The Eyre Highway (A1) is the only road that heads west so it's very remote and you have to rely on roadhouses for supplies, accommodation and fuel. On route we came to the town Kimba which has a look out at White Knob and a sculpture of Eyre the chap that crossed the Nullarbor and paved the way for the rest of us.
Next stop is Wudinna which is another small town with a roadhouse but it has a giant granite Farmers Sculpture which off course you have to stop for a photo.
When we reached Poochera we had some lunch and decided that we would head to the coast and stay at Streaky Bay for the night. Streaky Bay is a lovely place, right on the beach and has a sea pool. Once we checked in we headed for the sea pool which is a deep enclosed area along side the jetty, basically it's protection from sharks and rays. One of the worlds biggest sharks at 5m was caught just off shore here and a local guy told us that the local seal that lived in the bay was eaten by a shark only last week. Once we had packed up to leave the next morning we headed to the blow holes and the whistling rocks, they were about 20km out of town and to be honest not worth the trip. We noticed that these big fat lizards with no tails just sit in the road and move slowly daring you to run them over, we found out later that they are called Bobtail Lizards.
We decided we didn't want to drive very far today so we stopped at Smokey Bay for some lunch, and swim in their sea pool and a bit of sun bathing. Late afternoon we then drove to Ceduna where we stayed at a really nice site called Shelley Beach, very friendly place and had a nice walk along the beach. We put the tent up but wished we hadn't as another storm was brewing but luckily it didn't come to anything.
Next stop was Head of Bight which is a marine national park due to the fact that every year hundreds of Southern Right Whales come there to give birth and nurse their young. Unfortunately we were about 5 weeks to late to witness this but the area is well worth a look. Staying at the Nullarbor Roadhouse tonight, it's a bit of a dump but we didn't want to drive another 200km to the border as it was getting late. When you cross from south to west you have to go through a quarantine border control where they check for fruit, vegetables, honey, plants and all kind of stuff.
Back on the road and heading for the border, we knew we had some veg and a bottle of honey they would take from us so we got it already for them and then hopefully they wouldn't strip the car down looking. No hassle at the border they just looked around and took the couple of bits we had. We stayed at a free bush camp after driving 536km with lots of other campers, it was a very cold night so we stayed in our van and that morning saw some dingo's walking around. Once you cross the border into west you gain 2.30hrs which throws you a bit. The drive across the Nullarbor is very much the same but we did see some emus and a wedge tail Eagle on the road with its road kill kangaroo. On the Nullarbor it has a straight stretch of road that lasts for 146.6km the longest in Australia, there is also a museum in one of the roadhouses on the NASA Skylab that landed in that area. Also surprisingly the RFDS have 3 landing strips on the Nullarbor where the Stuart Highway to Alice Springs only has 1
Finally arrived in Norseman and was due to head south to Esperance but due to the bush fires still out of control we decided to head north to Kalgoorlie the gold mining town. We booked into a camp site for 2 nights as there was quite a lot we wanted to do here and we also wanted a rest from driving.
Kalgoorlie is a fascinating town full of history and character, its roots are in gold when it was first discovered. An area of the town got named the "Golden Mile" due to gold just laying on the ground but that has all gone now so the big mining companies have moved in with their huge pit. The pit tour takes you around the edge and a bit inside the massive hole, the guide knew everything there is too know being a miner himself. The town has a museum with all the history of the town and how it grew to what it is today. On display are some gold nuggets that had been found around the town and a replica of the "Golden Eagle" nugget. Due to the thousands of lonely miners in the towns hay day lots of brothels started up. At one point there were 18 all located in Hay Street but now only 2 remain, the oldest and still in the original building and frontage is the Questa Casa Brothel. The madam of this 100 year old brothel gives daily tours of her house to boost income due to the lack of demand in the town now.
We also got our car serviced at a local garage and they did it there and then, all ok but had to buy a brake light bulb as ours had blown. Brought some new flip flops as mine had spilt and now useless, food shopping also done before we leave town and head for Menzies and Lake Ballard.
That afternoon as we left town a huge storm hit town with bolt lightening and thunder so we're glad to leave but unfortunately it followed us all the way for 180km. Saw our first flooded road, it was like a river flowing through it but we managed to slowly cross it.
Once we got to Menzies we then had 50 km of unsealed road which at first was ok but after an hour of going just 20km an hour got really boring. We finally got to the lake just as it was getting dark but the storm was still ragging all around us. I was glad to see some other campers already there, safety in numbers so they say. Any how we cooked some dinner just as the heavens opened and we hid in the van while the storm raged all around us. Finally it stopped to reveal a clear sky and a full moon, I was happy it was over.
That morning where the salt lake should be white it was a deep red color and we knew it was going to be very wet and muddy. We came prepared with some plastic bags to go over our boots but they soon spilt and we got caked in mud. The lake has 51 steel sculptures by Antony Gormley standing on the salt lake, they consist of men, woman and children. They look impressive but would have been better if the lake was white from the salt instead of red mud. On leaving the lake we came across 2 kangaroos and their Joey, first live ones we had seen for ages.
We had to retrace our tracks back down to Kalgoorlie and then to Norseman as we are now heading down to the coast and Esperance but as we left quite late we decided to camp at Kambalda. This is a free camp site in the town by the sports center which for $2.50 could get a nice long hot shower. It was really quite with only one other camper there. After the morning shower we drove to the Red Hill Lookout which has fantastic views of the whole area and even more salt lakes. Breakfast done and now for the 300km to Esperance and the seaside.
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