Old Eyre Hwy and Nullarbor

South Australia Time

                

15/3/2018. Thursday.  Having slept well and deciding that a damp canvas would take half the morning to dry, R & R packed up and left at 7:30am before heading back to Border Village to get to the beginning of the Old Eyre Hwy. With 34 kms on the clock at 8:00am, they set off to see what the day would bring!  It was an equally rough track as the last they had been on, with speeds between 10-20 kms but different in that the rocks were smoother, like driving on cobble stone. Curiously, there were Optus pegs indicating fibre but that was no use to them. They were on the lookout for camels, wombats and kangaroos and any other living things but saw very little other than 1 kangaroo and 4 hawks. They did see a dead snake and RA wondered about the timing of his demise. Out here the trees were fewer and grew smaller again.  About 9 kms in, R & R stopped and took photos of the 16 Mile Tank, stopped again at the microwave tower road 3 kms later and looked for the blowhole of which RL’s mother, R, had spoken.  They walked around several little tracks for about half an hour being mindful of their position, looking, but saw nothing.  At 26 kilometres, they stopped, surprised, when they saw the Buntabie Blowhole, literally, on the side of the road. They saw no evidence of the Buntabie Tank which should have been a couple of kms further.  There was a large dam on the side of the road a few kilometres beyond. The Coopana Tank at 33 kms was, unlike the ancient stone one they had seen earlier, rebuilt in the 60-70s as it was constructed of tin side wall panels fixed with gutter bolts. About the 58 kms out , RL turned south, detouring off the road on a track for 1.7 kms to look for the Koomooloobooka Cave which took a little finding even with the help of the Navigator.  It was well worth it. They spent about 40 minutes driving in, looking, photographing and driving out again. From here it was 20 kms to Koonalda Hsd where they had thought to stop, look around and possibly stay the night. As the day warmed R & R were plagued by stinging flies so they decided to put the air con on to deter them, and about noon, stopped to eat lunch in the ute with the motor running! At 79 kms there was a new installation like a power plant but the track was unused which seemed odd. Four kilometres down, just before an ancient stock grid, there was its track with a warning not to trespass. Here a faster moving land cruiser with the name Boomerang Campers overtook them.   Ten kilometres further, there was a second grid and the road veered left to the north to what used to be Koonalda Homestead and fuelling station on the Hwy when the road actually ran that way before it was rerouted closer to the coast during the 1960s.  It had old vehicles, a pump, an old homestead with a bicycle at the back door and a new building which looked like the camping facility but R & R were not inclined to stop. It was about 2:00pm when they headed south from there to the new Eyre Hwy about 14 kms. The first half was not bad  being of soft red dirt but the second was dreadful; back on to limestone again  About 3 kilometres from Koonalda on this road RL noticed mounds in the soft red dirt. This turned out to be the highlight of his day; wombat burrows and taking photos was a given. RA couldn’t help but take a photo of wombat pooh at the burrow entrance.  Further down there were two sinkholes along the side of the road but the Hum did not stop. So that RA would not miss too many of the features on the new Eyre Hwy, her husband turned west for the 13 km back to arrive, at 3:00pm, at Bunda Cliffs where camping is allowed. Here it is a little windy but the view is so spectacular, it shouldn’t be missed. Later RA worked out they had done about 120 kms in the day over 6 hours with about 1 hour 40 minutes for photo stops, which turns out to be an average drive speed of 12 kms; less than on the track the day before. The evening activities were becoming a routine ... they felt comfortable with pattern the days were taking and the little surprises in each day.

16/3/2018. Friday. R & R were awake early and could hear intermittent patter of droplets on the roof but the wind was warm and fortunately the canvas was dry as they packed down. RL had to pump the tyres from yesterday’s track driving. Despite the cloudy sky they walked back for another look at the Cliffs which rise a massive 70+ feet above sea level. They headed east stopping to take photos of the beware camels, wombats and kangaroos sign 96 kilometres from Nullarbor at the entrance to the Koonalda Stn Road. The next lookout was just as spectacular with the elevation above sea level about 65 feet. R & R stopped at Nullarbor (which means no trees), sometimes referred to as the treeless plain, for about half an hour to take some photos. RL listened to one traveller’s story; he was just needing someone to listen. The lack of trees continued at least another 30 kilometres past Nullarbor where the Head of the Bight sandhills can be seen quite close to the road. From this point the distance from the coast increases, the trees include mallee and are quite wooded, the earth is yellow/orange, the land undulates with the average height of ridges being about 3 metres before becoming hilly and the elevation rising to 160 ft above sea level at Yalata. Shortly after Yalata reserve, R & R stopped for 20 minutes for lunch where fences on both sides of the road indicated farming land. The old red shed and homestead of Colona indicate how grand farming may have been in former days. Here, just before Nundroo, and again often during the afternoon they saw wombat mounds on the drive in to and out of Fowlers Bay. The drive of about 27kms in via Coorabie which has a lovely old stone building is really rough limestone while the drive out toward Penong is better with about half being sealed. Granted it is the end of summer, but here it looked dry and unproductive and they saw no evidence of stock other than some droppings on the road.  There were many properties with For Sale signs. They spent about half an hour walking down the jetty and taking photos. The community of Flowers Bay is very proud of their heritage and presents this little fishing settlement neatly.  RL and RA were both very sad to see a dead wombat on the road towards Penong where they stopped to set up camp for the night at Cohen’s Rest. It took a while to pick a spot, park and go for a walk but they were sitting for coffee by 4:45pm. This evening and night would really go down in camping history as one of their worst ... they were not sure if it was because it had been such a warm grey sweaty day that became breathless ... but the camper was invaded by small flying insects, midgies and, possibly, sandflies.

17/3/2018. Saturday. Well Cohen may have rested here but R & R didn’t. Aware that they had a problem, before bed, they set up the coils to make the insects go away, and put lights and a citronella candle outside to draw the insects out.  It seemed to be working but they were only in bed a couple of minutes before they realised they really had a problem! Beside the insects being annoying some were actually biting and stinging. R & R took their pillows and flask and headed off to sleep in the front of the ute. That not being comfortable, they emptied the back of the ute into the camper with the intention of trying to sleep on the bed that was already made up under the piles of stuff they had just shifted. They thought they might just nod off when the smoke alarm in the camper beeped, then stopped. Many times it did this and they tried to ignore it, assuming that another bug had set it off. Finally, RL had had enough. He got out and dismantled it. A last! They slept. Just as well, with all their comings and goings and the alarm beeping, they had chosen the far end of the rest area away from the other two campers there. Both, glad of morning, they tried to clean away as many bugs as they could, repacked the ute and were not sad to be leaving. Leaving Cohen’s Rest behind at 8:30am, Penong was only 16kms away. They refuelled after taking in the windmill museum display which was unique and intriguing. RL followed instructions to the pink lake which is on the Point Sinclair Rd where gypsum is mined. The pink lake was not pink for them at this time but that did not detract from the drive, which under advice from a local, they took to its end at Port LeHunte. It was a spectacular drive over the last dune and down to the jetty which has a safe netted swimming area.  R & R spent about half an hour before leaving and ate the last orange and two tomatoes so that there was nothing to give over at the border quarantine check at Ceduna. RA declared her bottle of honey and they were not interested in confiscating that for which she was glad as it was still half full. R & R took a bay at the Ceduna Foreshore CP and were surprised that they had lost another half hour meaning that it was already after 1:00pm. They set up the camper as quickly as they could, had lunch and put a wash in while showering. After a walk to the tourist bureau and shopping for fruit and vegetables (not to mention fly and surface sprays) they walked along the foreshore to find out what time Mass would be tomorrow. During the course of the afternoon and evening they managed to speak with all their children except their son, Z. They went to bed a little later than usual since they had been making good use of the phone and internet to catch up ... confident that this night could only be more restful than the last.