Across the Nullabor

We made it! Hundreds of kilometres, miles of tarmac and many long hours later, we are now in Western Australia. After the restfulness of Streaky Bay, we hit the road in earnest, aiming to be in WA by the end of the week. And we are! Below are some of the pics that will certainly help us remember our 3 day crossing. In all honesty, it was a fairly uneventful trip, although there were a few lighter moments along the way......like: 

* comparing fuel prices at the roadhouses (around the $1.50 - $1.63 / litre mark), 

* devouring all our fruit and veg and the honey before facing quarantine, 

* passing the oversized loads travelling together  (2 semis carrying HUGE boats....in the middle of the Nullabor!!!), 

* listening to multiple episodes of 'The Boundless Show' podcast,

* going off road to follow the old rabbit proof fence right to the edge of the bight, 

* racing the rain as it swept across the Southern Ocean,

* bush camping under brilliant skies with wonderful campfires

Ahhhh! So Beautiful.

We have enjoyed a 'rest' day (ie. a day of NO driving) in quiet, quaint Streaky Bay. With a great spot by the water, sunshine aplenty and yummy local produce to devour, we just had to stay an extra day.

Why Jon could never work on one of these....he is not a fishing fan, he gets sea sick, he likes to sleep at night and he doesn't like the smell of the ocean. But....interesting to look at! 

As close as I'll ever get to a Great White Shark....I hope. This replica is of a 5 metre, 1520kg GW caught 22km off Streaky Bay back in the 90s....by a 16 yr old on a 24 kg line! A world record....surprise, surprise!

Looking back from town to our spot on the bay. It was this calm all day.

The locals.

Our spot by the bay in the Foreshore Tourist Park. Niiiiicceee.

More Good Times

We have spent the last few days travelling around the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It's a very picturesque part of the world and I take back everything I said about SA being incredibly dry. Yes, bits of it are, but this bit isn't one of those. Rolling green hills all the way to the sand dunes and coast, dotted with sheep. We spent a night in Whyalla with friends and had an adventuresome morning with Tamara and the girls. Coffin Bay National Park was a wildlife wonderland....100 emus, dolphins, a show-off sea lion and kangaroos. Some beach driving added to the fun. We've since seen more sea lions - in fact visited Australia's only mainland permanent SL colony. There were about 60 SLs lounging, swimming, wrestling. So lots of great photo ops and fun things to try to remember.

Sceale Bay....near Streaky Bay...where we are staying now.

Beach driving in Coffin Bay NP.

Emus everywhere in CBNP.

Spotting sea lions.

Our Whyalla friends. The littlest one locked us all out on the balcony you can see in the background. Super Jon shed his socks and did an amazing rescue which involved climbing over the balcony and round the roof. Our hero!

Do you see what we see?

What do you see in each of the pictures below? 

Have a guess and then scroll down and we'll tell you what we see:)

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

A. Opal mining operations north of Coober Pedy, SA. Each one looks just like this.....piles of mullock and a truck with a drum in the air. It's their extraction unit. In the mullock, you can 'noodle'......look for off-cast or missed opal.

B. The Beautiful Beast. We just clocked over 60 000ks on the Nissan, so that means we've done over 13 000 in 11.5 weeks....on dirt, gibber, rock, black top and through gorges, rivers and deserts.

C. Jon standing on Lambert's Centre....the geographical centre of Australia near Finke, NT. You might recognise the flagpole as a replica of a more often visited one.

D. A minor hiccup but one that caused us to change our whole itinerary. 

E. The landscape traversed by early explorer Scottish James McDouall Stuart as he tried (5 times) to find a way from Adelaide through to Darwin. Eventually...SUCCESS! And then the  Telegraph Line was put through and then a railway and then a road, opening up the way for miners, pastoralists, tourists and the rest of us. Brave man!

An Update...

We are now back in South Australia having had to ditch doing the Simpson Desert. A couple of car problems…so the sensible thing to do was NOT try and tackle a desert but head back to civilisation for repairs to be done. We got to take in the Geographical Centre of Australia, chaotic Coober Pedy, clean and sterile Woomera and miles and miles of the Stuart Highway before arriving in Port Augusta (the 'Crossroads of Australia') where we booked the Nissan in. Amazing to see the ocean again and green grass, even if we still had to camp in the dirt at the caravan park here. The work’s done so now we push on down the Eyre Peninsula into Coffin Bay and all the other little picturesque coastal spots around to the WA border. We stayed the night at old Gladstone friend's - Matt and Tamara - place at Whyalla (the 'Cuttlefish Capital of the World'!) The weather’s meant to be a cool 8-21 over the next few days so we’ll see how quickly that makes us take the trip into Western Australia. 

O

Time Out: Coward Springs

A whole lot of nothing much: Lake Eyre

Crazy place: William Creek Hotel

Hear the whispers of history: Old Ghan ruins

Just one of those 'must dos': PRO

O is for Oodnadatta Track! We had lots of fun 'living the dream' by clocking up some 600k on this historic journey. It mostly follows the path of the Old Ghan Railway which used to connect Adelaide to Alice Springs. Fascinating ruins and bridges and stories along the way. Some other highlights were:

- a dip in the artesian spring at Coward Springs....bubbling, coolish and a welcome respite from the flies!

- seeing both Lake Eyres...the north and the south. No water in either where we could get to, but flights from William Ck are booked out as people head further north for a view of the water form QLD flowing into LE Nth.

- the most unusual 'insides' of William Creek pub....everyone who visits leaves something behind. So the walls and roof are covered in clothing, signatures, photos, underwear, pictures, business cards and almost anything else you could think of.

- dropping in to the Pink Roadhouse in Oodnadatta....their grocery store has to be one of the most unique and expensive in Australia! 

Lotsaflies!

Our trip north through South Australia has started....and watch out! We are headed waaaaayyyy north....almost right back to QLD! Tonight we are at Leigh Creek, a mining town 574k from Adelaide. We got here via the spectacular Flinders Ranges where we camped for 2 nights under clear, brilliantly starry skies. The pics below are all taken in and around the FR National Park, where we climbed another mountain, went 4WDing, snapped pics of some old copper mine and met up with the locals....mostly of the reptilian and insect species. Think I needed to buy a hat with corks before we got here!

'The Thinker' in action on Mount Ohlssen Bagge. This was a four hour hike on the edge of Wilpena Pound. 

One of the many locals we shared the mountain with. Very friendly!

Looking back over the Pound towards the southern ranges.

North of the National Park headed out to the ruins. Bare, rocky landscapes of the sheep stations. Saw a few emus and lots of kangaroos.

The Navara is still travelling well....in fact she just eats up these dry, dusty conditions.

So the fun continues and the adventure rarely stops. So much to see and plenty to do. We're both loving the trip and so thankful we have made it to week 8! Might be a while until you next hear from us because we're about to tackle the Simpson Desert!

Sensational SA

As each team got knocked out of the finals of the Sevens comp., they did a lap of the oval, signing autographs and shaking fan's hands. The kids loved it....even us big ones.

Victor Harbor's Granite Island is reached by a walk across the old bridge or a horse drawn tram ride. Misty the Clydesdale was doing great work this afternoon but I was particularly impressed by the stallion in the foreground:) 

The mouth of the Murray River, along Goolwa Beach. Great way to end the day....a squirt through the sand. Got stuck once, but letting a little air from the tyres was all we needed to get going again.

Across one of the Jacob's Creek vineyards in the Barossa. 3 sips of wine later and I was happy to say 'been there, done that' and head off to some cheese or chocolate factory!

Moonta Bay beach looked lovely on Good Friday. Plenty of people were enjoying the fine weather....lots fishing off the jetty and a few crazy kids in the swimming enclosure. Saw my first squid get caught....one of God's weirdest looking critters I reckon.

South Australia....it really is quite a nice place....despite how dry everything is at the moment. We have been in Adelaide a week now and filled our time with plenty of pleasant experiences....as the photos testify. A quick recap of the week - IRB International Sevens tournament at the Adelaide Oval last Sunday ( GO Kenya!); touring to the south (including a cold Victor Harbor and a sprint along the beach to the mouth of the mighty Murray River); a day in the Adelaide Hills (spectacular views over the city from Mt Lofty) and the Barossa Valley (wine tasting may not be our 'thing' but it's beautiful country up that way) and a day trip to the north-west of the Yorke Peninsula (the ocean sure is a welcome sight after the miles and miles of flat brown plains.) Our visit with Andrew and Susan is coming to an end but we have had a terrific time of resting, some Nav modifications and exploring. Thanks guys!

Bits and Pieces

We finished off Tassie with....a late lunch in Gladstone; camping the night under the Batman Bridge; a tour of Beaconsfield gold mine and heritage centre; a food crawl - raspberry farm, cheese factory and chocolate factory; a night in Devonport and another calm crossing on the ferry. I'll be back!

In Melbourne, we enjoyed a visit with long time Litzow family friends. Delicious brunch Sean and Emma and great hospitality Sally - thank-you! We made a quick trip south to Warrnambool and then followed the coastline round to Mount Gambier - their Blue Lake is amazing! and up to Adelaide. Took a  couple of days to do this and stopped in at Tintinara on the way  - where our camper was made. A few running repairs and we bought a fly for the tent and had it fitted. Also learnt how to set the tent up properly....oh the things you can THINK you are doing right. Staying with friends Andrew and Susan in Adelaide for.....???