Our Australia trip

It was nice to freshen up again and feel solid grass under your feet instead of the dirt of most free camp sites. While Marjo and Nossi drop off the key for the ablution block, Dotti and I drive the limousine (bus) to pick them up.

Then we drive to see where we could have kited if there was wind and high tide, Dotti and Nossi made a new friend, we pick up some new fresh oysters, post the mail and move on.

Next stop is Port Lincoln to stock up a little, buy some Dotti medicine and get tyre levers to do our own tyre fixing in future.
We saw on the map that I have a first-name-brother who got himself a museum. Unfortunately it was closed today.

After that we continue to Louth Bay where we have seen a campground near the beach. The camp ground nor the beach are great but the people are nice and we decide to stay for the night.

There is not enough wind to go kiting so Marjo and Nossi go for a walk and find some jelly fish and nice clouds.

Then it’s dinner time (yummie rice cooked by Marjo) and for Dotti a nice after-dinner snack.

After so many carrots, no wonder she’s hopping like a rabbit.

Another great day.

Posted from Louth Bay, South Australia, Australia.

Sheringa Beach didn’t feel right; the ocean was too strong to swim, the camping didn’t feel safe with locals coming and going and we didn’t want to leave the bus alone while being on the beach. I think Marjo and the dogs have enough of traveling so we are looking for a spot where we all can be happy and stay a while. This is not it.

First we look at other roads around Sheringa Beach and take some nice shots on and from the cliffs.

The weather is not great when we take the road back to the pub.

We stop at the pub for a dozen of $6 fresh oysters for Marjo and then head onto Coles Point.

Then the road leads us past filled and empty lakes and big and small trees.

Marjo gets inspired by the shapes of the big gums.

And I by hers.

While Nossi watches it all enfold.

Then a turn off on another dirt road towards Coles Point. The road is overall not too bad allowing us to do 60 kph with some corrugated parts where we are shaken to bits and slow down to 14 kph.

We come past farmers who seem to be more productive then we are.

And keep following the road to nice views but no camp ground.

We stop for some lunch and walk to the beach with wild waves.

After checking out Greenly beach, which works out inaccessible for the bus, we decide to head to Coffin Bay.

In Coffin Bay we do the proper thing and go full out, meaning showers, laundry, cleaning the bus, finished by beer & wine, Marjo’s oysters and on the bike for some takeaway.

That evening Nossi got all exited by our late visitors and then we went to bed.

A beautiful day.

Posted from Coffin Bay, South Australia, Australia.

As promised we went first to the beach in Sceale Bay. The water was really fresh and Marjo only marginally succeeded in luring the dogs in with her.

But then they decided that it was too cold before midday and let her go by herself.

For us the dip was nicely refreshing, certainly now the sun was already quite hot. Today is forecasted to be 31 degrees.
Then we drove back to the main road and further south towards Sheringa Beach.

We stop at Murphy’s Haystack for lunch and some pictures.

Then the road takes us past some nice spots where we stop for some pictures.

And we even have the opportunity to give Nossi some Grid therapy.

We come to the pub near the Sheringa turnoff where we need to get a camping permit.

Then we decide that we want to go nowhere else but Sheringa Beach.

When we arrive after 9 km of excellent smooth dirt road we again find that the campsite is deserted.

And stay for a night. I am tired after driving and can’t even make it up the beach.

Before we turn in though we get rewarded by a nice sunset.

And an equally stunning moon rise.

A beautiful day.

Posted from Sheringa, South Australia, Australia.

Marjo had a sleepless night and we are wondering if it was the caffeine in the late coffee she had or the sheep that loudly bleating roamed the camping in the middle of the night.

It was our last stay on the Nullarbor and looking back we do not have the best memories. Crossing the Nullarbor for a lot of people seems a special event and you can buy a $20 certificate saying you crossed it. There are also all kinds of memorabilia such as stubby holders, fridge magnets, caps, etc. etc. to remember the fact.
When we started the crossing we expected
– red dunes – there was only brush
– hot weather – it was cold and wet
– wild camels, emus and other wildlife – we only saw dead kangaroos and these camels

– availability of food and fuel – there is not much out there and fuel was at a premium of $1.90+ (compared to $1.50 in Ceduna and Norseman).
Ok, enough complained, it’s the only bitumen way from south WA to SA and overall was a nice part of the trip.

Soon after leaving Nundroo we see a change in scenery.

And when we come close to Ceduna we see another difference between WA and SA. For roadwork in WA you are slowed down to 40 kph, in SA this is 25 kph and they are serious about their roadwork.

Then we come to Ceduna, have a look at the ocean.

And do the stock up of food and exchange of fluids (we get water, they get our toilet cassette contents). Getting water was not easy and we ended up going for confession for some holy water (the only tap we could find was at a church just outside of Ceduna).

We pass nice water views and wheat fields.

Then we see the dunes of Streaky Bay and go on to Sceale Bay Caravan park.

The road to Sceale is dirt and horribly corrugated and over most of the 16 km (we expected it to be 9km) we could not drive faster than 14 kph without getting rattled to bits. The caravan park is empty and somewhat strangely located. To get to the beach you either have to walk 2 km or take the car. Considering it was past 5 pm when we got to Scealy Bay, we decided to set up camp for the night and go to the beach the day after.

Just to show that also the people in the small village of Scealy Bay still believe in Santa.

We slept like babies that night.

Posted from Sheringa, South Australia, Australia.

That morning we left well rested, healthy like two rabbits (after all those carrots) and eager to conquer South Australia. The border is near Eucla and we were quite surprised to see that the quarantine inspection here is only for travelers from SA to WA. The inspection for WA to SA travelers is 500 km down the road near Ceduna. Bummer.

We stopped at Eucla for petrol and to admire the view from the pass.

(we were a bit stumped by this display. How do you mean Sunny Eucla? It was overcast and cold. Do they know what an Emu looks like in Eucla? I could swear that this is a whale……)

The coastline is not very accessible here and has high cliffs and 4 wheel drive access roads only. Also the weather is, instead of 40 degrees every day, in the low 20’s with a strong south east wind. That means that our fuel consumption on this 1,200 km trip has increased from 7.5 km on a liter to 6.5 km. Ah well.

We stop near a lookout point and although not very well visible on the picture, the beach and ocean are about 100 meters lower from where we sit.

Then we’re on the road again, this time in South Australia though.

And I can hear you ask: “Marjo and Axel, what is different in South Australia”. Well. There you got us. We hadn’t thought of that question. But now you ask:
– no road kill. Where the number of foo’s on the road since Norseman has been substantial, since Eucla we have only seen live animals
– more playful sign writers. This is a WA sign

and this one from SA

– two hours and 30 minutes (they like to confuse travelers though as already 250 km from the border we had to change our clocks for 45 minutes and then again at Eucla 1 hour and 45 minutes) so that we now are 30 minutes after NSW and 2.5 hours before WA
– no empty bottles along the side of the road. In WA they have a refund of 10 cents per bottle and can so people are more hesitant to throw their bottles and cans out of the window
– more people wave when we drive past. In WA you only see that in remote areas, in SA this is consistent for towns and roads
– they are less generous with 1080 poison 🙂

We made another stop to admire the cliffs.

And Nossi found this setting the right background for his photo profile.

Meanwhile Dotti and Marjo were guarding the bus.

Then we were back on the road again. This stretch of road is what gives the Nullarbor it’s name.

The large limestone shelf doesn’t allow deep roots which means: No trees. Null Arbor.

When it gets later we start looking for a place to stay for the night. We pass several rest areas but they are invariably dirty and desolate. Not nice to stand there by yourself. So we continue on till we reach the campground of Nundroo where everyone else seems to stay overnight.

Considering we have finished all the vegetables, we order take out and over dinner watch the galas make noise in a nearby tree and fly off in the sunset.

A beautiful day.

Posted from Sheringa, South Australia, Australia.

Sunday morning at 8 am we were packed and ready. Overnight it had rained and was cold (so much for 40 degrees in the Nullarbor). I got the flat spare and rolled it to the mechanic. He was already briefed and told me that they couldn’t do split rims, so sorry and goodbye. I asked him if I could do it myself, considering they had the required tube and I was not going to leave with a flat spare. He told me that it was too dangerous as the rim splits in two and when reassembling both halves, the pressure of the tube was known to kill people. They were not supposed to help or instruct. I talked a bit more and ended up taking the rim apart, fitted a new tube and with some care assemble the thing again. By 10.30 we were on the road with a good spare tyre and an extra spare tube for re-occurrence.

The road is monotone with similar vegetation so one looks for other distractions and we find it in the many big eagles that feast on the abundance of road kill.

Some of the bicycle riders that have to go close to 1,200 km between towns. Crazy.

Luckily they have the homesteads and roadhouses that are located between 100 and 200 km apart.

And the oversize trucks.

We were not far from the border with South Australia and we know that again we need to have consumed or binned all our fruit and vegetables so we select a camp ground before Eucla and decide on Hearder Hill. It is somewhat strange that hardly any of the many rest stops along the Nullarbor have anyone staying. We had a nice and healthy stay with loads of fruit and vegetables.

Posted from Sheringa, South Australia, Australia.

The next day we were kind of tired and decided to go very slow. At around 11 am we decided to do the round the bus check and depart when Marjo noticed one of the back tyres being flat. Luckily they are double wheels (two on either side) but one wheel would give too much weight on the remaining one so I got out the tools to replace the flat, inner wheel.

The bus wheel nuts have counter clockwise thread on the passenger side of the bus as we found out last time near Uluru. So this time we weren’t fooled. The outer wheel came off quite quickly and then I was stumped by the inner wheel. It didn’t want to budge. Obviously there was no reception so no internet to look up or anyone to call. Again Marjo came to the rescue. On her way to the toilet on the rest stop she happened to see a fellow Toyota Coaster camper couple who just pulled in for lunch. Marjo scared the living daylight out of them by just walking out of the bush towards their bus and quickly explained our dilemma. The couple were very kind to help and he knew exactly what to do. Meanwhile Nossi and their dog played around and Marjo and the lady (I never knew their names) talked and helped by pushing the brake when required. We got the wheel replaced quite soon after.
I never knew but all that time Marjo held whatever she needed to do so the second the helpful couple left she made a spurt for the toilet. In the rush she hit her toe on a little root stump and still has a hurting toe 🙁

Then we left much later than originally planned, in search of a service station that could help us fix our tyre….on a Saturday afternoon…..

Our first stop with a service was at Calguna but they didn’t have our size of tube. They had one of the friendly guys that spread poison though 🙁

They also had as attraction a part of a crash landed NASA craft.

Then we passed some oversize trucks (they seem to enjoy shipping humongous things over this road).

Then the scenery started to get more barren.

And we end up at the roadhouse of Cocklebiddy Wedgetail. They have the right size tube but by now the mechanic has left for the day (no idea where he would go as we are in the middle of nowhere, at least 500 km from the nearest town). Tomorrow, Sunday, he is back at 8.30 am. We don’t mind and stay at the scenic campground of the roadhouse. Luckily the showers are new and awesome, as this camping is not famous for the quiet (with a very loud generator on 24/7) or the scene.

Luckily we also found some contrast.

An eventful day.

Posted from Sheringa, South Australia, Australia.

We wanted to drive quite a bit today so left early, helped by the stinging ants that became so irritatingly active after the storm that standing still was impossible. Every time one of the dogs or we stood still, the little buggers climbed on our feet and stung. Luckily we had packed up most of our stuff before the storm so we had a quick start.

Nossi was a little dopey after our quick get away, but adjusted soon.

Our first stop was Norseman, where the Nullarbor starts. We wanted to stack up on petrol and visit the information centre to get the most out of our trip. Norseman has been put on the map after in 18 something someone tied their horse up to a tree overnight and the hoof of the horse revealed a substantial piece of gold. We tried our luck with Dotti.

But she didn’t get what we were after, even when we helped her scratch the dirt. Ah well, no luck this time.

After a while we stopped for lunch, it started already to become a hot day and the forecast was 40 degree days across the Nullarbor.

Marjo’s artistic eye fell on the nice trees.

And I spotted a little sunbathing leathery lizard.

More inland the damage of last night’s storm was good visible.

The road was long and straight and here they pride themselves on having the longest stretch (90 miles) of road in Australia with no bend.

It goes on….

And on….

They even have room to build in a landing strip for airplanes.

Then we turned into a rest area not far from a homestead. A huge site with a toilet and dump point. Almost no one camped there for the night.
We slept like babies.

Posted from Sheringa, South Australia, Australia.

The forecast is for little wind and storms at night. With no wind the flies are horrible and seem to favour the side of the bus where we sit and where the door is. Great. So every time we open the door we have to hit ourself with a twig to get rid off the flies on our head, backs and bums as well as hardly open the door as not to invite flies in. A futile exercise and we decide to move on.

The caretaker of the campsite saw Marjo’s kayak and wondered whether we had checked out the river already. “River?” we said and then decided to check it out.

The walk from the road to the river over a sandy 4Wd track was picturesque, but a bit too far to lug a 4 meter kayak. So we limited our venture to a walk.

And see many wild flowers.

We then moved on to Esperance of which we had high expectations, ideal for kiting, white beaches causing snow blindness.

I must say, it’s not bad, but the stories were a bit over exaggerated. The beaches are not that white and most of the city is on a high rock which makes the wind very unstable. Plus the fact that there was hardly any wind that day made us decide just to go for some sight seeing and a refreshing swim.

Not sure that it woke up everyone though.

Then the weather started to turn, a storm was predicted.

And we decided to get on the road for our trip across the Nullarbor. First north from Esperance towards Norseman. When the sky turned darker, we decided to pull into Salmon Gums and stayed at the small community campground. It had a good shower and was quiet.

That evening the tail of the storm that played havoc in inland Western Australia came over our bus, with ferocious winds, sandstorm, severe rain and thunder. Afterwards all four of us were on the bed, the dogs spooked and we literally shaken from the wind rocking the bus.

We slept well that night.

Posted from Salmon Gums, Western Australia, Australia.

Now we’re not too far from the ocean again, it feels only right to check out the beach. The coast here has many rocky parts, National Parks and sandy access roads (4WD only). So we decide on Manglinup that ticks all the boxes for us.
About 20 km bitumen of the main highway plus 8 km of dirt road is acceptable. The dirt road is not nicely graded so the 8 km of corrugation takes about half an hour at snail’s pace.

Then the last turn until we come to a surprisingly nice beach.

Despite the howling wind strength, the wind direction and the flat stretch of water is too hard to resist. Walking with the 12 meter kite in this wind is a bit hard but once in the water the kiting is exhilarating and exhausting.

Some think that beaches are also for things like walking and exploring and have pictures as proof.

Then back at the campsite.

We all have a few almond nuts.

And then when the sun goes down it gets a bit chilly.

But the wait is well worth the result.

Another beautiful day.

Posted from Salmon Gums, Western Australia, Australia.