3 April – We headed off out of Esperance on Good Friday. The rain eased as we headed north and we revelled in the ultra light traffic flow, given the public holiday. We didn’t go too far, stopping at Bromus Dam near the old settlement of Dundas. The well constructed dam was built in the 1920s to service steam trains. It now acts as a large free camp ground.
Bromus dam – Dundas
4 April – We drove through Norseman turned east and on to Balladonia, where we faced our first fuel over $3 a litre. This is a sign of things to come as the fuel crisis continues. The Government cut in fuel excise will take a while to apply out in the regional areas. The weather was at least fine, which allowed the flies to come out in force. The whole area between Norseman and Ceduna has had repeated heavy falls of rain over the last few months leaving a carpet of grass and lots of insects out in force. The butterflies are beautiful too, from small blues to large yellow swallowtails and the bright orange monarchs. We settled for the night at the Caiguna Blowhole camp. The blowhole is a small vent to an extensive cave system. When the wind blows from a certain direction and pressurises the cave, the blowhole acts as a vent.
5 April – Another day of driving today, taking us through Caiguna, Cocklebiddy, Madura, Mundrabilla and Eucla. We had our moment of fun at Mundrabilla when we had to wait for a car to exit the only ULP pump that suited our situation. The car was empty so we waited for the driver to come out of the shop. And waited…and waited. Finally, a woman appeared with hands full of treasures and got into her car. We waited…and waited. Eventually, I flashed my lights. That produced action and she eased out. We gave a cheer. She gave us a mouthful. We laughed and started to pump. The angry lady wasn’t finished. She had turned around to come through again and harangue us with something about spoiling Easter. We quite cheerfully told her to “piss off”.
The traffic is still light, especially heading east. The overnight stop was at the start of the magnificent Bunda Cliffs, 13km into South Australia. It would have been beautiful to sit outside and admire the view, especially with the light winds, but the flies were unbearable, even with fly nets on. As each campsite fills up with caravans and motorhomes, people just slam the door shut and remain inside. The popular campsite custom of gathering for “fivesies” just doesn’t happen. I hate flies.
6 April – We ticked off the rest of the actual Nullabor today, driving to Penong, the start of the SA farming country. After a few nights “off-grid” we opted for the Penong Caravan Park, a lovely little park that we have stayed in before. A feature is the “vege swap” basket in the laundry so people who are headed in to Ceduna and the quarantine can donate their vegetables to those who are heading west and have a night or so to eat them before hitting the WA quarantine.
Penong is also home to the “Windmill Museum”, a collection of working and static windmills, including Australia’s largest, a big Comet brand. We planned to wander down to the pub for a beer but the rain arrived as evening set in.
7 April – The day was set for rain all day and rain it did. The plus side of the rain is that the flies go and hide somewhere. With time up our sleeve and attracted by the prospect of a day without driving, we chose to stay on and relax. Relax, we did, Christine started a new jigsaw, I wrote this stuff and we generally did very little. We have only 60kms to Ceduna, marking the traditional end of the Nullabor crossing. From here on, we will work our way down through SA towards, Geelong, to park up and prepare for the trip to New Zealand.
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