2016 - Western Australia and Back Again: June 2016

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Day 52: Fri 1 Jul - Madura to Ceduna, 673km, 4-18deg fine and sunny

We continue our trek across the Nullarbor! Up early for a 6:45am departure; another glorious morning, crisp and clear. However that didn't last long as an hour or so later we were driving in drizzle; it has rained every time we've crossed the Nullarbor - twice. It's supposed to be a desert! Refuelled at Eucla, $1.54 litre which isn't too bad.

Called in for another look at the Great Oz Bight, the ocean was rough and beautiful. Made a travel brew and it was back on the road with a driver change.

Lunch was at an off-road rest stop after we had passed the roadhouse at Nullarbor. At the SA border checkpoint we had to surrender our packets of salad mix and coleslaw; both of which we thought were ok. They had just about reached their use-by dates anyway.

We arrived at the Foreshore Van Park, Ceduna at 5:05pm (including 1.5 hr time change); another long day in the saddle. After setting up camp we went for a walk around town before nightfall.

Nice start ot the day

An hour later!

Cliffs of the Great Australian Bight

Eastern end of the Nullarbor - treeless

#59 Ceduna Foreshore Caravan Park

Ceduna

The sun came out for a few seconds

Didn't find the gold

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Day 51: Thu 30 Jun - Kalgoorlie to Madura 707km, 3-17deg, fine and sunny

The windscreen was iced up this morning, so cool man!

We got up early to tackle the first part of the Nullarbor. Although we don't intend to rush our Eastward journey across the Plains, we want to keep the crossing as brief as possible and within our daily kilometre driving limit (707km is a bit far, however, it is not a hard drive). After a coffee and some cereal we pushed off at 7:30am into a gorgeous clear morning. It is just so nice to be out on the road before most of the traffic starts to stir.

We were out of the city limits in a few km heading south to Norseman, which was a fuel stop for us and the truck. Made a cuppa in our travel mugs, and after a leg stretch we were back on the road heading East.

No dramas all day, just the way we like it, and 707kms later we pulled into the Madura Roadhouse Van Park at 4:40pm. A good day with shared driving.

We are conscious of the fruit and veggies restrictions going into SA so made sure that anything we had was either cooked or frozen.

Nice early night after a fairly long day. We went to sleep with the sound of the big generator purring away in the background. No electricity wires out here.

The long road home

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Day 50: Wed 29 Jun - K-Boulder, 6-18(very briefly)deg, early shower then fine

Another shower of rain just as we were waking up this morning, then it turned into a fairly nice day. After a hot brekky and coffee we were onto the bikes and heading for the centre of Boulder, the twin city of Kalgoorlie. Both very interesting towns, full of history and lots of grand old buildings.

Of course by far the BIGGEST attraction here is the Super-Pit, a working open-cut gold mine. The hole holds the equivalent to 220,000 Olympic swimming pools and is 3.5km long, 1.5km wide by 600m deep and can be seen from space. The tiny little things crawling around at the bottom (in the photos) are actually enormous tip trucks.

After the super-pit, we took the cycle path to Kalgoorlie where we had a nice coffee at McCafe. The old Town Hall was next; a grand building that they have kept open and show old memorabilia, including a tribute to the town's military history. Later on we had a very tasty lunch at the Palace Hotel, another building that they've maintained immaculately.

The Mining Museum was next with its mine-head tower, photo exhibition, gold history stuff, The Gold Vault and the old buildings.

It was then time to return to the van park, collect the truck, fuel up for tomorrow, vote and do a spot of grocery shopping.

A very enjoyable day; we'll be back to this amazing region sometime soon.