Caravan of Courage 2011: Across to WA ..Nullarbor to Esperance

See Photo - Penong - one of the golf course holes on the Nullarbor.

Who would’ve thought the Nullarbor could be so interesting. It was amazing to think we saw more vehicles on this road every 3 min than what we did between during the entire drive from Mt Remarkable to Streaky Bay. This part of the trip was for us to cover a lot of Km’s but not arduous ones.

Day 1: Streaky Bay (SA) to Fowlers Bay (SA) - 248km

Day 2: Fowlers Bay (SA) to 1^st Bush Camp Jillah Rockhole, Ecula (WA) - 409km
Day 3: 1^st Bush Camp to 2^nd Bush Camp near Frazer Range - 550km

Day 4: 2^nd Bush Camp to Esperance - 326 km

Total 1533km

See Photo - Sand dunes at Fowlers Bay SA.

See Photo - Hanging out with the Summers.

Fowlers Bay was a cute little isolated town set amongst amazing sand dunes. Our drive in on the gravel road (SE) was easy, but our exit (NW) was not as smooth but there were several Shingleback lizards to keep us amused along the way. We met another family that have also been travelling OZ since the 1^st April from Sydney, they travelled in the opposite direction also with two young children, It was amazing the similarities we both had…... Claude’s birthday was 4^th Oct (Chris’ is 5^thOct), there surname is Summers, and their two lovely children are 13 months apart (ours being just 14 mths apart)

See Photo - Boys racing down the sand dunes.

With time on the dunes together, play park, jetty walk and an afternoon beer, it was a great relaxing stop.

See Photo - Kids next to Fowlers Bay Jetty.

See Photo - Kids on the Fowlers Bay Jetty

Our run on the Eyre Hwy started with a great tailwind, this enabled us to sit on overdrive @110km/h. We were told that it was going to be green and they weren’t wrong we only had a small stretch that looked dry, but once again there were plenty of Shingleback lizards to dodge. Our first stop after Fowlers bay was the Head of Bite, “Wow” what a view and we were even lucky enough to see two Southern Rite Whales with their calves, they were quite a distance out but patience prevailed and they came right in just below us on the lookout!

Head of Bite view

Wow .. Mum and baby calf

We got back to the car and found a TEXT from Debs parents, they were travelling the Nullarbor too! Unfortunately even though we kept an eye out for them we must have passed without seeing each other during a pit stop or lunch break.

We then stopped at the Nullarbor Road House bought a sticker and had a photo with the model whale out the front. We decided it was time to put the DVD’s on for the boys as they have been so good (last time we used them was in WA ). There were a couple more photo opportunities along the way so we stopped again for the breathtaking views (photos don’t do it justice). Our next stop was the border crossing, a lady at Streaky Bay was a bit confusing saying all meat had to be frozen and a few other things that weren’t written down in the quarantine booklet. But it was a breeze, and the guy was great, the Nullarbor Border crossing is now a busy place with non-stop traffic (we caught him having lunch!) On the road we hit the Ecula Road House (as the Border Crossing had no Diesel) for fuel at $1.75per/l, in total we used about 350lt from Streaky Bay to Norseman.

See Photo - Camel, wombat and kangaroo, our only sightings of these animals
on the Nullarbor.

See Photo - At the Nullarbor Roadhouse

See Photo - Our last border crossing ....sad.

See Photo - Another breath taking view of
Great Australian Bite.

See Photo - Eucla - gateway to WA (Bell was on the phone
to Deb when the boys yelled out for a photo).

See Photo - Our BMX track at Jillah Rockhole.

See Photo - Boys riding in the outback of Australia at Jillah Rockhole.

See Photo - Boys creating a dust storm at Jillah.

We didn’t see much wildlife along the way, just two emus and a fair bit of road kill. Pushing on we pulled into a bush camp at Jillah Rockhole (along the way10km W of Mundrabilla). One thing we noticed was the grove of trees, perfect for camping. We drove down the tracks towards the back area about 1km and parked up next to a homemade BMX track, humps and all. Perfect entertainment, we enjoyed riding the track and through the bush with a lovely sunset to finish the day. The boys also loved kicking up the dust in the lovely afternoon light. Up early we had Bacon and Eggs and hit the road by 7am (still on EST). Suddenly it started to RAIN! and for around 5min it absolutely poured down! ....the average annual rain fall on the Nullarbor is 30mm. With no real tailwind we followed a truck for a while which gave us a draft, but we ended up losing him as the boys needed a break!

See Photo - Pouring down with rain half way through
the straightest road in Australia.

See Photo - Sign says it all....'90 Mile Straight'.

We then started our run on the longest straight road in Australia; 146.6km’s, and you wouldn’t believe about half way along it started to rain..…again! so we jumped out and took photos during the 10min downpour. Chris even got out the chamois and gave the car a wash down, at the end of the run we stopped and had a photo with the Nullabor sign and left a little message (including the boys) like everyone else (if you go past stop and look for the "TEAM SOMERS" autograph! We admired all the stops along the way including the golf course, apparently the Nullarbor Golf course it the largest in the world. We had one last stop at Balladonia before our camp, here we went to the museum which opened in 1999. It had information all about the Eyre Hwy (1668 km long) and Sky Lab which came crashing back to earth across the sky in this region. It was here we also bought some certificates for the boys to confirm they have completed the Nullarbor Crossing!

We headed for our camp site at Frazer Range Station (recommended), and arrived to find a windswept camp area and a price tag of $35 per night!!!!! So we continued on about 10kms down the road to 10 Mile Rocks (113Km W Balladonia) and a fantastic camp ground away from the road for free! After some hair cuts by Bell (long overdue) and an ice-cream it was playtime, however Aiden had a rough late afternoon. We think the second day of DVD’s in the car was too much and he had a melt down because mum took a bite out of his ice-cream. Nothing would settle him down for almost 2 hours! …………. anyway we all made it out alive and ready to fight another day.

See Photo - Bell cutting the boys hair at 10 Mile Rocks camp...

See Photo - Sammy Seal at the Tanker Jetty - Esperance.

With a short drive to Norseman we refuelled and the entertainment began. First we had to stop for a very long ore train, then we got to follow the train track all the way to Esperance with maintenance rigs everywhere. We arrived at Esperance Seafront, caught up on washing and enjoyed the delights of having a play park right on our doorstep. After house cleaning and shopping we took the boys for a bike ride down to the Tanker Jetty to see Sammy the Seal who comes into the jetty fish cleaning area every day for a free feed in the shallows……. he was a real character and followed everyone along the jetty for the chance of a snack!

After a quick chat with Mum & Dad about what we should do for our full day in town, we headed to Wyille Beach. It was a brilliant place to 4WD, explore the rocks and of course for relaxing in the sun away from the wind. We then headed back across town and headed for the Great Ocean Drive enjoying the views of the many beaches where we finally stopped at the famous Twilight Beach (voted best beach in 2006). It was beautiful with it’s huge Granite outcrop, lovely waves, beautiful coloured water and pearl white sand. The boys hit the beach with there sandpits ( toys in a bucket) and enjoyed the afternoon playing in the sand!