Nullarbor Part 4 - The End Is Nigh

Location: Darwin
Weather: Hot n'Humid

After leaving Nullarbor services it was 186km to the next stop Border Village servo AND Welcome to Western Australia! on the way I visited ALL 6 rest stops where you could view the coastline of the Great Australian Bight - it was mainly vertical cliffs going into the ocean. After Border Village it was a mere 12km to the 'town' of Eucla. There isn't much here, except a hotel/motel and a side trip to see a telegraph station burried in the sand dunes, fun because you could jump off the roof into the sand! the travellers cross (which lights up at night) and a memorial to explorer Edward Eyre, where he camped on his epic journey to Albany. After this it was 66km of RoadKill Alley to Mundrabilla - yes, I'd seen the odd dead animal here and there, but on this stretch of road there were squashed critters every 20m's or so! and the stink when you stopped near one was unboleevable. I even saw a big emu that had been run over! For everybody's viewing pleasure here's what I mean:

It also actually rained a bit round here, I even took a photo, to prove it does rain in the desert! Another 115km and I stopped for the night at Madura services - did about 400kms that day. 1879kms clocked up in total. Getting up early - 8am - I headed for Cocklebiddy, this stretch of road broke the previous record for roadkill! must be because they don't have many fences around or something. Then Caiguna, passing the 2000kms mark. Then onto Balladonia services. Despite all this driving there really isn't that much to see along these roads, except errm - road, bushland, roadkill, crows eating the roadkill and huge roadtrains plus the odd car here and there. There are a few outback tracks, but they are unsealed roads and you need a 4WD. The stops are small roadhouses, mainly for fuel and food, but they some do have good services. I actually managed to have a shower at Caiguna and Balladonia which was most welcome. 50kms outside Balladonia was interesting though - Newman Rocks - a stunning view of the outback terrain - a salt lake in the distance and bush much greener and picturesque than I had expected. Also there was a water hole and emus were drinking there! there was also a rockhole by the side of the road, an underground cave in the limestone.

More driving and now I was at goal 3 or rather the beginning of the end of the trip - Norseman - another small town, but gateway/junction to Perth and the south-west. I stayed the night at the Gateway Caravan park, got my own room again(only $15 this tmie) and had a proper cooked meal of pasta (how exotic)! The next day I went to Norseman Info Bureau and purchased a permit to go fossicking. It's all the rage around this area. I bought a hammer from the hardware store, drove to a secret location down the road and set out to find my fortune. This involved scavaging in pre-dug pits and smashing bits of earth/rocks with the hammer in a hunt for gemstones! I did have some luck, I've sent some green stones home for analysis. But the heat of the sun now was getting too much, so I only tried for about 45mins.

Passing through more scenic bushland, Western Australia does have some great views, Widgemootha services, petrol was starting to drop in price now. I then made it to Kalgoorlie - I really enjoyed this place. A major town, for once. I went to see the Super Pitt, which is like a 7th wonder of the world - it is incredible to see, a gigantic open surface gold mine. $4million trucks with $26000 tyres mine the gold 24 hours a day and you can see them driving down the pit, but it is so big they look like minature toys. You need binoculars to see the men surveying the pit. I also watched the sunset at Mt Charlotte reservoir, where you get an amazing 360degree panarama of the outback. This reservoir is part of the Golden Pipeline system, an amazing feat of engineering, built in the 1900's, a 550km long pipeline that pumps water from Mundaring Weir (near Perth) to Kalgoorlie - it's thanks to this that the goldfields exist.
But time was running out, so I had to leave and drove the 40k's odd to Coolgardie, where I had a kip. This was another single street town, but with a few interesting looking buildings. Apparently at one time it was a major successful mining town and the architecture was very classical.

My final day of the Nullarbor trip was a real rush - around 600kms in one day - went from Coolgardie, to Caiguna, to Meredin. I got random breath tested in Northam. We had now officially entered civilisation again! Rolling into Perth I wasn't immediately impressed with the place - lots of traffic, a few tall buildings - just another city really - maybe going from the middle of nowhere to a city takes a bit of adjusting. I'd previously been told that Perth was like a countrytown, it wasn't. Parking also became a bit of a nightmare now that you had to pay for it. At least I got to see the most enjoyable National Treasure at the cinema that night. Wandered around town a bit, then had a most heinous time finding somewhere to sleep in the car thanks to all the street lights.

Anyway that was my long drive OVER - in summary I really enjoyed this trip and it was definitely worth it. I must admit the car was very good, except for a slight few problems. You will all be glad to know I drove over 1000km's with a flat spare tyre(thanks to that 360 spin incident) and lights that only turned off when they felt like it, because there was some loose connection on the steering wheel switch. This must've been temperature related as once the car was cold the switch worked perfectly. Still, several nights I had to disconnect the battery to turn them off...hey what a great added security feature. Also I think I drove most of the way with a fuel leak. I only discovered this about 500km's outside Norseman. The fuel hose beneath the rear wheel was perished and dripped fuel whenever I parked anywhere. It seemed to stop occasionally and/or when it reached a quarter of a tank, which was odd. I got quoted from $80-300 to fix this at various places, but would have done it myself if I had time.

The spare tyre was most annoying, it didn't seem to have a real puncture. After cleaning the surface gravel that was embeded in the rim several times I discovered that it could be inflated, but there was obviously gravel stuck inside (or on the bead as it is technically known) and it deflated over a couple of hours. This became a bit of a nightmare and I got a little paranoid, but after many attempts on the journey I finally took it to Fremantle Beaurepair and they fixed it for only $15.

Ironically at all the places along the journey where I enquired about what to do about this tyre, the mechanic knew exactly what happened and said "oh mate, you mean you fell asleep at the wheel and swerved off the road didn't ya! you can be honest with me! HAHA!". This was quite funny.

For a decent map of the Nullarbor CLICK HERE - http://www.nullarbornet.com.au/maps/nullarborM.html
To get an idea of the Driving Distances CLICK HERE - http://www.nullarbornet.com.au/planners/adelaideTripper.html

By JamesReed on 21.12.04 @ 06:46 AM GMT