We farewelled Port Lincoln and headed north up the Lincoln Highway going through the quaint coastal towns on the Eyre Peninsula's Spencer Gulf which included checking out the silo art at Tumby Bay, before continuing on to Port Neill, Cowell and Whyalla. After a brief stop at the Whyalla Visitor Centre we continued north to Port Augusta before turning southward towards our camp spot for the night at Nelshaby Reserve in Nelshaby. Upon the way, passing through Mambray Creek, we spotted the legendary tourist centred passenger rail service, The Ghan, that operates between Adelaide SA and Darwin, NT heading north towards Alice Springs, NT. Nelshaby Reserve and reservoir from the late 1800's is a camp area nestled at the base of Wirrabara Range Conservation Park. It has a diverse range of native flora |
and fauna. After setting up for camp for the night we took a walk around the reserve and reservoir just before sunset.
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So we entered the store, and the friendly customer service bloke, asked, "Which caravan park were we at?" and we replied Port Lincoln Tourist Park and he beamed and said "Ah!, you will need one of these" and pointed us to a stack of boxes holding an extension pole on which to then mount our existing TV aerial. He then explained that because of the position and angle of the hill on which the Tourist park is located, the TV signal simply cannot reach and he then announced it was a hot selling item for that reason! So just a tip, if you do stay at this particular Tourist park and that TV viewing is a staple part of your evening activities you may require an extension pole too!
Today we decided to have a relaxing day and take in more of Port Lincoln and surrounds, browsing the local shops and also took a drive to Coffin Bay which is 46km north west of Port Lincoln.
We were amused to observe emus casually strolling in and out of resident gardens at Coffin Bay. The open ocean is around 21 km from Coffin Bay wharf which makes the protected bays and inlets ideal for fishing and water activities.
turned cold. We also took a drive into town and had a brief walk around the township, getting our bearings checking out the esplanade of shops and the Town Jetty. The Town Jetty also houses a purpose built safe swim area which is no doubt popular in the warmer months.
We also saw the Makybe Diva statue on the foreshore. Makybe Diva was the first horse to win the Melbourne Cup on three consecutive occasions and was owned by Tony Santic who was a prominent tuna fisherman at Port Lincoln. Port Lincoln has a curious mix of shops, something for everyone and also a large number of cafes and restaurants. Overall a much needed quiet and relaxing day. Day 91 - A Huge Drive from Nullabor to Port Lincoln, & oops wrong Caravan Park in the Dark!...26/9/2018
Just before we left Ceduna we decided to use the town's new restrooms before continuing on our journey and found these 'state of the art' push button facilities just opposite where we had parked the Van. These new fancy facilities have buttons to press for various functions, including flushing that happens when you close the lid and paper toweling that appears from nowhere. For country slickers like us it took a bit to figure out!
As we finished using the facilities and after finally working out how to get out, there was a chap waiting with his children outside the door. We got talking and one of the children decided to hop in and use the facilities, and just as the self closing door began to close, the other child decided to quickly try to slip into the door and unfortunately with his bare feet the door ran over his toe slicing it open! Gosh it was terrible! The child was in a lot of pain and as our van was just opposite, we grabbed some first aid supplies to clean it up and douse it in antiseptic and bandaged it up. They went on their way with their (understandably) wailing child - hopefully she will be ok! Just out of Ceduna we turned onto the Flinders Highway and headed south east near the coast of the Western Eyre Peninsula through pretty small towns such as Laura Bay, Smoky Bay and the very popular Streaky Bay. Each town has its own individuality, with very laid back atmospheres and are predominantly fishing and holiday towns. Port Kenny and Elliston were also two other towns of note - both popular fishing spots with great beaches. We had time against as and passed by Coffin Bay with a plan to return whilst we were in Port Lincoln for the sun was setting and we still had about half an hour before we reached Port Lincoln. I punched in the directions to the Port Lincoln Caravan Park in to 'google maps' on the phone as our trusty little 'wikicamps' app indicated that there was only one Caravan Park in Port Lincoln itself and we were a little puzzled when it took us a different route to what we had anticipated and seemingly by passing Port Lincoln all together! Roo and Mr Roo had been to Port Lincoln just on 20 years before and had stayed at the Caravan Park and when we pulled up, in the dark, something just did not sit right. Whilst Mr Roo went searching for the 'key / information' box that we had been told to look for (as we had been communicating with the park that we would not arrive until after dark), Roo decided to double check the park details. After a quick search, she found that there were indeed not one, but two caravan parks with Port Lincoln as it's name! Port Lincoln Caravan Park in North Shields, which we had found ourselves at, and the one that we were booked into, Port Lincoln Tourist Park in Port Lincoln itself! So Ryan jumped out of the car once we realised, and ran for Mr Roo, who by that time was coming back with an envelope intended for another late park guest but had no name on it. He quickly returned it and we drove through the huge park and out again and then headed back into Port Lincoln 10km away! We FINALLY got to our destination, well after dark and found our keys in a labelled envelope in the after hours box and managed to park our van onto a tricky site in the dark. We were all so tired after such a huge day of covering just over 700 km, and were very relieved to chill out for the evening.
Eucla is one of the only towns along the Nullarbor with views out over the Great Australian Bight and for those driving from east to west as they come out of Eucla are treated to amazing views down onto the plains.
At the border, 11km east of Eucla, we were not required to stop at the Western Australia / South Australia border Quarantine Check point as it is only those travelling west who are required to stop to check for fruit and vegetables. The check point for those, like us, travelling from the west to the east will be checked at the other end of the Nullarbor, at Ceduna, South Australia. So all being well, our turn to be checked for fruit and vegies will be tomorrow! But first, the spectacular Nullarbor National Park. Most of the park's landscape is flat, except for areas where the surface has collapsed into sinkholes, revealing large underground caverns. For some, the treeless plains are simply boring but we found it interesting,and travelling across it does provide a sense of remoteness and even serenity. I guess it all depends on one's perspective! We did not see or view any of the caverns or caves of which where are many along this part of the country as we were more interested in the coastline for this trip. The Eyre Highway travels close to the coast, but views of the coast cannot be clearly seen from the highway except in a couple of locations so we took all the turn offs to take a look at the majestic coastline. What a majestic place of contrasts this is! The treeless plains drop away to a sheer drop of rugged cliffs into the ocean below. Truly spectacular! We were lucky enough to spot a southern right whale cruising pass on his migratory route in the Great Southern Bight! After seeing several lookout spots, it was time to find a spot to camp for the night as we did not have much daylight left. We found a great spot just east of the Nullarbor Roadhouse, a free camp spot at the entry of the grounds of the Head of Bight Whale Watching Centre which we found, once again, on our great little app, Wikicamps. There was one other caravan couple already there, and later another arrived, so it was pretty quiet. After a beautiful sunset we were treated to a surprise blood moon rising over the treeless plains. It was simply breathtaking! The photos, as usual do not do it justice but it was an amazing blood orange, and over the flat treeless environment which was truly special to see! What a great way to end a fabulous day!
Norseman is also the last major town in Western Australia before heading across the famous Nullarbor Plain which links the West to the East along the southern stretches of Australia, and towards home. We had no firm destination planned for camp this evening and we going to see how far we could get before looking for somewhere to camp for the night.
Driving across the Nullarbor is often regarded an item on many folks' "Bucket List" and it generally takes around 3 days to cross, particularly with a caravan. For many others it is the most boring long stretch of road that they can't wait to get to the other side. Contrary to belief that 'there is not much to see' and 'there is just nothing but desert', it really does depend on one's perspective as to what they 'see' when they travel. Yes, a lot of the landscape is similar in patches, but it actually does vary significantly, with the most surprising feature, the variety of flora and the height of the trees in some areas. Some patches, trees were quite tall, way taller than the native mallee bush that the Roo's are familiar with at home. Some areas were just like the mallee scrub at 'home'. When it was time to find a camp for the night, we found a spot called the Caiguna Blowhole Rest Area and decided to pull in there. A few people were already in camp and set up for the night and we found a spot a bit away from the highway and stepped out to set up and was immediately joined by a throng of blowflies! These were soon joined by bees as well as they sought water from our van's pipes. Needless to say, we did not sit outside for our evening meal tonight! Apart from the flies, an interesting feature of the rest area is the Blowhole. There are numerous caves along the Nullarbor, with some of the larger ones having many kilometres of spacious passages and even lakes underground. Blowholes like the Caiguna Blowhole have been formed by weathering through to the underground cavities and the Nullarbor caves breathe more vigorously than caves in any other area in Australia. When the air pressure falls, the cave breathes out and when it rises, it breathes in. A very interesting phenomenon!
The museum also holds the largest display of Western Australia's collection of gold bars and nuggets in their secure basement vault. We also viewed how prospectors and their families fared as they searched for gold and what life was like in the early 1900's as many flocked to the area in search of the precious metal - gold. And that mining continues to today.
Both Kalgoorlie and Boulder have many original colonial style heritage buildings that continue to operate as banks, town halls, hotels and shops which give the town the authentic feel of stepping back in time. No trip to Kalgoorlie is complete without a trip up to the Super Pit lookout which is the biggest open pit gold mine in Australia. It was massive! The day concluded with an amazing sunset!
We arrived at our Caravan Park, Boulder Discovery Caravan Park quite late in the day and after setting up we quickly went into town for a quick look and headed on up to Mount Charlotte Lookout which provided a great view over the CBD of the town of Kalgoorlie. Whilst we were up there we spotted a drone hovering over, and very hot on it's tail was an Australian Raven, determined to stop this weird looking intruder in his territory! The owner of the drone, wherever they were, soon took the hint and zoomed off into the distance, leaving the Raven pretty pleased with his efforts!
shore. It is simply breathtaking!
As the Great Ocean Drive turns inland, we came across the famous Pink Lake, also known as Spencer Lake and their has been some considerable discussion of changing the name back to Spencer Lake since the Pink Lake lost it's pink colour several years ago. After our drive we visited a fish leather tannery, the only specialist fish and shark tannery in Australia called Mermaid Leather. Uncertain as to what we were to expect entering into this warehouse in the industrial area of Esperance, we found it a very interesting and informative experience. As well as it being a working factory, it also catered for 'drop in's' like us and we were shown through the tanning process and given a multimedia presentation of the history of how Mermaid Leather came to be. As you can imagine, Jess was all ears! For the evening we settled in to watch the AFL (Australian Rules Football) Preliminary Final between Richmond and Collingwood. |
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July 2023
About UsIn June /July and August of 2013 Roo and family embarked on a travel experience of a lifetime in the Australian Outback and initially created this website for those family and friends to follow us on our Journey. |