2014 Holidays - Blog 1 - Days 1 to 11

Day 1 Bathurst to Hay 535 km

Well we are on our way.  Today was basically just a driving day to get us to Hay. No tourist stuff planned.

Day 2 Hay to Renmark 448 km

Today was another day of driving and more driving. Crossed the Hay Plain, which is very flat and has lots of straight roads. Getting us in practice for the Nullarbor Plain!!!

Day 3 Renmark to Wirrabara 362 km

We woke late, because Joy had already forgotten what day it was and set the alarm for Thursday instead of Friday. Today was the first touristy thing for the holiday as we went to Headings Cliffs lookout. The Murray River winds around a lot there and there are anabranches and billabongs, and the cliffs look spectacular.

We drove to Monash, which is just down the road a bit from Renmark, but we had to stop because it has an adventure playground that both Les and Joy had visited, separately, almost 30 years ago, and we had to see what it is like now. We were pleased to see that it had been improved heaps, but still had the little digger things were you can dig in the sand like you are using a real digger!

Stopped just outside Burra to take photos of what is called “the Midnight Oil house” – the one that is on the cover of their Diesel and Dust album.

Accommodation for tonight – Taralee Orchard, at Wirrabara right next to the forest. The cottage is very nice, so we enjoyed our afternoon tea, sitting in the lounge, watching the birds.

Day 4 Wirrabara to Port Augusta 137 km

Coldest morning so far with temperature in the sub-zeros (we think about -3 or -4 based on the temps we saw on the news).  After packing we had to move the car into the sun to melt the ice on the windscreen and defog the inside of the windscreen.

 We had planned to go to Telowie Conservation Park however we had been told that the walking track had been washed away in the floods in Feb but also the road we had to use had been washed away in the same flood back in Feb 2014 (after a bushfire in Jan 2014!!).

Reached Mt Remarkable National Park and did the short walk to Gorge Lookout and then Ali Lookout. Decided to do the Gorge Circuit which was advertised as 4 km and 2 hours.  The first part was steep downhill. 251 steps down (Joy counted them!!). When we reached the bottom we turn right and went to The Terraces which has some small water cascades. 

Headed back the same way and past the steps and down through was is called the Narrows, and narrow it was. Many creek crossings using stepping stones and Joy managed to get one shoe wet. The walk seemed to go on forever and the gorge got narrower and narrower. 

Finally made it to the picnic area and headed back to the car park. Yep! 1 hr and 55 minutes in total.

Drove straight through to Port Augusta and to the Arid Lands Botanical Gardens. We had visited here once before in the rain. Spent just over an hour wandering the gardens. 

Refuelled the car with petrol $1.41.9 per litre!!! The cheapest fuel so far!

Day 5 Port Augusta to Streaky Bay 458 km

This morning it was COLD!! Minus 4.5 degrees!! We left Bathurst to get away from the cold mornings! But at least it was sunny, so the hope was it would warm up.

Since we’d driven straight past Iron Knob last time we were here, we thought we’d have a look this time. The town itself is tiny, and it looks like it has seen better days.

 Next stop was Kimba – halfway across Australia, according to the enormous great sign along the road. 

A little way out of town there is a lookout (White Knob), where there is a sculpture of John Eyre and one of the Aboriginals who helped him in his expeditions. They are quite big, made of iron – what looks like scrap – and are nicely rusted, and look out across the town and over into the distance. Very impressive!

Our next stop was at Wudinna, at the Australian Farmer statue. It is a very impressive statue, made from granite, and very modern in style.  

On to Venus Bay to do the walk around the headland. Last time we were there we really enjoyed the walk, even though the weather was unpleasant. This time the weather was more pleasant. We saw a pod of dolphins having a great time feeding – lots of dolphins, lots of action. The rest of the walk was about the fantastic coastal scenery, and it didn’t disappoint. Sadly, no whales.

Our last tourist stop for today was at Murphy’s Haystacks. Again, last time we were here the weather was unpleasant – cold and wet. This time, though, was lovely sunshine. Even though it was late-ish in the day (4pm), it was still good viewing – actually, the angle of the sun made the light on the rocks really interesting.

On to Streaky Bay where our cabin here is right on the water, and with the beautiful weather – mild and calm – we just had to get our crackers and cheese and sit outside taking in the view. Lovely!

Day 6 Streaky Bay 47 km

Well today was a first on this trip for 2 reasons. We did not have to pack the car and move today and we did not see any emus. Woke to a cold morning with ice on the car although Bureau of Meteorology said it was 4.5 degrees.

After lunch we headed  into town for some fuel, look at the replica of the largest shark ever catch on a 24 kilo line (it weighed 1,520 kg!!!!!), did part of the town historic walk including a walk along the jetty.

 We then went on a drive to Cape Bauer 

and the Whistling Rocks and the Blow Holes. The Whistling Rocks were more like sighing and the Blow Holes were all blown out but still worth the trip.

Day 7 Streaky Bay to Nullarbor Roadhouse 444 km

Woke to a spectacular sunrise over Streaky Bay (unfortunately the photos do not do it justice). Today we start the crossing of the Nullarbor from Ceduna. Filled the car with fuel as Ceduna is the last reasonably price fuel for over 1,000 km. We paid  $1.58.9 for fuel so filled the tank to the brim.

We figured that as soon as we left Ceduna we would hit flat plains with little growing but we were wrong. Still lots of farming with mainly wheat and sheep.

We headed to Fowlers Bay for lunch and to see if we can spot some whales. YES!!! We saw at least 4 whales but they were all a long way away.  

Whale is the small black dot in the middle of the picture!!!!

Back to the highway and passed a woman pushing a hand cart and think she was doing it to raise money for cancer research. Never saw her support vehicle so not sure where she was going to stop. We have noticed that the country is changing – farm land to native forest with trees to about 4/5 metres to open plains with very little in bushes and trees to open with lots of bushes to about 1 metre high. It is not the flat boring stuff that most people think of when they think of the Nullarbor Plain.

We were a bit worried about the motel and food after some of the comments we had read on Trip Advisor but we are more than happy with the room and meals considering where we were. 

Day 8 Nullarbor Roadhouse to Mundrabilla 331 km

It was a bit of a surprise to wake up to fog! We weren’t expecting that.

Headed to the Head of Bight having backtracked about 15km. After the turn-off, it was another 12km out to the viewing area.  As we were walking down the pathway to the boardwalks we could see whales just out to sea, so already we were happy. Then we turned the corner to the view point that also had the views along the coast, and WOW! The cliffs are just amazing – kind of takes your breath away. 

When we got to the viewing platform, it was a case of what do we look at, the view, or all the whales. We simply couldn’t believe how many whales there were, and how close they were to the coast, and how beautiful the coast is.

After watching the whales at that view point for a little while, we decided to see what the other view point had to offer. And sure enough, more whales! The whales came within about  100 metres of the cliff face. If we had to put a number to it, we’d say there would have been 30 to 40 whales there. There were mothers with calves, mostly, and then some individual whales, just pottering around. The calves seemed to be staying close to mum. But there were also some of the whales putting on a show, breaching, tail-slapping, waving their flippers around. It was great to watch. We could have stayed there for ages.

In the end, we went back to the car and were on the road again. The rest of the day was heading west. We stopped at lookouts along the way, all with great views of the cliffs along the coast. These lookouts are well sign-posted. They have moved over the years, because the old lookouts have either collapsed into the sea, or are unsafe as they are liable to collapse into the sea at any moment.

After lunch we crossed the border into Western Australia, having the car checked for contraband (fruit, vegetables, plant matter, honey etc). We also saw our first cyclist at the border. The brochure says there are many people who cycle across the Nullarbor, but we’d been disappointed in not having seen any before this.

By 2:30pm we were at Eucla, where we filled up with petrol - $1.98 a litre! Drove down to the Old Telegraph Station – a ruin that is gradually being covered by sand. 

Feeling energetic, we walked over the sand dunes down to the beach, where the remains of the jetty can be seen. By the time we got back to the car, we’d been gone for over an hour, and we had worked up a sweat.

A comment about the Nullarbor Plain – it is not treeless! Actually, it is quite varied in how it looks. Some parts are just like we’d imagined – flat, with only low vegetation – but there are other parts that have trees – admittedly smallish ones, but still trees. And the land isn’t always just flat – it is up and down in quite a few places. So it isn’t a boring place to drive. In fact the Hay Plain is flatter and more boring than the Nullarbor Plain!

Day 9 Mundrabilla to Fraser Range Station 554 km

Today was a looooong day – over 550km  – so we had to be up and going fairly early. First thing of note in today’s trip was going up Madura Pass. You don’t really expect to be climbing a pass when you are travelling across the Nullarbor Plain.

 There is a lookout at the top of the pass, so we stopped for the photo opportunity. There were some interesting plants up there as well, so photos were also taken of them.

We started on the “90 Mile Straight” – the longest straight road in Australia. Since both of us wanted to drive it, we shared the driving. Joy drove the first 67km, until our lunch stop, and then Les took over to drive the rest of it.  It was really weird, driving along such a long straight road – we kept on thinking the road would bend just up ahead a little bit, but no, it just kept on and on and on, straight ahead.

Not that far into the Straight, we stopped at the Caiguna Blowhole. This is one of many blowholes on the Nullarbor. They are where there are holes down into the caves that are under the surface, and they kind of breathe. When we were standing next to the blowhole, we could feel the air going out of the hole. The air was really quite cool. Weird!

We saw another 3 cyclists today. 

Balladonia was the next stop , after the end of the 90 Mile Straight, and doesn’t really have much to offer except the usual roadhouse type of things and a museum. Fuel was expensive - $2.05.5 per litre!

We made it to Fraser Range Station just after 3:30pm. Our lodgings for the night is a small room with a stone floor and walls, that just fits the double bed, one bedside table, and a little bar fridge. Toilet and shower are in the amenities building just around the corner – so any night trips to the toilet will require a bit more effort than usual.

We had dinner in the “restaurant”, which is a partly enclosed area with long tables for communal dining. Dinner was vegetable soup with beer bread (a small chunk), then honey mustard chicken with vegies. Joy was disappointed because the email from them had said the 2 course dinner was main and dessert. Les was disappointed as he understood tea was to be Roast Meat and Baked Vegies.  

Day 10 Fraser Range to Kalgoorlie 353 km

After a quick breakfast and packing the car we headed off towards Norseman. About 20 km down the road we stopped at a road side stop to have a look at a salt/clay pan by the side of the road. 

Next stop was at Mt Jimberlana near Norseman for a few photos. At this point we had passed another 3 cyclists who looked like they were all together, as they were all young Asians, but they had spread out over about 5 kms.

Had morning tea in a café in Norseman, and a quick walk around for the obligatory tourist photos of Norseman the horse and the Corrugated Camels. 

A quick drive out across Lake Cowan

 to the lookout and then back through town to Beacon Hill for a walk where there are many flowers coming out. The walk was to take 15 minutes but took us about 50 minutes! 

Next was the Woodland Walk which while it was only about 2 kms from Beacon Hill was very different scenery. Headed north towards Kalgoorlie via Kambalda East where we did a short (600 m) walk at Red Hill to look out over a vast salt lake called Lake Lefroy. 

Drove to Kalgoorlie and arrived at about 4:35 and booked into the caravan park.

Day 11 Kalgoorlie 51 km

Today wasn’t a busy one, so we could have a nice sleep-in today, but both of us were awake by 6:30am.

Headed into the centre of Kalgoorlie. We decided we’d just wander around and see what we could see. We wandered up one side of Hannan Street then down the other. There are quite a few old buildings – gold rush style of architecture. Some of them are well kept, but others need a bit of TLC.

After lunch we headed out to Mt Charlotte Lookout. The lookout provided a reasonable view across Kalgoorlie, and to the Super Pit – not great, but not bad.

The next stop was to the Karlkurla Bushland Park, to wander around. The park is enormous – 200 hectares, and is natural regrowth bushland. There are a number of walks around it, but we ended up seeing only part of it – it took us 1 ½ hours as it was. Lots of photos were taken. We just wish those little birds would stop still for long enough for us to get photos of them!

Next, on to the Super Pit. It is enormous! We can see why it is called the Super Pit. 

We were happily taking photos of the pit when we heard that there was going to be a blast at 5pm, so of course we had to stay for that! We could wait the half hour – no problems. It was mildly interesting watching what was going on leading up to the blast – the men wandering around the blast area, presumably checking that all was OK, the various vehicles moving around – but it got a bit old when it was around 5:30pm and still nothing. Then, all of a sudden – blast! Well, at least it was a big puff of dust, then some seconds later a bit of a bang, but all in all, underwhelming.

Before the Blast - note men on the flat at the left

After the blast