Strolling to the Telegraph Station ruins.

We set off early from Streaky Bay SA, just as the sun was starting to rise – today was the day I had been waiting for, the day we finally crossed the Nullarbor Plain.

After a quick breakfast stop in Ceduna, where we dined on decent coffee and delicious pastries from the Ceduna Bakehouse, we hit the long road west.

I was behind the wheel of the Avida Birdsville, preferring to do my driving shifts early in the morning – which may surprise my husband, who’s used to me napping in  the passenger seat until at least 8am! Less than an hour later, we approached the first highlight of the day (after the pastries) and our next ‘Big Thing’ – Australia’s ‘largest’ (depending on who you ask) windmill at Penong, SA.

The windmill ‘museum’ in Penong is the town’s claim to fame

Desperate for something to put Penong on the map, a group of locals got together and created a windmill ‘museum’ in the middle of town – the museum is really a large collection of windmills in a field and a shelter explaining the project and the restoration of some of the windmills. It’s a striking  scene as you enter Penong, and has no doubt achieved its goal of enticing people to stop here. The centrepiece of the project is the 35ft-plus Comet windmill, which is believed to be the biggest in Australia but, as it’s never been officially measured, it’s a bit hard to know. The collection is eclectic and makes for an interesting rest stop, nonetheless.

Driving past the iconic Nullarbor road signs.

ARM OF THE LAW

We had hundreds of kilometres ahead of us to reach our destination of Eucla, WA, so we got  moving. Not long after, and just past the community of Yalata, we reached another milestone – the first of those iconic Nullarbor road signs, declaring camels, kangaroos and wombats for the next 92km. We pulled the Birdsville over, and Matt and Steve crossed the road to set up a good spot from which to photograph, directing Ali and I to make several passes of the sign in the motorhome. On perhaps our second or third drive-by, we passed a police car – not uncommon out here – however, we watched with interest in our rear-view mirror as  the police spotted Matt and Steve and their gear on the side of the road and pulled over to speak to them. We drove on until we found a safe spot to turn around – all the while, mentally running through everything in our heads – yes, we had our seatbelts on; yes, we were licensed to drive the motorhome; yes, it had plates, and so on.

By the time we got back to the boys and pulled over, they were in deep discussion with two officers on the side of the road, and we watched, nervously, I admit, until the whole group burst out  laughing. The boys had attracted the cops’ attention due to the fact that there was no vehicle in sight – “We wondered where on earth you’d come from! And how you got out all the way out here with no car!” they exclaimed. Once the guys explained the situation, and we turned up with their transport, it all made sense to the officers, and they were keen to hear all about our trip and have a look through the motorhome. They were stationed at Yalata and invited us back to look around, however, we needed to push on towards Eucla so we left them to it.

Posing for photos at the Nullarbor Plain sign is a must

The landscape around here surprised us – the vegetation seemed incredibly dense from the road, especially around Yalata – however, drone footage from above showed just how sparse it became just metres back from the roadside. And once we hit the next iconic road sign – ‘Nullarbor Plain – The eastern end of the Treeless Plain’ – it became even more so.

Another thing we noticed was the prevalence of the ‘one-finger salute’ (not the middle finger!) from other  drivers when we hit the Nullarbor proper. It was like everyone became a little friendlier all of a sudden, and everyone waved to each other because we were in this together. At least, that’s how it felt.

The road trains got bigger and we started to notice more roadkill – which had been noticeably absent until today. But the upside was the number of spectacular wedgetail eagles we saw feasting on the roadside, or sometimes, in the middle of the road. Desperate to see them up close and perhaps get some footage of them, we slowed right down and pulled over every time we saw them but, even if we had been quiet enough not to disturb them, a road train was guaranteed to come thundering past within a few seconds, scaring them off before we could see much.

The old Nullarbor Roadhouse offers a glimpse into the past

NULLARBOR ICONS

Not long after, the Nullarbor Roadhouse loomed like a beacon in the desert and we stopped in to refill the Avida – and get our daily dose of ice-cream. This had become somewhat of a habit by  now! We lingered with our icecreams, delighted to discover yet another Big Thing – the Big Whale! Even the boys had come around and were appreciating these quirky outback icons by now. Other points of interest include the original, tiny Nullarbor Roadhouse, and the bar which proclaims ‘free beer, topless barmaids and false advertising’.

The sun sets on another eventful day

The roadhouse has a popular caravan park and cabins for those who need them and we tossed up stopping here but needed to continue on to Eucla to ensure we made it to Perth on time!

Shortly afterwards, we came to the famous ‘Head of the Bight’ visitor centre, but as it was not whale watching season, we kept going until we came to a dirt road leading south to the bight off the main road. We explored several of these roads and each led to a lookout, carpark or campsite on the edge of the cliffs with spectacular views over the bight. The views were absolutely stunning, and the scenery blew us away. The cliffs have been carved by wind and waves over thousands of years and you can see for miles into the distance.

Laura and Ali take a break and enjoy spectacular views over the bight

BORDER PATROL

Tearing ourselves away from the amazing views, we jumped back in the Birdsville and continued west, thinking that it was the last we’d see of the coast for a while. About an hour later, we hit the SA/WA border at Border Village – another milestone, especially for me, as it signalled the first time I’d hit ‘home soil’ in almost three years. Adding to the excitement was yet another Big Thing – our third for the day – the Big Kangaroo, complete with jar of vegemite. The boys couldn’t help but get excited about this one, and even jumped inside its pouch for the obligatory photo!

Having forgotten, again, to consume all our fruit and vegies, we relinquished most of it to the quarantine officer. However, she did let us keep our carrots and onions, once we’d topped and tailed them! So at least we’d have onions for our burgers that night.

What better way to contemplate life than with this view?

While camping is available at Border Village, we continued across to the Eucla Motel Hotel and Caravan Park – our digs for the night – and were pleasantly surprised at how big and modern the whole complex was (see p 60).

The late afternoon light was just beautiful so, after checking in, we high-tailed it out to the nearby Telegraph Station ruins, just a couple of kilometres down the road. The ruins are said to be  haunted and can sometimes be completely covered with windblown sand and unable to be seen. We were pleased they were only half-filled with sand when we arrived, however dismayed to discover that they’ve been almost completely covered with graffiti. Names and dates have been etched into the soft sandstone as well – we found some dating back to 1976 – and, although these markings are technically vandalism as well, it somehow didn’t seem as bad as the spray-painted tags and profanities! In the soft, fading light, the ruins seemed far from haunted but it wasn’t hard to imagine how eerie it would become after dark.

Laura celebrates hitting home soil

Back at the caravan park, we discovered a peculiar oddity about Eucla – it runs on its own time zone which is apparently unofficial but largely accepted. Having crossed more time zones than we could keep track of already, we were all massively confused by this – and with all our watches, phones, two clocks in the motorhome and the GPS all telling us different times, trying to work out a time to meet in the morning proved much harder than it should have!

The Telegraph Station ruins – eerie, but not quite haunted

EUCLA MOTEL HOTEL & CARAVAN PARK

The Eucla Motel Hotel and Caravan Park was a welcome surprise for these weary travellers. Its location, almost of the edge of the coast, affords spectacular views overlooking the sea, past the old ruins and some rolling white dunes. Many travellers made the most of the caravan park’s ‘pick your own site’ policy and set up right on the edge of the escarpment to enjoy the vista.

The park’s manager lives in house on the edge of the park and has a couple of horses, a sheep (which cruised past our camp in the  morning) and a rooster which creates a nice ambience for the campground.

The facilities are clean and spacious (but don’t forget your $1 coins to take a hot shower), with a nice barbecue area (free!) where we cooked up a feast of burgers and sausages, sans the veggies/salad we had to relinquish at the border!

The white gravel ground of the campgrounds and roads makes it feel really different to the arid landscape around, and it is quite a pretty campground with an unbeatable view!

Category: Destinations
Written: Sat 01 Jul 2017
Printed: July, 2017
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