Step 45 Bunda Cliffs – Frasers Ridge Station (just out of Norseman) 637 kms a new trip record

Another shot from the window this morning

This is going to be a confusing day, timewise. We keep converting from SA time to WA time and we're already confused by the time we leave. Whatever time that is.

Stopped just down the road at the SA/WA Border village and topped up with diesel. Like Nullarbor Roadhouse there is loads of water laying around. The girl in the shop says it pretty much rained from Wednesday through to last night. 

Will the embarrassment never end for St Kilda - another naked photo of Roo

So Perth 1,452k + London 17,517k +  + couple of hundred to Liverpool - mmm quite away to go in the next month 

It's been a weird summer here as well, only 3 days over 40, and they were all on consecutive days, 45, 49 then 52 degrees! Glad we weren't here for that. But that's much fewer hot days than normal for them. In another similarity with the Nullarbor Roadhouse there is some serious price gouging going on and diesel is $1.85.9 per litre.

In preparation for the fruit/vegetable checkpoint we had put the bed up this morning, here's an extract of the conversation leading up to that decision:

STEVE: 

• “Di, I think we should put the bed up today. Everyone says that the border control people want to go through every cupboard in the van and it will save having to lift the mattress for them”

DI

• “Let's just leave it till we get there, if they need to get in we will worry about it there”

STEVE

• “But Di, it's such a pain to lift and everyone says they always go through the van”

DI

• “ Well I don't think we need to do but if you insist, YOU can make the bed up again tonight”

STEVE

• “ Thank you dear, I knew you would understand, it will be much easier”

Here's the extract of the border crossing:

“Hello folks, got any fruit and veg”

“Nope got rid of it all in preparation”

“No, potatoes or onions?”

“Nope”

“No honey?”

“nope we heard you couldn't bring that across. Just wanted to check though, is wheatgerm and muesli ok to bring across?”

“no problem, can I have a quick look in your fridge and kitchen cupboard?”

“no worries”

Man looks in fridge and cupboard.

Steve thinks to himself “look under the bed, look under the bed”

Man says “thanks folks, have a nice day”

Steve thinks to himself - “When will I ever learn?”

Short drive down the road and we get to Eucla and signs saying “Diesel $1.65” per litre. Bugga.

The drive out of Eucla is very reminiscent of our drive though Arizona, with the plain on one side rising to a plateau on the other.

Readers note: “stop being a pretentious prat Stephen”

You don't get the Flying Doctor landing on the road in Arizona though.

I'm guessing that the view is very different to normal through here though, it's all very green and just a glimpse of the red earth underneath.

It would appear that people get bored on this road, a lot, as there is an abundance of road art. OK I use the term art loosely. Basically every 20 kilometres or so a tree has been “decorated” in a particular theme, one tree is festooned (love that word) with caps, another with t-shirts, then stuffed toys, plastic bottles and my personal favourite, women's underwear.

Editors note: Just to clarify that is not “I prefer women's underwear” that is “that tree was my favourite”

Then, 90 km's before Madura, which would have to be the exact dead centre of the middle of nowhere, there peddling towards us, into a head wind, a lone cyclist. I'm all for people having a passion, and following their dream and all of that but I'm really not sure at what point that seemed like a good idea. I'm also thinking now, at what point did it stop seeming like a good idea.

Readers Poll: 

                       Has anybody ever attempted something like this?

                            Maybe in another large country, 

                                  like say the United States of America

Clue: Are your initials DL?, is your first name David?, surname Leary? 

At Madura we stopped at the roadhouse and grabbed an ice cream, and bumped into a group of about 10 motorcyclists on their annual pilgrimage to Phillip Island for the World Superbike race. Even with a motor on their bikes these guys were questioning the distance to travel.

Editors note: “Does anyone under 50 own a motorbike these days?”

Still confused about the time we arrived at our intended stop of Caiguna at roughly, too soon o'clock. We also arrived about 40 years after there had last been any maintenance done on the caravan park. A quick check of the map and the sun convinced us we could make it to our next intended stop of Fraser Station, 100 km's short of Norseman. So, taking over the wheel from my trusty co-driver off we headed. It's going to be a record breaking day today in terms of kilometres travelled.

In a side note, in the next stretch of road, from Caiguna to Belladonia we saw more road kill than for the rest of the trip combined. I'm thinking the animals out here need a road safety campaign aimed at them (as opposed to the 50 ton road trains that seemed to be aimed at them at the moment).

Tripped on through Belladonia, although if you're passing this way anytime soon, it looks a much better option to stop than Caiguna.

Ninety kilometers later we arrived at the Fraser Ridge Station Caravan Park, recommended by Action Girl at Fowlers Bay and another guy we met on the road. Quite a pleasant little spot but nothing to get too excited about.

 Mind you it's a fair way better than Caiguna Roadhouse. It should actually be called the Fraser Ridge (used to be a) Station Caravan Park though as apparently they haven't run sheep or cattle for quite sometime. The new owners are looking at the possibility of restocking but apparently it's going to cost over $400,000 to get started. If I had a job I would have offered to chip in. The property itself is a good old fashioned Aussie hobby farm something like 25 kilometres wide by 160 km's long, roughly 400,000 acres. In Europe they would call it Belgium.

So after our record breaking day, over 600 km's it was time to settle in for wine o'clock and then dinner. As soon as you make up the bed Steve!

and watch the sunset of course

And quite possibly win an award for this artistic rendition entitled - "Sunset on My Dreams"

Step 44 Nullarbor Roadhouse to Bunda Cliffs Nullapay (that's Latin for nothing to pay) 172 km's

Friday 18^th February

It's still drizzling when we leave the caravan park this morning and then full on rain as we we get further down the road. Telstra has decided to get in on the Nulla act and it's now NullaService.

In our now expected jammy fashion each time we stop the rain abates so we manage to get two rain free views of the Bunda Cliffs. Mind you you can see that it has been raining.

What could go wrong?

It is hard to describe just how fantastic this coastline is, spectacular, magnificent, awesome only come close to how good it is. Bill Bryson described it in one of his books something like “it's like God took a giant pair of pinking shears and went – right Australia finishes here”. It is truly amazing the way the country just comes to an end with a couple of hundred foot drop to the Ocean. It would be even more amazing to be here in the whale season and stand up on the cliffs and watch the big fish swim by so close to shore.

MM about to impersonate another piece of fine German engineering - the U-boat

We are still getting the odd shower as we get closer to the WA border and a couple coming the other way say it has been raining for them since they left Norseman about 800 kilometres away.

Editors note: we spoke to them at a roadside stop, we didn't just shout out the window as we drove past in opposite directions. Just wanted to clear that up for you.

Anyway, for us it appears to be clearing up. In fact it's looking so promising we have found a spot where we can lay in MM and look out the windows at the cliffs and the ocean. This will do us for the night. We are about 13 km's from the WA border and amazingly this magnificent spot is available for free camping. Granted there are no amenities and obviously no power but with MM all fitted out as it is we are all set. So tick another box on the adventure list – free camping or off-roading as us nomads call it. As it's only 3:00pm (only 12:00pm for the people coming from WA) we are the only ones setting up for the night but there are signs of lots of camp fires around so it looks like a popular spot.

4:00pm and Di is taking in the view from MM and Steve has returned from his first exploratory walk. Still no one else here.

5:00pm Steve back from his second walk, still on our own in the park. Nearly made it right down to the ocean this time. Before we all get too excited the cliffs here are not as distinct as further back. Here there is a gentle slope and then a bit of a rocky path down to the ocean. Still looking pretty amazing though and it was still adventurous for a little fella like me.

6:00pm and we're still on our own and one of us is getting a little nervous. “Do you think we will be alright here”? “Maybe we should move on to where other people are camping”. “It's a bit isolated isn't it and we have no phone reception if anything goes wrong”. “Do you think that battery test was right, will the batteries last overnight?” Luckily Di eventually shut me up and convinced me to stay.

7:00pm and while we are eating Vicki's favourite – Chili con Carne - another little motor home pulls in and sets up. By 8:00 there are four of us. Luckily there is plenty of space and for once people have spread out because I hate it when there's too many people around. ;-)

Unfortunately, although the rain has gone, it's still cloudy and so there is no real sunset and no stars.

Saturday 19^th February

Woke to a blue blue sky, sun rising, shining on the sea, no wind and all quiet except for the waves lapping on the rocks. All this for free, does it get any better than this.

Despite having no reception on our phones they have miraculously picked up WA time. I guess WA is only 13 km's away but to be honest it has taken the gloss off the start of the day to realise that it is only 5:20 am. Never mind put the kettle on for a coffee and let's just take in the view.

Step 43 Fowlers Bay - Nullarbor Roadhouse 222kms

Thursday 17th Feb

I was wrong - my body still hurts.

The Europeans in 1866, in particular the surveyor E. Alfred Delisser, who named this the “null arbor” - “no trees”  plain were wrong. 

And the the local Mirning people who referred to the area as "Oondiri" which is said to mean "the waterless" were wrong.

Quite a hat-trick to start the day.

Yep, my body still hurts after climbing up, and falling down the sand dunes yesterday.

As we rejoin the Eyre Highway to cross the Nullarbor, there are more than a few trees (I lost count at about a million)

And after a couple of hours on the road it’s starting to rain. 

We were worried about MM and the air conditioning coping with 50 odd degree heat that they (allegedly) regularly get at this time of year and by the time it got to 5:00pm it was struggling to top 50 degress farenheit. OK that might have been a bit of an exaggeration but E Alfred Delisser and the Mirning people started it.

Not much need of GPS out here - 990 km's to the next turn

A lttle way down the main highway we passed the dog/rabbit/vermin fence (the name depending on which travel guide you read). Apparently the longest fence in the world but quite possibly one of the least impressive - my dog Jenny would definitely have got over it. It probably would stop LuLu though, although after she sat barking at it for hours on end someone would probably drive a 100kms from the nearest town just to cut a hole in it to shut her up. Anyway it was so not impressive it was 20 km's before I reliased I hadn't taken a photo, sorry about that.

We did see some guys who took a different option to Di and I - they left their motorhome behind and piled everything on the back of their bikes

We stopped to take a shot of the famous “Camels, Kangaroos and Wombats sign next 92 km” sign. Didn’t have to stop to take a photo of camels, wombats or kangaroos though - there weren’t any. There’s a bit of a trend forming here.

I didn't have much fashion sense before I started but seriously I think I need help

I have to admit that by the time we got here E Alfred was looking a little more on the money

With the rain settling in we drove down to the whale watching platform to get a look at the cliffs. Whichever way you look at it we are here at the wrong time of the year to see whales - either 3 months too late or 3 months too early. Despite the rain we got a look at the cliffs, which are spectacular but the lack of light  did take a little away from the photo’s

Now I know I have been told to go easy on the toilet stories but today’s story is special, it involves the toilet facilities at the Whale watching centre, Di and the sign warning of snakes

Let’s just say it was a bit of a dilemma for Di, the sign increased her need to go to the toilet and decreased her desire to enter the facility, all at the same time.  I wasn’t worried at all, I just stayed a few steps behind her. You know the story I don’t have to be faster than the snake, I just have to be faster than Di.

Having survived the not so snake infested facilities it was back on the highway and all points west. We had kind of always planned to stop at the Nullarbor Roadhouse “caravan park” (we are using the term loosely now) but now  we are hoping that the stop will give the weather a chance to  clear up a bit tomorrow so we get a better look at the next part of the Bunda Cliffs. The forecast is not great though.

The roadhouse caravan park reminded me of a drive in, without the screen. It’s just an empty gravel paddock with little power poles, like the old speaker poles, laid in rows. 

The roadhouse petrol station reminded me of whatever a place is called where they steal money from you - diesel is $1.91.9 per litre.  

It was nice and cosy in MM though and we settled in for a bit of a relax. Di noticed that we had mobile phone reception for the first time in quite a while, just shortly before we noticed the 200 ft Telstra tower right next to the park. 

(The observant amongst you would notice that this was the last time the blog was updated online - although todays activities were not included.  Just to get up to date to Fowlers Bay took us through to 11:30pm)

By the morning the park resembled a lake and the Mirning people are still way off on their description

Yep that is a whale, right next to the Mobil sign. There is a lot of water here!  

Step 42 Ceduna to Fowlers Bay 143 km’s

Wednesday 16th February

Quick stops in Ceduna to pick up spare light globes for MM and then it was on the road to Fowlers Bay.

Passed through Penong where we had originally intended to turn off, down to Cactus Beach to see the (allegedly) world famous surf breaks. However the guy in the info centre at Ceduna told us that the gravel road down there was “shocking” so we decided against it. Penong (like Ceduna) claims to be the gateway to the Nullabor but it goes one step further and claims to be the last “store” for 1,000 kilometres. Think they might be stretching that a bit as there are several road houses and petrol stations in that distance. But to be fair I guess none of them call themselves stores so Penong wins on a technicality. About 20 km’s down the road we realised that the sign would have made a good photo opportunity had we thought of it at the time, so here’s a photo of something else to make up for that oversight

Forty km's later we turned off for Fowlers Bay as instructed by Tammy (our GPS system),  just before she completely lost the plot, and any idea of where we were. Luckily it was a straight road in.

We were very glad to to know that the road had recently been graded because if it hadn’t we probably wouldn't have made it in, it was certainly getting a  bit rattly in MM at some points. But German engineering yet again triumphed over dodgy grader driver work and so this week's score MM 2 - Dirt Roads 1. (Cactus Beach road considered a no contest because we didn't attempt it so it  doesn't count).

As we crested a hill just before we arrived at Fowlers Bay it all seemed worthwhile. Magnificent white sand dunes and then the bay opening up before us. That would have been a really good photo too.

Fowlers Bay is not so much a town as a caravan park, a kiosk (which is the caravan park office) 

and an accommodation house run by Lorraine’s husband, (you know Lorraine who got her hair done in Ceduna at the same time as Di).

At check in we got chatting to the owner who has only recently (5 months ago) taken over the park  with her husband. Her name was Simone but we shall remember her as Action Girl. In our short conversation we found out that she has been a sky diver, a competitive quad bike racer, goes sand surfing in the dunes, her and her husband have the contract for whale watching from Fowlers Bay, have plans for great white shark, cage diving at the reef 20km’s off shore, as well as whale cage diving to add to the whale watching tours and she is doing a business plan to set-up an up market day spa in the dunes. She manages to fit this in with running the park and looking after a 5 month old baby. To be honest I was exhausted just talking to her. 

However she did inspire me to try the sand surfing, so twenty bucks later and sand board (like a snowboard) in hand Di and I trekked off to the dunes. To be honest it was only a hundred metres from the kiosk but lets call it a trek anyway. Now the real trek was getting up the dunes. I think the future popularity of sand surfing relies entirely on someone inventing a tow system to get you to the top, because believe me walking/crawling up is very very tiring. Di seemed extremely excited at the prospect of me trying this new experience and very supportive. It was only then I remembered that I am heavily insured. I am sure she was just happy to see me happy though.

This is the shot that nearly made it on to the Fowlers Bay Caravan Park web-site.  We boarders call it "carving up the slope" I think.

Having mastered the sand board we popped back to the kiosk and swapped it for the sand toboggan. Just for the experience. 

The climb to the top wasn’t getting any easier (but I later discovered about 15 kilo’s of sand in the pockets of my shorts and shirt so that may explain things)

The view from the top though - what can I say

All good things must come to an end and on the run that ended with me in the only bushes for a hundred metres we decided to head back to the van for wine o’clock. 

Simone did offer to look at the photo’s that Di had taken with a view to publishing them on her web-site but given she has a family to support now I decided not to hold back the business by having photo’s of me on the website.

I did ask if it is OK to swim by the jetty. Simone’s Mum looked horrified and shook her head and muttered something about sharks and giant stingrays, Simone said no problem. Just don’t go out too far “remember we do breed great white sharks here in South Australia”. Next stop MM. 

Back at MM I had what  would have to be the best beer I have tasted in a long while and I’m fairly sure that my body will stop hurting soon.

Step 41 Elliston - Ceduna 279 km’s

Monday 1th February - Valentines Day xxx

Luckily it was a 10:30 check out at the park because we ended up chatting to Elke on the phone for awhile, just back from a weekend in London, just for a change this was related to her studies :-)

As we left the park we drove out on the Elliston Ocean Drive, well worth the effort and the dirt road. Again the views were spectacular

And again the sign writers seem out of sync with the local tourist bureau

Seriously, I think this is getting a little melodramatic now 

Probably going to have to come up with a new adjective soon but spectacular does not do this coast line justice. Nor do these photo's

This photo does do the dirt road justice - way to go MM

The cliff top drive is also famous for "sculptures on the cliff

"Who you calling big nose?"

'and some serious boat trailer vehicles

If you zoom in on the middle tractor you can see the Shannon Avenue Tractors sticker

After a quick top up with diesel, at $1.51 per litre the dearest for the trip so far, we were on the way again. Buoyed with our success on the gravel road clifftop drive at Elliston we turned off the highway and headed for the Talia Caves. Three kilometres later we did a seven point turn and headed back to the highway. Todays score Mighty Merc 1, dirt roads 1.

For the next detour off the highway  we waited for a paved road, so it was into Venus Bay for lunch in MM, again on the cliff tops looking out over the ocean vista.

Editors note: I used to work for a company that sold a product called Vista - it wasn’t as pretty or as pleasant to be with as this vista.

The good news is the wind has dropped and it consequently it has also warmed up.

After lunch it was back on the road until we headed off to Murphy’s Haystacks. Now legend has it that an Irish agricultural expert was travelling by stage coach through the area and was impressed by what he thought were large haystacks in a field in the distance. It turns out they were a large rock formation. It also turns out that Murphy had either a drnking problem or poor eyesight or both, becuse from whatever angle we looked we could not make the rocks look like any haystack either of us had seen (and as has been well documented in this blog and elsewhere - Di is from the country so she should know).

A haystack? Murphy, get a grip. 

Arriving in Streaky Bay mid-afternoon we had a quick walk round the town and checked out the caravan park. 

Didn't take a photo of the caravan park - this is the pub

Not sure what it was but we decided to keep moving on and stay two nights in Ceduna instead. Partly to give us a chance to settle in for a couple of days and catch up on bits and pieces. We’ve also heard from a few people that the Foreshore Caravan Park in Ceduna is very nice, right in town and next door to the pub. Before leaving Streaky Bay though we checked out the local fresh fish shop (but didn’t see anything that took our fancy) and also the replica Great white Shark on display in the Shell Roadhouse.

Now I have never been sure how they work out the “breaking strain” measurement that they put on fishing line. But after seeing that this 1500kg (yes 1.5 tonne) monster was caught on a 24kg breaking strain line I am now convinced it is a random number. The  kid, who caught it (I think he was 19 at the time) saw the shark and then spent two days out in a boat with his dad and uncle waiting for it to return, then spent 5 hours fighting with it on the end of his line  before spending another 3 hours towing back to shore once they had it gaffed. Seriously kid - get a playstation!!!

This is a model of the shark - the boy is real, but it's not the boy that caught the shark

Anyway, Di took the wheel again and we set off for Ceduna. 

Predictably, when we arrived the Foreshore caravan park was full. Shouldn't have changed the plan! They did have a vacancy for tomorrow though, so we booked in for that and headed off to the Big 4 just out of town. Big 4 is very pleasant and well maintained (and for sale) but it is just a bit of a walk back to town.

Tuesday 15th February

I have been told that everyone does not need to know every time I empty the toilet so I won’t mention it. If I had, I would also mention that I filled up the water tanks and checked oil, water and tyres on MM in preparation for the Nullarbor. Also filled up with diesel, even managed to get the 4 cents a litre off at Shell. While we were topping up on everything we nipped into the supermarket again for fresh fruit and vege’s to last us up to the border crossing as well as meat to last a few days more since we are reliably informed things are bit expensive for this next leg.

Having checked into the Foreshore Caravan Park we went for a quick walk on the jetty and a bite of lunch back at MM  

Elke taught me how to take photo's like this. She now regrets it

Di then headed off for a hair colouring. Apparently she is not quite ready to embrace the grey nomad experience. While Di enjoyed her girly afternoon at the hairdressers chatting to the hairdresser and a client from Fowlers bay Steve embarked on an hour and a half walk out to Pinky Point, Thevenard and back. It's a long way

Can you see the Ceduna pier - no you can't because it's a long way away

Editors note: Pinky Point, Thevenard  famously  appears in  the recent Jack Black movie, Gullivers Travels. According to a map reference in the movie Gulliver met with the tiny people of Lilliput on islands visible from the Thevenard lookout at Pinky Point.  Apparently it’s also mentioned in the book of the same name by Jonathan Swift.  

Di’s afternoon at the hairdressers was very informative with such tidbits of information as:

•     The dirt road to Fowlers bay has been graded this week. It was really really bad before that but quite good now.
•     Lorraine’s husband is the modified car champion of South Australia and he built the car himself from scratch. 
• It has a fibreglass Pontiac body and a turbocharged Toyota Supra engine
• He also runs an accommodation place at Fowlers Bay 
•     Ceduna and surrounding districts have the highest birth rate in Australia
•     Streaky Bay used to have another caravan park but it was usurped by property developers
•    Haircuts & colouring are cheaper in Ceduna than in Tweed Heads

All in all it’s been a very informative day because at the caravan park we also learned

•     The King George Whiting are biting. Most people with boats are coming with in with their full limit
•      Blue swimmer crabs are being caught in large numbers from the town jetty
•      and belatedly we discovered you can borrow crab nets from park reception to catch your own
•     The best way to cook Blue swimmer crabs is in sea water. If you cook them in fresh water use plenty of salt.
•     A lot of women go fishing
•     and it can get very crowded at the fish cleaning hut if the fish are biting at the same time as the crabs

After this fun filled afternoon we both relaxed over wine and nibblies and watched the sun set into the ocean. Another day in paradise. 

To be honest we would have checked in for another night but the weather forecast is not looking good here as well as to the  west over the next couple of days. In fact there is a big rain belt heading this way. Would have to say though that Ceduna has turned out to be a hidden gem, most unexpected.