Nullarbor Roadhouse SA

Nullarbor Roadhouse is just in the middle of nowhere.  Land there is flat as a tack!

To understand the rich history of the Nullarbor, you first need to understand how it earned its name.
Back in 1866, surveyor E. Alfred Delisser was working on the Nullarbor Plain and took note of the significant lack of trees existing in the area. He is credited with creating the name Nullarbor, which is Latin for “no trees”. Do not let this name deceive you though; barring a few baron areas, there are many different species of trees and other local fauna spread across the Plain.

Prior to 1956, the site was home to Nullarbor Station and covered 1.25 million acres (that’s x2.7 larger then Singapore!). There were paddocks of sheep, horses and cattle, along with some wild wombats and dingos. In 1956, then station manager Elwyn, or “Scobe”, as he was affectionately known, decided to sell petroleum to generate additional revenue. The petrol would be hand pumped out of the drums into gallon tanks and sold to locals and visitors passing through.

A small shop was also established in an old stone building. Its products were more traditional than what you’re likely to see in stores these days – tea, canned food, biscuits, lollies and cordial drinks made up day to day sales. Elwyn’s wife Coral would also occasionally cook up homemade scones, cakes and, occasionally, any rabbits they might have caught. Coral would later go on to write about her family life at the Nullarbor station in great detail in her book, ‘Our Life at Nullarbor’.

The roadhouse has become a popular stopover for most travellers in part due to its isolation. It is approximately 300km west of Ceduna, and 200km east of the South Australian / West Australian border. As you could imagine, due to its location, the sun is always smiling over the Nullarbor. During the summer, temperatures consistently rest in the 30’s, however the “Nullarbor Doctor” arrives nightly in the form of a cool southerly breeze, ensuring you rest easily throughout the evening.
Michael
– Nullarbor Roadhouse General Manager
Link to the above is [ here ]

Filling up at Nullarbor 

The motel, petrol, and resturant

Great Australian Bight

The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.
The Great Australian Bight was first encountered by European explorers in 1627 when a Dutch navigator François Thijssen sailed along its western margins. The coast was later first accurately charted by the English navigator Matthew Flinders in 1802, during his circumnavigation of the Australian continent. A later land-based survey was accomplished by the English explorer Edward John Eyre.

The coastline of the Great Australian Bight is characterised by cliff faces (up to 60 metres (200 ft) high), surfing beaches and rock platforms, ideal for whale-watching. This is a popular activity during the southern hemisphere winter, when increasing numbers of southern right whales migrate to the region from their summer feeding grounds in the Antarctic. The whales come to the Bight region, especially to the Head of Bight, to calve and breed, and do not feed until they return to the Antarctic. Their numbers were severely depleted by whaling, particularly during the 19th Century, but have since recovered to some extent.

The Nullarbor Plain, which borders much of the length of the Bight's coastline, is a former seabed, uplifted during the Miocene. Consisting of limestone, it is very flat, and has an arid or semi-arid climate with very little rainfall, and high summer temperatures and high evaporation rates. It has no surface drainage, but has a karst drainage system through cave formation in the underlying limestone. North of the Nullarbor lies the Great Victoria Desert, which has an internal drainage system terminating in numerous small salt lakes.
Wikipedia

There's a few lookouts across the Nullarbor which many people call into.
The photos below show what it's like.  It wasn't a clear morning as you can see...looking towards the Great Southern Ocean.

Nullarbor - Eyre Highway

Today is Australia Day, a Public Holiday which means many things to different people.

Happy Australia Day

As I said in my last post - Between Balladonia and Caiguna is a 146.6 kilometre (91.1 mi) stretch of the highway which is one of the longest straight stretches of road in the world.
The highway is called the Eyre Highway, it's approximately 1,675km (1,040 mile) long and takes about two days to cross.

A few interesting facts regarding the Nullarbor.

The name Nullarbor originated from the Latin terminology nullus arbor meaning ‘no trees’ because quite literally you are lucky to see any surviving tress along this desert plain.

The Nullarbor Plain is home to the earth’s largest piece of limestone.

Another form of transport to cross the Nullarbor is by the Indian Pacific Train. This train runs twice weekly from Perth to Sydney via Adelaide and takes 3 nights to cover the 4352km (2,704 mile) journey.

Even though the Nullarbor has very harsh weather conditions it is home to a surprising amount of animals. Kangaroos, emu’s, wombats and even camels all call the Nullarbor Plain home.

The Nullarbor has up to 100,000 wild camels which were abandoned there after their use in building rail roads.
 
Some of the scenery along the way.
No camels, kangaroo's or any creature did we see.

Cocklebiddy is a small roadhouse community located on the Eyre Highway in Western Australia. It is the third stop after Norseman on the long journey east across the Nullarbor Plain. The area is noted for its underground caves and lakes.
So there is more to this tiny place 'than meets the eye'.

Cleaning the windscreen, the road back onto the highway.

Small town of Madura Western Australia.

Madura was settled in 1876 as a place to breed quality cavalry horses for the British Indian Army for use in the Northwest Frontier region of India (now part of Pakistan). The horses were shipped from the coast at Eucla. (Cervantes, north of Perth, was also used for breeding.) The site was chosen as it was one of the few with free flowing bore water in the area.

The surrounding area is part of Madura Station currently a sheep station, but was previously used to graze cattle, horses and camels.

Madura Pass lookout, the above 3 photos.

After leaving Balladonia we headed towards Eucla WA. We got about 30 kms out we decided to look for a 'free park' to sleep the night, found a good one with a few others already parked there for the night.

Across the Nullarbor

Mulga Snake, or King Brown snake, or Pilbara Cobra, is a species of venomous snake found in Australia. It is one of the longest venomous snakes in the world and is the second longest in Australia.

We came across this snake not that far from the Nullarbor Roadhouse on the walk to see the Whales in the Great Australian Bight.

Also there were some little birds.  I have not taken many photos of birds in the past, but was pleased with my effort.  I did not photo shop other than make the photos smaller.

Currently we are in Streaky Bay in SA, enjoying the spring weather....rain, wind and sunshine at the beach.

Balladonia, WA

Balladonia in Western Australia (WA) is known for it's Wool industry followed by Tourism.
The Pub has a Motel attached and the Dinner menu is here: http://www.balladoniahotelmotel.com.au/menus.php and I should imagine the servings would be large. One can't say, I will go to the next place to stay/eat because the next place probably hasn't got accommodation and it's quite some distance away, far enough away to fill your vehicle up again with petrol.
We had a caravan and always carried extra petrol plus extra water.

It's a lonely road is the Eyre Highway, you can go for km/miles and not see another person or vehicle. The road is rather straight with one section being 90 miles straight.

Balladonia is 916 km (569 mi) from Perth in WA, and 192 km (119 mi) from Norseman in previous post.
Our niece her husband and their two little ones have just driven from Kalgoorlie to Melbourne in the State of Victoria, the on the ship to Tasmania, and back across the Nullarbor again staying in Motels along the way.

What is known as Salt Bush.

Flat and straight.

Speaks for it's self.

A view from where we bought petrol, and there is a colourful playground for children.

The Great Australian Bight

I love the trip across the Nullarbor meaning no trees or very few.  The road is mostly flat, water is scarce and Roadhouses are but a few. Beautiful scenery for part of the way if one drives off the main road at designated roads to see the Great Australian Bite.
1,100 kilometres (684 miles) from East to West according to Wikipedia.

 

Facing West.

Facing East