The Nullarbor

As stated, Cactus Beach was on the itinerary, so turning left at Penong, 20Km down a gravel track and then there it is - this fabulous view of surf pounding into the shore that is Cactus Beach.  While camping was allowed, it was impossible to fish from the shore so I decided to continue on.  The next feature was the Head of the Bight, where whales breed in May/June but none were present yet.  It is an impressive view and does have a proper bitumen road into it.  Quick stops at a couple of other coastal outlooks, roadhouses for coffee, snacks & petrol and the compulsory photos of the start of the Nullarbor, the 90 Mile Straight sign and the odd shot of the broad flat expanse that is the Nullarbor - I was expecting barren ground but there is vegetation the whole way, very sparse in some places and also some low trees which wasn't what I was expecting -  pretty well sums up the crossing.  The only wildlife I saw was bird life concentrated on road kill:  The ravens are smart enough to get well out of the way but the eagles wait until you are nearly on them, then lumber off into the air right across in front of you!  Thus, when one sees a gathering in the road, one slows down to allow the eagles time to be able to get away.

The world's longest golf course starts at Ceduna and ends in Kalgoorlie.  It cost $70 to play, you get a card and when you finish at one place they stamp your card and you drive to the next hole.  Certainly an intriguing way to make the crossing more interesting but a golfer I am not. 

The Nullarbor is a vast limestone shelf, some 400,000 square kilometres in extent, with many intricate caves throughout, mainly unexplored.  There are some spectacular cliffs along the ocean but generally it is flat and monotonous country.  It is similar to driving up the Stuart Highway, through the Centre, in fact, but without the gorges, giant rocks and stunning ghost gums.

A vague feeling of prescience was with me the whole way, some vague memory of a story passed down by my Norwegian ancestors.  On arrival at Norseman and learning of its history it all unfolded.  The town of Norseman is named after a horse of the same name.  Apparently, Norseman, while tethered one day, scratched the ground and turned up gold nuggets, starting a gold rush.  Now, Norseman was so named by his owner, a Mr. Laurie Sinclair, who originated from the Shetland Islands and was of Viking lineage.  Apparently Mr. Sinclair was actually looking for evidence of his ancestors having briefly exploiting the area 800-1000 years previously.  The legend has it that the Vikings believed there was a great southland rich in pink diamonds and set off to search for it.  Find it they did, but they landed at the wrong spot and it wasn't pink diamonds they found  but rather vast hardwood forests - and what they thought were giant rodents.  Not ones to miss an opportunity however, they sent word back to Scandinavia to send out hard working lumberjacks with Jonsered saws as well as enough hardtack & lutefisk to last until the snows arrived.  A fleet arrived and they started clearing the forest and sent the boats back loaded with timber.   Meanwhile the lumberjacks were to continue cutting and when the frosts arrived, they were to build more boats, load them with timber and then abandon camp & head home.  However, winter as they knew it never arrived in this new land and by the time the realisation came, their food ran out and as they couldn't be reduced to eating giant rodents, they perished.  Subsequent frequent fires and a gradually drier climate reduced any regeneration to the low scrub and sparse vegetation that exists today.

Eyre Peninsula

Port Augusta was my first stop after leaving the Flinders Range NP.  Port Augusta is a clean modern town on the Eyre Peninsula at the top end of Spencer Gulf.  With competing supermarkets and two kilograms of coffee to prove it!  Seafood restaurants are also popular, so seafood for lunch was a treat.  They have a terrific desert botanical garden, with sections representing various ecotypes in the SA desert - quite fascinating!  There are  very complex ecosystems in what looks like an unvarying vast desert. 

The next stop was an unremarkable freecamp at a roadside rest area, which had a most remarkable sunset.  Then on to Whyalla and the steel mills around which it is based.  It claims to be the largest town on the Eyre Peninsula, again with competing shops but my poor van was overstocked from Port Augusta.  My next camp was just north of Whyalla at Point Lowly, a super freecamp with waterfront spots (for the quick) and a coldwater shower as well!  At point Lowly is a major cuttlefish breeding reserve, but the camp is just out of the reserve area so fishing is allowed.  I tried for squid, the closest I got was the guy next to me caught two (I'm sure he was cheating but I couldn't see how).   A lovely spot and a lovely stay, but there are others on the Peninsula so my next stop was at Lipson Cove for a night - very similar in that the campsite was next to a beach and very scenic.

Port Lincoln was the next port of call, another lovely town but as I was keen to camp that night in the Lincoln NP so after doing laundry, filling with petrol and a few supplies it was off to yet another waterfront campsite in the NP!   A very pretty spot, but no walks or fishing - a shallow shelf ran out from the shore so you couldn't get out to deeper water very easily.  The view mitigated these deficiencies though, it really was superb, as the photos prove.

Coffin Bay NP, on the Great Australian Bight side of the Peninsula was my next campsite, a short way back from the water's edge:  This area is pretty flat, shallow and swampy in places and the bay is large with many waterways and low landforms.   There were some walks that both climbed to lookouts and followed the shore.  The 'wildlife' is anything but, with various birds gleaning crumbs from the doorstep and a couple of 'roo who nearly stepped on my foot as they passed.   There are other campsites along a 4WD Recommended track so I went to check that out and nearly got bogged - and I was on foot!  Perhaps the low lying beach bits are best traversed at low tide.  There must be plenty of 'roo in the area from the sign as they crossed the track but they kept out of sight. 

Heading north along the western side of Eyre Peninsula was mainly inland; the towns along the coast were similar to ones already visited so I continued to Ceduna.  The exception was a slight detour to visit The Haystacks, a unique rock formation technically known as Inselbergs:  They are granite formations standing above the surrounding flat, eroded land.  Rain was forecast and I was due for a stop at a caravan park so I pulled in to the first one I came to on arrival at Ceduna.  It started raining not long after and rained steadily all night, with showers thru the next day.  Being connected to 240VAC I had all my battery chargers plugged in to charge up my AA & AAA batteries, computer battery, printer battery and the house batteries.  It looked like holiday decorations with LED's everywhere!  Ceduna is a pleasant town with a variety of shops so a good place to stock up before crossing the Nullarbor.  WA quarantine restrictions are quite severe, so any fresh fruit & veg must be eaten before then, as well as other restricted items, honey being one of the surprising one, but if there is a threat to WA, then my honey will be tossed - if there is any left.  So, having duly prepared now for crossing the Nullarbor, a seafood lunch finished off the list!  A stop at Cactus Beach near Penong tomorrow, and then its the Nullarbor!

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Flinders Ranges National Park

En route I stopped by the town of Burra, SA, as recommended by a fellow Grey Nomad - Spida.  It is a quaint town developed around a copper mine (now played out) and many of the miners were Welsh.  They built their houses in the way they did in Wales, thus there are many stone miners cottages making the town quite different from most Australian towns. 

Then straight to the Flinders Ranges National Park, crossing the Goyder Line   http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=247  on the way (the Goyder Line is meant to delineate feasible farming/grazing lands from sub-economic and does this basically by following the 10 inch rainfall line.  South of this Line was grain paddocks; north was dry scrublands, red soil & more rugged.  The Flinders Range is a long mountain range, part of which has been made National Park.

On arrival at the Wilpena Pound Resort, I booked an unpowered site for three nites, set up and then walked up to the Wilpena Pound Lookout, around 8Km return.  While uphill it was reasonably easy going until the last 400 metres, which was quite steep but the lookout was well placed, giving a very good overview into the Pound.  The Pound is a large natural basin, relatively green and was grazed in early days but is now all National Park:  A stone homestead used by the family that owned the land is not far from the lookout.  There is only one entrance into the Pound and it is narrow:  To get stock out they had a small truck to get through the gap - with some difficulty - to bring stock to a staging area accessible by large trucks. 

The following day I attempted to climb Ohlssen Bagge peak, which offers an alternative look into the Pound.  This goes up through rocks and cliffs and looks back over the Resort on the way up.  It is six Km return and is a very steep climb from the get-go.  After two & a bit Km I reached a saddle where you could look out over a small part of the Pound and back toward the Resort, which looked tiny from this perspective.   I was pretty exhausted, the trail ahead was incredibly steep and decided to turn back as it is as hard going down - if not harder in places - as going up.  My tail was dragging proper when I got back to camp, but it was an experience and the scenery was, well, ruggedly good looking . 

The next walk was a 7Km walk through Bunyeroo Gorge and while relatively flat, much of it is on stony ground.   A feature throughout the Range is the large old river red gums (Eucalyptus cameldulensis) and here in the Gorge were plenty of them.  They are generally twisted and knarled, many with large scars at the base from previous fires.  One of these trees was made famous when photographed in 1937 by Harold Cazneaux  and the photo titled "The Spirit of Endurance".  The tree endures yet. 

The Flinders Range is extensive and varied, from small hills to rolling ranges to steep and rugged peaks.  .  The geology has both limestone and sandstone present, the rocks are a deep purplish red and generally covered with scrub.  Paintings by Hans Heysen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Heysen)  feature the gum trees in his work.  The Wilpena Pound is unique, being approx. 5 by  Km and virtually totally enclosed by steep mountains.  I planned to spend at least one nite at the Brachia Campsite in the National Park, however the 20 Km drive along the gravel road into Bunyeroo Gorge was such a rough drive that I decided not to attempt a similar drive and gave that camp a miss.  On my last night in the National Park, there was a thunder storm at dusk, creating a unique and eerie sunset.  From here I'll continue traveling down the Eire Peninsula, they say there is good fishing there.

Yorke Peninsula, South Australia

A local chap was surprised to see a Tasmanian, "Not too many people go out of their way to come down here" apparently,  "Its neither here nor there."  Yorke Peninsula - about 250Km by 50Km, is a flat, limestone over basalt extension shaped like a leg extending into the gulf between the Adelaide side and the Eire Peninsula.  It is mainly a grain growing area and they boast there is a bit of the Yorke Peninsula in most Australian beers.  The coastline has excellent views, good fishing (supposedly), with blue crabs a specialty and being 2-3 hours from Adelaide, the Barossa etc. it is a regularly holiday spot for them.  Many have shacks along the coast and from  the number of newer houses one would guess an increasing permanent population, as it would be a great place to retire.  Many of the original buildings are of a coral coloured limestone and are beautiful, tho many are derelect as the story I was told is that there are few stonemasons available to repair them.

On arrival, I stopped at Kadina , a fully serviced town with an excellent Information Centre where they helped plan my stay.  There are a number of camping areas along the coast, managed by the Council and permission is needed to camp on them:  Most require a fee but there are a few free camps as well.  For the first week I stayed at Council campsites, having purchased a weekly pass.  The gravel roads - especially the last leg to the coast - tended to be very corrugated and the camps basic but they were on the coast and the views great.  Weather has been iffy at best but with the winds creating a lot of waves I took some of the best seascape photos ever, as there is a shelf out into the water so breakers start at its edge and form a series into the shore.  Swincer Rocks proved best, and even then, after a couple of hours the winds died down and seas less dramatic. 

Let me digress here and go back nearly 50 years, when I chanced upon an artist painting seascapes, which really caught my eye.  In the course of conversation I mentioned they were very beautiful but I could never afford one.  Well, from out of nowhere came his partner, stating in no uncertain terms the fellow had spent years perfecting his techniques and they were in fact good value!  I agreed the value was there and I'd buy one if I could but I just couldn't afford one.  When I took up photography I thought I could get similar seascapes but found it difficult indeed and am happy to have finally achieved that goal.

I only spent one night at Swincer Rocks, moving from there to Barker Rocks on the recommendation of another Grey Nomad, similar in outlook but the wind had died down - until around midnite of the second night!  I woke up as the van was shaking violently and pulled the pop top down as it was taking a beating.  I then heard people outside in the adjacent van and went out to see if they needed help; they certainly did.  Their awning had blown over the top of their van and they were trying to stop it from wrecking anything on top of the van, or along the side the wind had blown it, as the metal leading edge was flapping against the far side of the van rather violently.  Eventually the owner decided the only way to prevent more damage was to cut it free:  It was pretty well ruined by this stage anyway.  So standing on a couple of white buckets I reached up and cut it free, we secured it to a couple of posts and went off to get what sleep we could in the wild conditions.  In the morning we screwed the main rail back onto their van which had been nearly ripped free, so they could drive off to a repair place and then we had a coffee.  It was then they told me that he had a bad shoulder as the result of a recent broken arm and they wouldn't have been able to secure it on their own. 

From here, as per my plan, I went to Innes National Park, which is at the southern tip of the Peninsula and it was great!  The rugged coastline, near and far islands, vast beaches - comparable to the Great Ocean Road!  Surprisingly few other tourists, perhaps as a long weekend had just passed and Easter was only a few days away.  The scuddy weather tended to kept me close to the van at times but with plenty of time I eventually got to the best spots - some of which I missed the first time through.  E.g. they highlight the unique Stainless Steel Lighthouse, which  in my view is rather plain and thus just another lighthouse.  But after seeing most everything else I thought I'd check it out and discovered one of the most scenic views in the Park! 

For Easter I'd booked a site at Corny Point Caravan Park - Corny Point was named by Matthew Flinders, who thought it looked like a corn on a foot.  It is a popular fishing area but the shallow shelf requires driving over it to deeper water to launch a boat and for this they use tractors!  Here I met up with another Grey Nomad staying at Turton Point so we explored a bit, including trying out the seafood basket at the Marion Bay Pub, which was excellent!  Not a snipped bag of frozen bits poured into the deep fryer this, but proper fresh seafood and delicious!    Over Easter many families filled the park for the holidays and thus very active!  Kids, dogs, late night socialising - a welcome change from the quiet few weeks previous!  Being Monday today, they are busy packing to leave, children gathering in groups to say goodby to newfound friends and parents preparing for the 2-3 hour drive home, confined with children who'd been running free for the last few days.  I will be leaving tomorrow as the roads will be quiet again by then.  So Goodby, Yorke Peninsula, and Thank You to all those friendly people there!  I probably won't get back but glad not to have missed it.