ago due to complications to chemotherapy. His website is Ozonfoot.com and if you are interested, check out his website to see his amusing video diaries, route his travelled and how to make a donation to NSW Cancer Council.

Start of the Nullarbor

Head of Bight

Southern Right Whales

Watch out for falling people?

International Signpost

Big Kangaroo - Rooey II at Euchla

Big Whale at Euchla Camping Ground

Andrew walking for NSW Cancer Council