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Days 89-92 - (5-8 December)
Crossed the SA border via the Nullabor (Eyre Highway) into daylight saving - yippee!
Left Esperance on the 5th and heading for the Nullabor via Norseman. No a great deal in Norseman except refuel. They have these neat corrugated iron camels on the entrance statement which is different. As the trip is so long we did three free overnight camps, the first two in WA and the 3rd in South Australia. A free camp is basically pulling up alongside the road in designated parking areas. Some have tables, pit loos and shade. Others not so luxurious. Its a long long drive but it is interesting and we think everyone should do it. We've both done a few times now and each time you see something different. We did have a couple of mishaps, the first being another tyre blowout (yes another one), this time on the caravan, much more awkward to change. This was on the longest straight road. The second mishap was a flat car battery the mornng after our third free camp - we were 150kms from Ceduna. After much messing around with John trying to jump start the car battery via the caravan batteries (we have 2) with no success, either they were also flat or not enough charge to start the car, John finally gave in and asked one of the other campers (thank goodness they were still there) for a jump start. I had suggested this first off but after an hour of messing around he find succumbed and asked for help - why do guys do this. Of course, none of this went without the whinging that we aren't free camping anymore now you know why I don't want to do it!! My response is that these things have to happen for us to realise what we need - not sure John sees it this way yet. Anyway this chap was Busso born and bred and he had gennie and a battery charger and was only too happy to help and it worked, so we said our cheerios and took off while the going was good. Back to the longest drive. On the WA side is the longest straight road a 146.6km without bends (see pics). It goes on and on and on. All the way along the highway we faced headwinds which meant our fuel consumption was very bad and slow. Our first night stop was past Balladonia roadhouse and was quite pretty with lots of gum trees. We pulled in about 5.00pm(ish) and had the place to ourselves, went for a lovely walk, it was warm which was so nice after the coolness of Esperance and settled in for a balmy quiet night eating dinner outside (haven't done this since being up north). About 7.30pm a road train pulled in and sat with the engine running for 1.5 hours - so much for our peace and quiet. Nothing quite like being in a lovely setting listening to a road train's engine. He eventually took off. About 10.3pm three roadtrains pulled in with gennies running so they could sleep with the air conditioning and the drivers were chatting away to each other. Fortunately after about an hour they took off and we had the place to ourselves again. We did hear a road train pull in about 3.00am but didn't hear it again and it was still there in the morning. It seems the drivers pull over for a quick nap before continuing their journey. Our second night we pulled in a 1 km before Mundrabilla roadhouse next to a water tank. Again had the place to ourselves until about 7.00pm when a hiace van with trailer and a carload of our indigenous friends pulled in with about six kids. Needless to say our peace and quiet was again disrupted while we listened to them arguing and kids climbing over the tanks - lovely especially when they started again at 4.15am!! Thanks to those who voted against daylight saving! We did have a speccie sunset though. This particular family pulled into our 3rd nights site and John was ready to take off but we had positioned ourselves so noone else could use the table (advantage of being there early) and they moved on. Although we have seen them again in Ceduna, must be following us. Once we cross the border into SA we then get views of the Great Australian Bight, unfortunatey it was windy, cold but we still managed to get some OK photos. The Nullabor isn't as boring as you might think, the landscape does change and hopefully the photos give you an idea of what it looks like.
Left Esperance on the 5th and heading for the Nullabor via Norseman. No a great deal in Norseman except refuel. They have these neat corrugated iron camels on the entrance statement which is different. As the trip is so long we did three free overnight camps, the first two in WA and the 3rd in South Australia. A free camp is basically pulling up alongside the road in designated parking areas. Some have tables, pit loos and shade. Others not so luxurious. Its a long long drive but it is interesting and we think everyone should do it. We've both done a few times now and each time you see something different. We did have a couple of mishaps, the first being another tyre blowout (yes another one), this time on the caravan, much more awkward to change. This was on the longest straight road. The second mishap was a flat car battery the mornng after our third free camp - we were 150kms from Ceduna. After much messing around with John trying to jump start the car battery via the caravan batteries (we have 2) with no success, either they were also flat or not enough charge to start the car, John finally gave in and asked one of the other campers (thank goodness they were still there) for a jump start. I had suggested this first off but after an hour of messing around he find succumbed and asked for help - why do guys do this. Of course, none of this went without the whinging that we aren't free camping anymore now you know why I don't want to do it!! My response is that these things have to happen for us to realise what we need - not sure John sees it this way yet. Anyway this chap was Busso born and bred and he had gennie and a battery charger and was only too happy to help and it worked, so we said our cheerios and took off while the going was good. Back to the longest drive. On the WA side is the longest straight road a 146.6km without bends (see pics). It goes on and on and on. All the way along the highway we faced headwinds which meant our fuel consumption was very bad and slow. Our first night stop was past Balladonia roadhouse and was quite pretty with lots of gum trees. We pulled in about 5.00pm(ish) and had the place to ourselves, went for a lovely walk, it was warm which was so nice after the coolness of Esperance and settled in for a balmy quiet night eating dinner outside (haven't done this since being up north). About 7.30pm a road train pulled in and sat with the engine running for 1.5 hours - so much for our peace and quiet. Nothing quite like being in a lovely setting listening to a road train's engine. He eventually took off. About 10.3pm three roadtrains pulled in with gennies running so they could sleep with the air conditioning and the drivers were chatting away to each other. Fortunately after about an hour they took off and we had the place to ourselves again. We did hear a road train pull in about 3.00am but didn't hear it again and it was still there in the morning. It seems the drivers pull over for a quick nap before continuing their journey. Our second night we pulled in a 1 km before Mundrabilla roadhouse next to a water tank. Again had the place to ourselves until about 7.00pm when a hiace van with trailer and a carload of our indigenous friends pulled in with about six kids. Needless to say our peace and quiet was again disrupted while we listened to them arguing and kids climbing over the tanks - lovely especially when they started again at 4.15am!! Thanks to those who voted against daylight saving! We did have a speccie sunset though. This particular family pulled into our 3rd nights site and John was ready to take off but we had positioned ourselves so noone else could use the table (advantage of being there early) and they moved on. Although we have seen them again in Ceduna, must be following us. Once we cross the border into SA we then get views of the Great Australian Bight, unfortunatey it was windy, cold but we still managed to get some OK photos. The Nullabor isn't as boring as you might think, the landscape does change and hopefully the photos give you an idea of what it looks like. 
Some familiar pics there!
ReplyDeleteYou would probably have passed our friends from Imbil going in the opposite direction. They've headed off to Perth for 3 months.
Blown tyres issue possibly due to low pressure - don't believe manufacturer's specs - if you're loaded, you need lots more pressure! (I have our caravan at 48-50psi - yours being a tandem may not need to be quite as high). Same goes for car tyres - my car specs say 30psi which would be way too low when loaded. Run mine at 34-36psi.
Enjoy your daylight saving while it lasts!! No daylight saving here and sunup at the moment is at around 4:47am! (and it steams straight into our bedroom window - no blinds yet!!) We're generally up and about by 5am!!
Cheers
Rob
Hi Rob
ReplyDeleteHad the van tyres at 60psi as was instructed befoere leaving but in the middle of a hot day and with high road temps when I checked the remaining ones after the blow out they were 67! I suspect the tyre was old and passed it's use by date! so two new ones in Ceduna! (thats 6 out of eight replaced since leaving) I run the rear car tyres on 45 and front on 40, will be getting these new puppies checked and rotated every 5,000k's.
If you are up at 5am we might delay our arrival!!!!! :-)
Cheers
John