Monday 25th August
We are in no hurry to get away as we only intend going as far as Ceduna today, which is only 200ks, the wind is favourable and we have a good run.
We have been looking at the maps which show a road which goes from Wirrulla on the road we’re on, to Coober Pedy (where we were three days ago), via the Gawler Ranges, ie; if we were going to Alice Springs it would shorten the trip by about 700ks. We pull off and go into Wirrulla and sure enough the road is sign posted to Coober Pedy, very useful to know.
As we got back on the road to Ceduna we considered that had we not had visitors coming to WA we may well have just decided to go up that road to see what it was like and have a look at the Gawler Ranges, hey ho!
The familiar outskirts of Ceduna appear on the horizon, we have decided on a different camp site this time as the one we usually use is quite small. We check in and have a nice sized site that is easy to get into, there are not many people here at this time of year. The amenities are some of the best we’ve seen.
After getting established we decide on a late lunch at ‘the Oyster Bar’, an innocuous little shed beside the highway, not far from the quarantine checkpoint. We have a seafood platter and a glass of chardonnay on the roof in the sunshine. Coffee was taken at the hotel on the seafront and then it’s back to the caravan. There is a truck wash here so the troopie gets a well-deserved scrub up, it will get the real thing when we get home. Once done it certainly looked much better.
Later we take a walk up the dunes and onto the beach to watch the sunset over the grain silos across the bay, then it’s time to get some cooking done on the bbq.
Tuesday 6th August
A very leisurely start this morning, we have a new Times Cryptic to get our teeth into and it is almost morning tea time before we are ready to go shopping. It is another really nice day in Ceduna, a clear blue sky, very little wind and around 25 degrees. By the time we get back it is lunch time. I spend the afternoon cooking on the BarBQ in the camp kitchen, then chopping up fruit for freezing, whilst Pat is using up the last of the vegetables in a ratatouille, and making a stew and chilli plus banana ice cream as we prepare for the trip across the Nullabor and back into WA. All this is necessary because the fruit fly police stop you at the border and there is virtually nowhere to buy fruit and vegetables until you get to Norseman, 900 ks away! SA is much more sensible, going into SA you don’t get checked until Ceduna, where there are good stores a kilometre past the checkpoint.
We’re going out to dinner tonight at the community run hotel, the food is excellent and very reasonably priced. A pre-prandial walk on the jetty is a pretty chilly one as we watch the sun go down so we’re keen to get into the warmer climes of the hotel!
We spoil ourselves with a dozen beautifully fresh oysters, something we can’t get in WA. A very nice meal.
Wednesday 27th August
We’re back on the 1100 k trip along the Eyre Hwy to Norseman today, it’s really a question of getting up to 85, putting it in cruise and sitting back and watching the scenery go by. Fortunately, the wind is reasonably favourable this morning, so it’s good travelling. We pop down to the coast for morning tea but there are no whales to be seen.
We do just over 400ks and look for somewhere to stop tonight and WikiCamps comes up with a roadside rest area where we can get back 400 or so metres of the road and almost out of earshot of the highway.
Thursday 28th August
My Dad’s birthday today, he’s 92 and we hope he has a good day.
Today is more of the same really, the wind is still more or less helping us and it’s a beautiful day for driving another 400 ks to another WikiCamps location. We are trying to work out what the time is! We should have put the time on 3/4 hr at the border and then at Caiguna we will put it on another 3/4 hr but we forgot.
Last time we drove across this way we went down to the Eyre Bird Observatory and were very interested in what we saw there (see February 2013), perhaps one day we’ll go back again but not this trip.
Friday 29th August
A few hundred ks today into Norseman, the end of this crossing. The wind has been less than favourable and we have 20 litres of fuel left (having filled both tanks up at Ceduna) when we arrive at Norseman, just enough though!
We let the tyres down because we’re about to hit the dirt for 300 ks, (Norseman to Hyden) although we’re only going to do about 40 of those before we stop and get well off the track for the night. The sun is shining and we have a relaxing couple of hours reading and a glass of red before dinner.
Saturday 30th August
We were woken up to the gentle sound of rain in the early hours (the first since we left home), whilst this might not be a problem generally, we, if you remember, have nearly 300ks of red dirt in front of us! At our camp site the rain has been barely noticeable but an hour later the track starts getting wetter, although initially we’re on a well graded road which drains pretty well. We know that there is a section further on, around the Flying Fox mine, that is usually pretty cut up and sure enough it is pretty rough and slippery through this bit. Once out the other side, the grader has been busy and the road, though wet, isn’t slippery.
We stop in Hyden to use the mobile to alert the neighbours we will be home tomorrow and take a look at the state of the rig. A bit of cleaning to do when we get home, eh John?
Fortunately there hasn’t been a lot of rain and by early afternoon, we set up on what will probably be our last campsite for this trip and settle in with a cup of tea.
Sunday 31st August
Once breakfast is out of the way this morning we set about trying to get the worst of the red stuff off the van and the troopie, using a hose on the farm at the campsite (by kind permission of the owners), it was hard going and the bulk of it will have to be done once we get home. The main aim was to clean up the wheels as the tyres need pumping up to their normal tyre pressure.
We follow our usual route back to Karnup and after a lunch stop in the Jarrah forest (we had intended to stop at the old Quindanning pub but it was overflowing with people and nowhere to park so we kept going) we arrived home about 1500.
It’s nice to be home again but we’re already looking forward to getting away again!
Stats for the trip;
Travelled through four States and one Territory
Total Distance 15,446 kilometres Daily Average 274
Total Fuel 3,024 litres Average Usage 19.5 litres / 100 ks or 5.1 ks/l
We hope that those of you that have been following the blog have enjoyed the pictures and the dialogue, as always we would love to get some feedback from you, with any suggestions for where we can improve it.
Cheers, Pat and Roger
Alloveroz 