April 18 - 21

Day 17 – April 18 – Streaky Bay -> Fowlers Bay

Onwards towards the Nullabor! We stocked up on gas and supplies at Streaky Bay before we set out upwards out of the Eyre Peninsula and towards the Nullabor. Saw a replica of the largest Great White Shark ever caught – over 1,500 kg, caught by a 21 yr old. Stopped in briefly at Ceduna for diesel and lunch, and then drove on…

It seems like the trick on the Nullabor is to figure out where you should get fuel and stop to rest for the night.. We decided to take the turnoff to Fowlers Bay fairly early in the afternoon as opposed to driving solidly for another few hours. Although the dirt road (20 km) was badly corrugated (but not quite as bad as KI!), it’s worth it – Fowler’s Bay is lovely. A small settlement on the bay right next to some huge sand hills, even bigger than Little Sahara on KI. Although we didn’t have any sand boards, we still had fun climbing the hills and running and rolling down the other side. Beautiful fine sand, as fine as icing sugar! Apparently the dunes are gradually encroaching on the township, they’ve already had to relocate the main road back in the 50’s.

Staying at a nice little caravan park right on the water – a nice alternative to the likely rest stops for the next few nights…

Day 18 – April 19 – Fowlers Bay (SA) -> Eucla (WA)

Got away reasonably early this morning, big day driving on the Nullabor.. There was an alternative road out from Fowlers Bay to the highway which wasn’t too bad (driving through the early morning mist was quite spooky!), and then on to the countless hours of driving… needless to say hard to keep the kids entertained all day in the Winnebago. The iPods are great but trying to keep them off for as long as possible.

We started driving the Nullabor (which if course is Latin for no trees..) – the number of trees gradually dwindled until all we saw were plains of grass and sick looking shrubs. There wasn’t as much plain desert as we were expecting – there was at least some vegetation everywhere. We stopped at the Nullabor Roadhouse (very expensive petrol and souvenirs), plus several other roadhouses (wanted to make sure we didn’t run out of fuel!). We also stopped at the few side roads to view the Bight. The Head of Bight had the best views – and is a great whale watching venue during the season – which unfortunately for us is May to October.

Lots of interesting vehicles crossing the Nullabor – mostly grey nomads with motorhomes (including us?!?) and caravans, road trains. The most interesting were the occasional bicycle rider, a Rolls Royce and two guys walking, each pulling what can only be described as a rickshaw…

We made it all the way to WA! Our 4th state for the trip – not bad in less than 3 weeks. We had to get rid of our fruit & veg at the border quarantine check point, and we camped right next to the old Eucla Telegraph Station. The kids played for hours in the sand dunes covering the old brick building. A lot of fun!

Day 19 – April 20 – Eucla -> Fraser Range Station

Michelle, Erin and Luke went for an early morning walk and saw the sunrise – the sand was freezing!

BIG driving day today – over 600km! Takes a long time when you’re driving a big motorhome… Keeping the driver (Bruce) awake was a challenge – at one point we harked back to our young days with Midnight Oil and Hunters and Collectors blaring through the speakers – brought back lots of memories!

Bruce also slavishly kept to tradition and waved at virtually every oncoming vehicle that we passed – seems that the experienced travellers don’t bother waving more than a finger..

We eventually stopped at Fraser Range Station, described by Lonely Planet as the best place to stop on the Nullabor. Not wrong! Fantastic campground, friendly owners. Big gum trees, lovely bougainvillea garden, a communal camp kitchen and camp fire. Excellent…

Day 20 – April 21 – Fraser Range Station -> Kalgoorlie Boulder

We had another early start (thanks to the favourable time difference) and headed through Norseman up to Kalgoorlie Boulder into gold country. We saw hundreds of trees with the most amazing gold and bronze trunks – looked like they had all been individually lacquered. Unfortunately we picked up a stone chip on the windscreen, looks like we’ll have to get it replaced..

In Kalgoorlie (which is a big town!) we had a nice lunch on the main street and then went to the Kalgoorlie Mining Hall of Fame – great! We watched a man melt and pour gold into an ingot worth $120,000. The kids were lucky enough to get a few (tiny) samples. Then Bruce and the kids (Michelle wasn’t game) took an underground mine tour, which was also fantastic – Ben and Luke had a turn with a hammer and chisel.

We arrived in Kalgoorlie the day after a big earthquake hit Boulder – size 5 – apparently the biggest ever for the area. Lots of damage but only 1 person injured. Unfortunately for us the whole area is closed off, lots of tourist sites are closed, including the Super Pit (which is apparently a must see) – oh well.