Surprise, surprise, we were to continue our trek across the Nullarbor today. With about 1200Km to travel between Norseman in Western Australia and the eastern end of the road trip in Ceduna, South Australia, we have decided to allow ourselves plenty of time to make the crossing comfortably. I know of people doing it in just a couple of days, but I don’t see the point. Apart from the inherent dangers of striving to make too many kilometres each day, it leaves no time to stop and take in the sights.

It is for that reason that we have the luxury of being able to sleep until 9:00AM, before slowly preparing ourselves for the day ahead. Therefore, we were again the last of the campers to leave the rest area this morning as we turned out onto the highway for the short drive to our first stop of the day at Madura Pass. A turn off from the main road leads to a short, jutted, rocky road up to a lookout point. The view takes in the Roe Plains, which spread out far below, for as far as the eye can see. Photos do the scene no justice, which even to the naked eye is difficult to decipher.

Overlooking the Roe Plains.

Not until we rolled down the hill and began to pass through the area could we see that it was dotted with stumpy trees featuring umbrella like canopies. The effect lent an African safari like feel to this portion of the journey and I half expected to see an elephant barging across the land or a tiger skulking through the undergrowth. It wasn’t to be though, although we did get to witness hundreds of growling Harley Davidsons roaring along the highway in the opposite direction. An escort of police cars and trucks completed the convoy as the motorcycle gang strode along, two abreast and holding up westbound traffic for miles. The spectacle was actually quite breathtaking as the shiny machines, flaunting masses of polished chrome and unique paint jobs, rumbled ear splittingly past in a parade that lasted for minutes. Bringing up the rear was an accompanying cavalcade of rented campervans. It was odd to see these campers occupied by burly, bearded blokes wearing leather, rather than the lily-white tourists we have come to expect to see behind the windscreens as they flash by.

It was after midday by the time we next pulled over, this time at the Mundrabilla Roadhouse to fill up with what was advertised as cheap fuel. I guess everything is comparative, so here in the middle of the Nullarbor, I figure $1.94 per litre could well be considered cheap and there was certainly no chance of shopping around or taking advantage of any discount coupons. With ‘The Beast’ topped off and a couple of jerry cans of diesel in the back, we ought to have enough fuel to see us through to Ceduna now, where we are hoping that somewhat cheaper fuel should be available.

Mundrabilla also served as our lunch break today, before we mounted up and moved out. Our next stop was to be at the border as we crossed from Western Australia into South Australia. It was over two months ago, on day 83 of our trip that we entered Western Australia, so it was kind of sad to leave the west behind us. Our journey must go on though.

A long way from anywhere.

The border features a checkpoint for westbound travellers, but entering South Australia as we were, there was no need to stop. We did though, for the sake of checking out what was on offer at the adjoining roadhouse (It turns out our fuel was cheap as it was $2.06 per litre here) and getting the dogs out to stretch their legs. They have been cooped up now for days and could do with a decent walk. Unfortunately, we’ve been too concerned to let them roam too far, as everywhere we go, there are warning signs about the regular baiting that is carried out to keep the wild dog numbers down.

The border crossing.

Upon crossing the border, we also had to change all of the clocks again, moving them forward another 45 minutes. That’s an hour and a half we’ve lost over the last couple of days now, and I can report that it has seen our homecoming delayed somewhat. We are now expecting to be home at 6:50PM on the 14^th of October.

Despite the border being a theoretical line across the land, the scenery seemed to change drastically. This has a lot to do with the road following the coastline, at close proximity for this stage of the journey. The waters of the Great Australian Bight form a huge part of the new scenery, as the land drops jaggedly down to the ocean in ragged cliffs. This is the section of the crossing we had fully expected to be the most picturesque although we were slightly disappointed with the first stop we made at one of the roadside rest areas. The cliffs here failed to live up to our expectations, rolling towards a sandy coastline rather than dropping directly down into the raging waters of the bight. There was none of the jaw dropping sheer cliffs we had seen in photographs.

Beautiful, but disappointing.

We moved on therefore, beginning our search for a suitable camp at which to stop for the evening. The next two or three rest areas were so far removed from the coast, we could barely see the water and so we didn’t even stop. We had one last chance, which on initial inspection also seemed devoid of the scenic outlook we were lusting after. A narrow, dusty track lead out the rear of the rest area though, so I jumped out of ‘The Beast’ to investigate on foot. Imagine my delight when I found that it opened out into a wide flat space, right atop the cliffs on the edge of Australia. I called Bec on the CB and told her to bring the rig home, I had found us a camp spot.

That’s more like it.

Any closer and I feared the cliff would collapse.

No sooner had Bec and ‘The Beast’ arrived we stood as close as we dared to the edge of the cliffs, looking what seemed like hundreds of metres down at the crashing waves, only to see the majestic dark form of a frolicking whale, right there beneath us. As the whale swam away into the distance, it was replaced by a crowded pod of sleek dolphins, of which there must have been dozens. A mother whale and her calf were the next exciting performance, as we stood staring out to sea in awe of our luck, Bec raving that this would go down as one the highlights of her whole trip.

First a whale.

Then came the dolphins.

And more whales.

We couldn’t believe our luck, while it took us nearly two hours to set the van up, as we kept jogging back to the edge of the cliff to watch out for further wildlife. Not only that, but we were free to enjoy the spectacle on our own. Another guy did roll up at one stage, but stayed for just long enough to miss out on seeing the whales, while in the distance, closer to the road, a lone campervan was parked. We didn’t even see the tenants from the camper. Apart from that though, we could have been the only people alive in the universe.

The view from our kitchen window.

We were out again exploring as the sun set, filling up the memory cards in our cameras with umpteen pictures of another amazing sunset, as it turned the cliffs orange and the sky purple. What an enchanted beginning to our South Australian travels.

The colours were amazing.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.