Sail the Nullarbor
Coodlie Park may be one of the few places on this trip to get a decent shower but I don’t. The water here is collected from rain water and it’s scarce. Others need it more than I do. Coodlie Park is a great place to stay for anyone travelling in the area and Hassie and Jo are great hosts.
I’d woken up with a stinking headache but some drugs and coffee ended that by the time we left. The effects of late nights and early mornings sometimes take a couple of days to get used to but by day 3 of the trip we were all settling into the routine and getting to know each other a little better.
Today is a long drive, it’s some 550km to the next stop but we have some fun along the way. First thing is surf school. I have enough trouble trying to balance on dry land so this is something else I have to watch.
Then it’s off to Streaky Bay (“And the water was much discoloured in Streaks… and I called it Streaky Bay.” wrote Matthew Flinders) where we see a replica of the largest white pointer caught with a rod and reel. The shark was caught in 1990 after a 5 hour struggle although it doesn’t officially count as a record because of the bait used.
Back on the Eyre Highway and we pass the Dog Fence, that epic piece of fencing designed to keep the dingos away from the sheep. This is the second piece of the Dog Fence I’ve seen and with a cattle grid across the road there’s just enough room underneath and lie there waiting for a road train to pass overhead. It’s an un-nerving feeling when anything drives across as your face is mere inches from the wheels of something big enough to crush you like a bug.
Passing through the Yalata Aboriginal land and we now begin the the crossing of the Nullarbor Plain.
There is some plant life on the Nullarbor Plain but not much. Root systems find it hard to get going here because the whole area is limestone and water passes through it into underground systems. The area remains very dry, the Aboriginals call this place Oondiri (Waterless). It is another part of Australia that looks spectacular and so very different from other areas.
Add to that the Bunda Cliffs. Here the edge of Australia drops straight into the Pacific Ocean. This is the head of the Great Australian Bight and the views are breathtaking. Nothing is there for personal safety, one trip or stumble in the wrong direction and you’re going swimming after a long fall. But then, who wants fences spoiling the views of nature?
Coming off the Eyre Highway we head up another track to an area near the old highway. Our stop tonight is the Koonalda Homestead, old abandoned sheep farm and roadhouse which was left to South Australia after the owners left it in the 1980s. Most of the Koonalda Homestead has been left untouched, only the main house and an outhouse have been re-roofed to collect rainwater.
The whole site is also a graveyard to cars that have broken down and been left behind. Perhaps nowhere else in Australia is there such a collection of Holdens. Many now rusting, some (and the back end of an oil tanker) are riddled with bullet holes.
It turns into one of the fun nights of the trip. More good food from Simo and beer round the camp fire until everyone slowly drifts off to bed. Here we’re really spread out far and wide. It’s only as I get settled into the swag that I realise just which side of the Dog Fence we’re now on. Tonight is also the first night with no toilet or shower facilities. Anyone needing to go has to take Doug the Shovel and a toilet roll into the bush.
