Nullarbor.

English.

How do you describe something you’d like to do from way back in the days when you were just 17, and then after 47 years you get the change to do so?

“A dream comes true”.

This was it for me!

When on Monday morning we leave the camping in Fremantle, we both have a kind of exciting feeling in our bodies.

How will this part of our trip go? Are we ready for it? Do we have enough of everything with us? How will the car and van hold up on this long haul?

Knowing that that the road is sealed all the way now and it is no more the challenging dirt and sandy road from the past, it still leaves us with a lot of uncertainty’s to deal with. Stories about servo’s without petrol, no drinking water, getting a mechanic out there is very costly, noisy stops along the road, hard winds, very hot dry weather. In short, everything is possible and impossible.

Because our navigation seems to cheat on us sometime , meanly let us drive the major roads, I have made a list the old fashion way. Road numbers and the towns to follow.

The first day’s we are still driving in the world we know, meanly because we have been traveling the hind land the last couple of weeks.

When we stop at a camping in Kalgoorlie, while we setting up for the night we get invited to join up for a birthday party with a barbie, by the guy behind us.

Els already started to make dinner, so we cut it short, at a small bit and went up there with some Dutch cheese to join in.

Bushy (lives there temporarily recovering from a heavy operation), who invited us, took care of the meal and party for Neal (geology) who turned 79, Harry, (found out afterwards that he owned the camping) was there present every evening to finish a bottle of red wine anyway, Jason (worked in the mines and is half Dutch) is the youngest of them all. We sat around the big and well-kept campfire, and all the travel and life stories together with jokes past around in about two hours.

The next morning I went to pay our stay Harry started to ask a lot of questions about Holland and I found out that he is 75 years young and still run the camping on his own.

Around here the price of petrol is still payable so we filled up the tank and drove off towards Norseman. Just outside the town the growth of plants is lower then what we have seen so far and the earth is turning redder till purple brown. Sometimes you palms on open planes with round balls of grass in different colors.

Just as we started to pick up speed we noticed a hitchhiker (backpacker), we took him aboard to take him to Norseman where he wanted to try his luck after he got sacked the day before in Kalgoorlie. Norseman is the last place where you find a cross road which take you to the coast and the world as we know it.

After 165km and talking and listing to half French and half English we stopped in Norseman to drop Jacques of and to have a coffee. We had to park in a side street; there were 3 more vans there as well, because caravan weren’t allowed in the main street. After 30 minutes on the road again topped up the fuel on the way out while Els stayed in the car.

It was nice warm weather with dry air and a blue sky above, so with the windows open and a cd in the player (Bobby Bruce of course) we turned onto the Eyer Hwy and where the Nullarbor starts.

We travelled for about 270km when we stopped to fill up again and to have lunch in the van at a place called Balladonia. While I was paying for the fuel Els came to tell me that something is very wrong with the door of the van. The screen door was wide open and has most probable been open all the way from Norseman the last 270km. The lock of the screen door has been forced open the door is bend in the length the frame in the van is out of place as well.

Here in Balladonia is no police station and I don’t feel like driving all the way back to report this ( we got no phone reception), so with a hammer and a piece of wood we knock everything back in place and with two screws I fixed the screen door to the main door. An hour later on we are back on the road again. With the knowledge that they didn’t get into the van we are pretty happy because everything we own and need is in there.

When we drive on we see that the trees are shorter then normal and bend over all in the same direction, because of the one way wind, the low scrubs cover the bottom completely and there are no more cattle on the planes. The signs warn us for the big rabbets, but we don’t see any at all.

We drive another 180km further to a roadhouse “Caiguna” where we stop for a nice warm and peaceful night.

As I am refueling the next morning at a servo at Madura (150km after Caiguna) a older Holden Ute comes rolling in and the guy tells me he wanted to fill up at Balladonia but they have run out. Then he says, he might be lucky anyway, that he used his spare jerry can because they water down the petrol there. I laughed at it, payed my bill and got on the road again. Els, always keep track of how much we use, the km to the liter, and all of a sudden tell me, we have been using a lot more than before. Do I have to believe the watering down story?

We have a coffee and then we move on again with a cruise control speed of 85, as all of a sudden the wind picks up and started to turn into a headwind which cut down our speed with about 3 till 4km. the wind can blow here freely because we got to the treeless part of the planes and last for about 200km. it seems that the treeless area is not created by man but this is how Australia looked before trees started to grow anywhere..

By lunchtime we reached roadhouse Mundrabilla where the juice is still below the two dollar so we fill up again. At Eucla we eat all our fruit before we get to the border of WA and SA.

The border is no problem and after the checkup we move the rest of the afternoon on along the Great Australian Bight with a strong headwind. Here we find the longest stretch; 90 mile is almost 147km, of straight road in Australia without a single corner. So we stopped to take some photos.

At the Nullarbor road we stop to stay the night at their caravan site, (we want fill up because the price is above the two dollar) it is windy but still nice until the sun goes down and it cools down fast. The wind seems to come here from the artic, so we get the old sleeping bag out, the electric heather is turned on, we will survive the night. One thing I have noticed is that you see a lot of older and vintage caravan parked and on the road here. We feel right at home.

When we wake up next morning, it is really cold and close to zero, everything is damped from condensation but is all changes when the sun rises and warms it up again.

Somehow our internet has worked because Els got a tip in on Facebook from Chris James to go and visit the Head of Bight. Straight after brekkie we move on to find the turn of which takes us to a beautiful spot along the coast. Normally you can see the wales with calf’s here but we are just out of season. The cliffs are magnificent and the view is endless but the white moving dunes which are moving land inwards because of the direction the wind is blowing are something ells. This was a visit not to be missed. Thanks Chris.

Because we did not refill the tank we use one of our jerry cans to keep going. When we get to Yalata Roadhouse we take something to drink and give the car some to. With this we should be able to reach the end of the Nullarbor and looking at normal prices for the fuel again.

The next day our trip end at Minipa and we can proudly say “we did the Nullarbor”.

Now we will drive on to Mildura and Bendigo to visit some friends whom are waiting for us, bus that is a different story.

Regards, “The Downunders”.