Yorke Peninsula

Week 18, 4th March 2010

Well! The best laid plans of mice and men etc. etc.

Despite my best intentions to keep this blog updated regularly, circumstances combined to keep me away from posting. First, many of the areas I have been simply had no phone coverage so it was impossible to access the internet and log in. Second, just as I got close to Whyalla, where I would have had coverage, my dongle died. The wireless USB device just refused to power up. I went into the Telstra agent in Whyalla, but of course they referred me to the full Telstra shop. Guess what, the only Telstra shop in South Australia is in Adelaide.

The pre-paid wireless broadband has turned out to be phenomenally expensive anyway, so I waited until I got to Port Pirie and bought a normal (not pre-paid) broadband dongle. But, when I left Port Pirie, I was back into no-coverage areas. The towns, obviously, had coverage, but the transmitters seem to be very limited in range and as soon as I got more than 10 kms or so from the towns, no coverage.

Anyhoo - I'm back in range for a week or so and will bring you up to date on the last 8 weeks or so (Crikey, it sounds terrible when you say it like that.)

The story continues . . . when we last spoke, it was early January and I was at Port Lincoln and heading up the east coast of Eyre Peninsula. From there on . . .

Thursday, 7th January 2010.

Left Port Lincoln this morning and headed up the east coast. First stop was Tumby Bay which was a very pleasant little place, as are most of the towns I have seen on the peninsula. As I think I may have said before, the interior is not much to look at, just flat wheatfields, but the coastline is fantastic.

After a wander around Tumby, headed north about 40 kms to Lipson Cove. This would have to be one of the most attractive areas I have seen. Beautiful white sand, blue sea and sky - I'll be happy here for a few days.

Later . . . I guess that even Eden may have had its drawbacks. The problem with a really nice spot, close to towns, is that everybody and their dog turns up on the weekends. There I was, sitting out the front with a drink and a book and 13, count them, 13 vehicles pulled up on the beach and out came the trail bikes, quads, and wave kites (or whatever they're called, I can never remember the difference between para-sailing, para-gliding, and all the rest - these were a type of parachute thingy with a guy on a surfboard.) Anyway, with the loud music, drunken screaming and midnight quad races, it was a real pain in the arse! I wonder if I was as objectionable when I was that age? Probably worse.

Later still . . . well, they went away after the weekend and left us genuine travellers to our peace. The weather has been great, warm to hot during the day and cool enough to sleep at night. It is still daylight saving of course, and the sun doesn't set until 9pm or so, so I am getting the most out of each day. There is a little island at the end of the point and it appears to be a seagull breeding colony. Stinks to high heaven up close and the noise is horrendous. Because the bay is very shallow, there is hardly any wave action, and the island forms a barrier, the water is deliciously warm and I have been swimming a couple of times a day, which is pretty unusual for me, the water usually has to be hot enough to make coffee before I go in.

I have never seen so many rabbits in my life! This place is absolutely infested. I took a quick run back into Tumby to get some bread and milk and on the 4 kms of dirt road leading to the highway, I counted 16 bunnies running across the road.

Tuesday, 19th January, 2010.

Reluctantly, I have packed up and headed off. I could quite happily have camped here for months - maybe one day in the future.

Headed north and pulled into some of the little coastal towns, Port Neill, Arno Bay, Cowell (not so little) and so into Whyalla. Gigantic shopping centre here - reputedly the largest in regional South Australia, so took I the opportunity to stock up. Did the tourist bit and had a good look around town.

The Flinders memorial is a hoot - the sculptor must have had his (or her) tongue set firmly in their cheek when they did these.
The view across the head of the gulf is teriffic, the southern Flinders Ranges make a fantastic backdrop. You may notice some white tanks in the middle distance. That is the Port Bonython LPG gas facility where they ship LPG interstate and overseas. My next stop is just on the other side of that point at Fitzgerald Bay.

Wednesday, 20th January 2010

About 40 kms north of Whyalla is Fitzgerald Bay. Coming down from the hill into the bay is a great view. The things you can see off the shore are fish farms, mainly for Kingfish.

There are two or three distinct campsites at Fitzgerald Bay. The first, which is just to the left of this photo, is very nice, but the other one about 2 kms further on has a toilet so I'm heading for that one.

Unexpected bonus. The campsite is just off the alignment of the water pipeline, so someboby had a rush of brains to the head and tapped a side branch into the campsite, so the site has fresh town water and flush toilets. Very Flash.

There are a couple of other long-term travellers here and few overnighters each night. The main attraction appears to be the crabs. The bay is chock-a-block with blue swimmer crabs, and one of the blokes here seems to be a crab-addict. He goes out every morning and comes back an hour or so later with 14 or 15 crabs. He doesn't seem to eat anything else. I like crabs as much as the next bloke, but I don't think I could eat them day after day - still, it's cheaper than buying tucker.


Monday, 1st February 2010.

I have been here at Fitzgerald Bay for almost two weeks, and I'm starting to feel a little guilty about neglecting the blog, so I'm packing up and heading for Port Pirie. Also I'm getting low on clean clothes and I can't be tossed washing by hand and I'm running low on reading material so look out St. Vinnies and the Red Cross Op Shops.

Up to Port Augusta (straight through) did a U-turn and headed south. Through to Port Pirie. Booked in at the Rangeview Caravan Park for a week. It is one of the Oz Camps network so I get a discount. It's a very small park, right on the highway, and not a blade of grass to be seen, but it is neat and clean and LEVEL!. The guy gave me my discount and then threw in the 7th day free and then rounded it down, so I ended up paying $110 for a week for a powered site which works out to a bit over $15 a day.

Even more of a bonus - the CP puts on a free barbie on Wednesday nights so a free feed for that night. Bought the new wireless broadband so hopefully will be able to update the blog soon.

Monday 8th February 2010

I breezed through some of the towns like Port Broughton, Wallaroo and Moonta, because I've been to this area a couple of times, I'm heading further south into the Yorke Peninsula where I've not been before.

The country is very like the Eyre Peninsula, flat and grain fields, but Barley instead of wheat, but as it has been harvested, the difference is moot.

Next stop was The Gap according to Camps 5. I followed the instructions given which took me almost to Balgowan and then north along the coast track. Real rough and I don't think you'd get through with a conventional van. 13 or 14 kms up the track and arrived at the Gap to find there is a good gravel road direct from here to the main road. Thanks for nothing Camps 5.

Having said that, it's a nice spot. The camp site is just over the beach dunes from the beach which tempers the noise from the surf and protects from the sea-spray. I must be getting close to civilisation again, I was talking to a young couple with a van and they mentioned that they were just there for the weekend. I asked if they were locals, and they said No, we came up from Adelaide for a couple of days. It seems that with the freeway through to Port Wakefield, it's only a couple of hours travelling.

Saturday 13th February 2010

This appears to be another popular spot for the locals on the weekends. This morning 4 horse floats pulled in with 6 horses aboard, and then in the afternoon about 60 trail bikes turned up. Luckily they went straight through but it sounded like MotoGP for a while. There must be some sort of law in SA about not having rubbish bins. Nowhere I've stopped has bins, you have to store up your rubbish and then dump it when you get to the next town.

Wednesday, 17th February 2010

Pulled into Maitland and stocked up on necessaries and headed for Minlaton where there is a tourist information centre. I had forgotten how common houses built of stone are here in South Australia, much more so than in other states. I have no idea why it is so, just is, I guess.

The camps 5 book shows lots of campsites in the area, but has the $ sign meaning they're not free sites, so I have pulled in to the information centre to check them out. It seems that excepting the Cape Innes campgrounds which are in the National Park, all of the other campsites are run by the Yorke Peninsula District Council and the charge is $7.50 a night which I think is bloody expensive for what you get. The only facilities at the sites are toilets (and then not always). In most cases no bins, no tables and benches and no shade. The weekly rate is much more reasonable at $28.50 per week. I think that if they dropped it to $5 a night and say $30 a week, they would get a lot more business.

I booked into the Burner's Beach site for a week and what a clusterf**k trying to find it. This area has to be the absolute worst area I have ever seen for road signs, or rather lack of same. Thank the lord that I've got the 1:250,000 Natmap on the laptop so I can at least make an educated guess as to which way to go.

Finally got to where I figured the site was and sure enough there was a sign saying "Camping Area - Permit required" No mention as to where to get your permit of course and for $7.50 a night it's obviously to expensive to have a ranger come around to collect the fees. Anyway I puled up and it looked very unattractive, but I noticed a track leading off around a headland nearby. I didn't know whether I'd be able to turn around if I took the vehicle and van down the track so I went for a walk. Sure enough, after 800 metres, there is the campsite. A little bit of signage would go a long way in a situation like this.

The campsite is at the foot of an escarpment and there is a beaut view from the top but there is not a lot else to be said about it. Lots of flies, but!
Wednesday, 24th February 2010

One of the things I hate about paid sites, is that you have to move on when your time is up. One of the great things about free camps is that you can get up in the morning and think about moving on and say to yourself "will I move on?" Nah - can't be buggered, I'll stay for another couple of days.

I decided to try another one of the paid sites, one with a bit of shade this time, so back into Minlaton and booked for a week at Goldsmith's Beach.

Crikey, these places are getting worse as they go along. Got to Goldsmiths and there is nothing there, absolutely nothing. No bins, no toilets, no water, no nothing, and only room for one vehicle. To charge for sites like this is a bloody rip-off. At least there is a bit of shade.

No beach to speak off, just a rocky shelf and a lot of weird looking neighbours.

Wednesday, 3rd March 2001

I didn't think much of Goldsmiths, but I'd paid for a week and I was going to get my money's worth, so I stayed until the Wednesday morning. I still can't get over what a rip-off. I have stopped in free camps which were a hell of a lot better than these. I don't normally get wound up, but I think I'll get on to the YPDC and vent my spleen.

I had planned to head for Black Point which is supposed to be very nice, but I couldn't find out where to get a permit from (or how much it costs) so I stopped in a tiny little spot called Port Julia where there was a phone box and rang the contact number. It seems that this coming weekend is a long weekend in South Australia and the campsite was fully booked. I don't fancy having that many neighbours anyway.

There is nothing here at Port Julia except a few houses, no shop or anything, but there was a sign saying "Bush Campground" on what appears to be the local showground or sports ground. Very pleasant, plenty of level shaded spots, tanks of drinking water, flushing toilets, an electric BBQ at $1 a hit, 5 bars mobile coverage and $25 per week. Except for not having power, this is as good as many caravan parks I've stayed in (and better than the one at South Hedland), so I will stay for a week at least.

Well, that brings us up to date. In some ways Yorke Peninsula has proved to be a bit of a disappointment, perhaps it has something to do with the proximity to Adelaide and therefore the influx of visitors, but I really think they could do things a hell of a lot better.

See you soon.

West Coast Eyre Peninsula

Week 10, 5th January 2010

I was originally born and grew up in South Australia and when I was young I can remember reading and hearing about the west coast of Eyre Peninsula, but, despite travelling several times across the Eyre Highway, I never had the opportunity to visit the west coast. What a mistake! this would have to be one of the most beautiful areas of Australia, at least as far as coastlines go. Smoky Bay, Streaky Bay, Venus Bay, Elliston, Port Lincoln etc. What a knockout.

The countryside itself isn't much to write home about, being pretty flat, wheat and sheep country, but the sand hills, cliffs, rocks, surf and sea-scapes are wonderful.

Thursday, 24th December. Booked out of the Ceduna caravan park and drove down to Streaky Bay on the Flinders Highway. First stop was Smoky Bay and unfortunately because of the weather, it didn't appear at it's best. The weather was overcast, windy and chilly because of the rain depression as an aftermath of cyclone Laurance. Didn't seem to stop the locals catching a few fish, though. Talk about organised - have a look at the fishing trolleys they have.A lot of places I've been have been quite proud of their jetties, and in most cases have restored them so that the original structure is unrecognisable, but Smoky Bay has retained part of the old original jetty and it's interesting to see the original construction.
One good thing about it being a miserable day - it gives me the opportunity to go back again someday when the weather is fine. Looks like a great place to spend a few days soaking up the rays and having the occasional dip.
Continued on down to Streaky Bay and drove two of the scenic drives. [excellent tourist information from the shire office - great maps]. The first was the north loop, Cape Bauer, which gives a great view of the cliffs on the ocean side and the calm waters of the bay.
The southern loop takes in High Cliff which isn't a designated camping area, but I noticed a couple of tents in the sand hills, probably those strange people who take pleasure in catching fish.The Granites is an example of the typical landform in the area which appears to be 30 or 40 metres of limestone on top of a granite bedrock and this perfectly illustrates this structure.
Further on is an area called "Fishermans Paradise" which is quite a settled area with 10 or 12 houses but dozens of 4WD vehicles around, obviously more visitors for the fishing. Just past this is an area called "The White Sands of Yanerbie". The photo doesn't do it justice because of poor light, but the sand hills are blindingly white, just like snow and cover a pretty large area. I saw a couple of really nice spots where I could have camped, but it was still pretty early in the day so I kept going, but definitely stored it in the memory banks.I headed for a campsite called "Eyre's Waterhole" which, surprisingly, is only 5 kms south of Streaky Bay. Usually the powers that be don't allow camping so close to a town, but it is in Camps 5. So I plead ignorance. The site is fairly small and I grabbed the only shade there was. No facilities at all except a shade roof covering a picnic table. With due respect to Camps 5, I really don't think it is intended to be an overnight site. The water hole is one which was used by the explorer of the same name and is amazing in that it only holds about 5 or 6 inches of water, but seemingly will refill as fast as one empties it, apparently inexhaustible. Anyway, I'm set up now, so I"ll stay for a couple of days.Friday, 25th December. Merry Christmas to any who may read this. My second Xmas on the road and in both cases, I've spent them in little out-of-the-way places. This could get to be a habit. An elderly gentleman, meaning he was about the same age as me, camped here on Xmas day in a troopie. He called himself "Wild Bill" and he had a large supply of home-made rum, of which he gave me a bottle. There were also a couple in a van and a merry Xmas was had by all - quite a late night as it happens. That home-made rum was good stuff.

Tuesday 29th December. Packed up and took off again, heading for a place which Wild Bill recommended called Walker's Rocks. When I was in Ceduna, I met a young girl named Sophie, who was having a holiday in a Hi-Ace van before heading to the Alice as a teacher. She me at Eyre's Waterhole as she was passing and dropped in and recommended the Sea-Lion colony at Point Labatt so I made that an intermediate destination. On the way, I called in to Baird Bay which has a nice little campsite for $5 a night, but the place itself is like Karumba in the Gulf or Kalbarri in WA. If you don't fish, there is absolutely nothing of interest.
Around the other side of the bay is Point Labatt, where the sea-lion colony is. The dept. of the Environment have built a viewing platform so that people can see the sea-lions. Warning. Take a pair of binoculars. The cliff where the platform is, is about 30 metres high and about 100 metres back from the rocks, so you will need bloody good eyesight to even see the animals. The photo was taken with telephoto, so the resolution may not be all that flash.
The location is worth it however, just for the scenery of the cliffs.
Back on the road and headed for Murphy's Haystacks. The rock formation is on private property and there is an honesty box requesting $2 entry fee, but it would seem that honesty isn't all that common, of the 5 vehicles that I saw pull up, I was the only person who paid. The formation doesn't really compare with some of the Granite outcrops in WA, but in the context of the area is is quite distinctive.
On to Venus Bay which was delightful. The bay is almost totally enclosed and as a consequence the bay is wonderfully protected and great for swimming and boating. Only 400 metres away are the cliffs which front on to the ocean swells.
South of Venus Bay is a turn-off to the Talia Caves which is worth seeing. The road in was gravel, but pretty good and only about 3 kms. Again, the typical land formation was the limestone over granite. The limestone, being soft is easily eroded by the wind -
- while the harder granite is eroded more slowly by the sea -
- and through what would appear to be a natural fault in the granite, the sea has formed what could more properly be described as a tunnel, rather than a cave.
This was called Woolshed Cave and there are more caves further on, but I always think that you can have too much of a good thing, so I left the others for another time.

On to Walker's Rock which had been recommended by Wild Bill. Hmm!, not my ideal campsite. First, because it is on the beach in the sand dunes, there is no shade. Second, there is not all that much room, especially when some sites looked like the people had been there for weeks. But most importantly, the morons who insisted on riding their noisy quad bikes up and down until 3am (I kid you not) made the place very unpleasant. Cold shower and toilets and bin, but that's it. $8 per day for a single person I thought was a bit rich, so I only stayed two nights. Wonderful location though and the sunsets were magnificent.
Thursday, 31st December. On to Elliston where I refuelled ($1.54/litre). There is a tourist drive called the Great Ocean Drive (Hmm, sound familiar). It's only about 8-10 kms, but worth the time to take it. Dirt road, but in pretty good condition.I have some business to do in Port Lincoln and nothing will be open until next Monday, so I need to find a place to camp until then. Had a look at a couple of the rest areas between Elliston and Port Lincoln, but they are only pull-offs for drivers to take a quick nap. I could go on to Port Lincoln and stay in the Caravan Park, but why spend the money unless I absolutely have to. Finally pulled in to the rest area at Wangary, 29 kms north of Port Lincoln. Absolutely no facilities, not even a bin, but I found an old track which appeared to be an old powerline access track and well shaded by big casuarinas, so this'll do for the New Year weekend.

Tuesday 5th January. Well, here we are in a new year, but somehow it's all rather meaningless when you have no point of reference. One of the big advantages of being on the road is that no day is any different to another, no matter whether it is a week day or week end, public holiday or whatever. I'm in the Top Tourist Caravan Park which is right on the shores of Boston Bay and has a beaut view, but the park itself is pretty tatty and the sites are not even approximately level, I had to use my levelling wedges to set up and that's the first time I've ever had to do that in a proper caravan park. No pads and the site also slopes from front to rear so much that I had to jack up the drawbar with the car jack before I could fit the jockey wheel and then crank that up. I tell you what, if I didn't have to fill up with fresh water and do the washing, I'd give van parks a miss altogether.

I'm off again on Thursday morning up the East Coast of the Eyre Peninsula, so hopefully I may be in range most of the time. I was recommended the campsite at Lipson Cove, so I'll have a squizz at that for the next stop.

See you soon.

Into South Australia

Week 8, 22 December 2009

I will never compain about the weather again. I have been moaning and groaning about how cool it has been and how late summer is in coming. Well, it caught up with me with a vengeance. Last Tuesday and Wednesday the temperature got up to 42degC (107.6 in the old money) with a hot north wind. Suffice it to say, I have learned my lesson and will take it as it comes. If you want to know what effects this sort of temperature has, have a look at this.
After celebrating my anniversary (12 months on the road) on Dec 13, I took off from Najada Rockhole and headed east the next day. Dropped in to Eucla to look at the ruins of the old telegraph station. I first saw this in 1979 and it doesn't seemed to have changed at all, perhaps it has stabilised.
The size of the sand dunes here is most impressive, incredible to think that this is solely the influence of the wind.
Big surprise at Eucla. Fuel was cheap!!! $1.54 for diesel, the same as Mundrabilla. Perhaps these people are waking up to the fact that we travellers talk to each other and we refuse to pay highly inflated prices.

Did the tourist thing at the border with the car in SA and the van in WA. I must stop doing that, I've done it at every border crossing, and seeing that I've now made 12 such crossings, it's getting a bit passe.
Through Eucla Border Village and into the wilds of South Oz's far west. Came across the obligatory sign designating the beginnings of the Nullarbor Plain just before Nullarbor Roadhouse. Strangest thing is - only about 5 kms down the road is a sign facing the other way denoting the easter edge??? Surely the Nullarbor is more than 5 kms wide. To be pedantic, the road doesn't traverse the Nullarbor plain anyway. The real Nullarbor is well to the North and you can only really see it from the train. I must admit that the sight of a whale in the middle of the desert is a bit of a shock, but the adjacent cliffs are one of the best spots in the whole of Oz for spotting whales on their migrations. I never get sick of the sight of these cliffs and I pull into every single lookout to have a gander.
Monday 14th Dec. Pulled into a rest area called Yalata West, 21kms west of the Yalata Roadhouse. The actual pull-off is nothing special, but there are plenty of tracks leading away to the north and about 700 metres from the road, there is an old quarry and just beyond that there are some great, shady, level spots perfect for setting up. The third test against the West Indies starts in a couple of days, so I'll rest up and listen in peace.

Wednesday 16th Dec. As I said above, the weather has changed with a vengeance. Too hot to do anything energetic, so I am just sitting around with the fan going, listening to the cricket and keeping the fluids up. The time-zone change of 2 1/2 hours in one hit is hard to take, especially being so far west of Adelaide. It is still light at 9:30 at night and the sun doesn't come up until about 7:00 am. As a consequence I am not getting to sleep until after midnight, but as long as I try and get up nice and early (local) I should get used to it in a couple of days.

Saturday 19th Dec. Weather is absolutely perfect. 28 deg. Hardly a cloud in the sky and a beautiful sea-breeze that comes in about 3:00pm. Went for a bit of a wander yesterday and today, but not much to see. The country is well-wooded with Mallee and appears to be old sandhill country which has become stabilised with vegetation. Discovered tonight from the scurryings, that I have picked up a couple of hitch-hickers of the mouse kind. I caught one, but I will have to pick up a couple of mousetraps when I get to Ceduna. Just another one of the things that I never thought to pack.

Monday 21st Dec. Checked out of Yalata West at about 08:30 and headed East. LOTS of vans on the road, but you have to expect that at this time of year. Through Yalata, where the roadhouse is boarded up, on through Nundroo and took the side-trip to Fowler's Bay. Not much here, but if you were ever looking for a sea-side location to just put your feet up and veg out, it would be hard to find a better place. More of those giant sand dunes, they look good enough to tire out the most energetic kids. The local historical society have done a great job of erecting interpretive signs all over the place.

Tuesday 22nd Dec. Booked in to the Top Tourist C/P in Ceduna for rest and refit. Get the washing done, re-stock the larder and the water containers etc. and I'll be right for another month or so. I'm heading down the West Coast of Eyre Peninsula, heading for Port Lincoln. This is all farming country and surf beaches, but seeing this is where the biggest White Pointers in the world live, I don't plan on doing much swimming. I'll be out of range for two or three weeks, so I'll catch up again then.

To those who read this in time - can I take this opportunity you send you my best wishes for the holiday season. See you soon.

The Nullabor

Week 6 - 11 December 2009

Well, the 12-month anniversary of this trip is coming up and it seems more like 12 days than 12 months. What a blast! 12 months on the road, close to 30,000 kms covered, spent a little more than I had anticipated, but there's more where that came from - Oh! wait a minute - No there's not - I better start pulling my horns in and watching the pennies.

1st December. Did the obligatory round trip around the Esperance area, (Twilight Cove, Observatory Point, (Where's the observatory?) Pink Lake (Pink? Coul'da fooled me)
They call this the Great Ocean Drive - Hmm, that sounds familiar. Probably would have been a lot more pleasant if the weather had been better, but it was a dull, drab day and hard to get enthusiastic.

I headed out east and called in to Cape LeGrand ($11 admission JUST to enter the park and then $9 per person per night to camp - a bit steep if you ask me)and Cape Arid. Again, if the weather had been fine, I could have done a fair bit of bushwalking, but the temperature never got over 16 degC and the wind was bitingly chilly.

Came back to Condingup and spent the night in the grounds of the Recreation Centre (Free Camping)

2nd December. Up the Balladonia Track. I had checked with Dept. Environment a few days previously, and they said that the track would be open on the 1st. I headed north on what is called Parmingo Road and there were no signs saying the road was closed, so off I went. About 45 kms in, the bitumen ends and there was a sign saying "Road Closed - Track - Proceed with Caution" Seemed to be a mixed message, so I decided to proceed with caution. The road was quite good, except for a few patches of deep bulldust, but I was sitting on about 80 km/h without any trouble.

Not marked on any maps that I have, but I came across an abandoned homestead which just has a "historic site" marker on the road. I seems to have been maintained by the local historical society and is very interesting. I would have camped here, but it was very early in the day.
For the uninitiated, "double-gee's" are Caltrops or "Three-toed-jacks" a seed burr which has 4 vicious spikes set so that anyway the burr lies, one spike is always pointing up and, boy, do you know it when you step on one. The spike will go straight through the sole of a flip-flop.

A couple of interesting granite outcrops/waterholes, but otherwise just mallee and gimlet scrub.

About 60 kms south of Balladonia, you reach the border of the Shire of Esperance and immediately the road deteriorates into a bush track. Narrow, rocky and bumpy. From the look of the claypans I definitely wouldn't want to come through here when it was wet. I reckon you'd bog a duck. Only averaged about 50 km/h on this stretch. Curious what souvenirs people seem prompted to leave.
Balladonia's prices were as we have come to expect, outrageous. It beats me how they remain open, I would have thought everyone in Australia would know by now what rip-off merchants they are. $1.72/L for diesel, when I paid $1.54 500 kms further on at Mundrabilla.

Pulled up for the night at Woorlba Homestead Rest Area, about 50 kms east of Balladonia. I was first in and got the best spot with some nice midday and afternoon shade, so I will do a full setup and stay for a few days.

9th December. Ended up staying a week at Woorlba. Bottom line - couldn't be bothered packing up. Quite a nice spot - Plenty of room, toilet (no dunny paper), tables and one rather sad looking BBQ. Went for a bit of a wander a couple of times, but not much to see. Still in fairly large timber, but that will run out soon.

Ran through Caiguna, Cocklebiddy, Madura and Mundrabilla, but the Nullabor hasn't got anymore interesting than it was the last 5 or 6 times I drove across. Diesel was 1.65 at Caiguna, 1.69 at Cocklebiddy and I loaded up with 100L at Mundrabilla at 1.54. - Crazy.

11th December. I have pulled up at Najada Rockhole Rest Area, 30 kms west of Eucla. No facilities, but quite nice. I went for a wander over to the escarpment yesterday (10th) about 1.5 kms from the road, but probably 50% more than that wandering through the saltbush, 'cos there isn't a track. The rockhole is a big bite out of the front of the escarpement where water erosion has worn back to the base limestone. Easy enough to scramble up and a fantastic view from the top. I could see the sea about 10 kms south and off to the east I could just make out the sand dunes at Eucla. The weather is still pretty rotten. Only got up to 22 degC today and mostly overcast with a chilly wind.

More in a couple of weeks.