On the Home Straight
Despite our trip entering the closing stages, we still have lots of things to do and places to see that will be all new to us, the Nullarbor being top of the list. We found the reality of crossing this vast section of country a whole lot different to perception, along with some narrow subjective views, that the Nullarbor is featureless and boring. In our experience, nothing was further from the truth. As with all of our experience in regional and outback Australia, especially the latter, it is the changes in country, sometimes dramatic but more often subtle, that impacts on your consciousness as to your surroundings at any given point.. That alone is magic and forms part of the magnetism that draws you back onto the road.
Not so long, really!
Overnight stop. Balladonia was one of the Australian towns, along with Esperance, Kalgoorlie and Rawlinna, to have various pieces of NASA's Skylab debris scattered around a 190 sq Km area in July 1979. The Esperance museum is home to one of the craft's oxygen tanks and the little museum at the Balladonia roadhouse has a piece of fuselage.
The 'Skylab' par 3 at Balladonia. One of the 18 holes of the progressive Nullarbor golf course starting at Ceduna, finishing at Kalgoorlie and all places in between. When starting at either end you are issued with a score card for the entire 18 holes. Annual competitions are held for the Nullarbor Golf Cup.
Road train gone wrong!
Great facilities here
Coastal remains
Border vehicle checking station into WA
Facilities from years gone by
Whale watching platform at 'Head of the Bight'
Emergency landing zones on the national highway network in remote areas. Police close the road for the Flying Doctor to retrieve patients
Surprising how many bike riders we saw on all legs of the trip
Ceduna silos in the distance
Another check
Gypsum train arriving at Ceduna. Good to see the private operators (GSW} investing in modern technology, those 'shit box loco's' were old when I was on the job.
Ceduna was a drive through on our way for our 2 night stop at Smoky Bay, a 30 min drive down the coast. The next blog is the final leg to Coffin Bay then home.
