Deserting the Desert: Nullarbor to Ceduna

A Day of Many Moods: 141 kilometres from Nullarbor to Nundroo

We were woken this morning very early by the melodious song of a magpie in the tree directly above our tent. We first heard it at 4:00 a.m., but Peter reckoned it started up at three o’clock (a man of precision as he is, he actually said 2:58!). When we mentioned it to Collis and Kathy, they said they had heard it from two o’clock. I guess – thankfully - both Di and I must have been sound asleep during that two hour period. Anyway, it sounded to me like it was murmuring “C’mon, Di and Doug … get up …  get up” over and over again. Lovely, lovely call but rather untimely, especially as it took me some time to get to sleep in the first place with the generator droning away in the background.

After checking the time we dozed until the alarm went off at 6:00, and were in the middle of our usual pack-up when we noticed that moisture was starting to fall from the sky. Not wanting to put the tent away soaking wet yet again, we hurriedly got it down and into its bag. Partly for the sake of efficiency we had breakfast with Peter over in the roadhouse. The other reason was that, like most of the roadhouses along the Nullarbor, there just isn’t anywhere in out of the weather where one can prepare and eat a meal.

With a long day ahead we thought Peter might want to share the load of pushing along the road but he decided to leave a little later. We were on the road at 7:45, which was tardier than we’d ideally have liked given that there was a long day ahead and the wind ,which was behind us at the start of the day, was predicted to swing around to the southeast – the direction we were headed – later on.

As we pulled out of Nullarbor I took this photo of an old cart parked at the entrance to the roadhouse….

Old time road train?

… and then this one looking towards our direction of travel ... 

Moisture on the road and in the skies

   

As you can see the road is pretty wet already and the skies suggest a mixed reception lies in store for us, despite the forecast suggesting only a slight chance of rain and then only up to about one millimetre.

With the moisture in the air and wet roads we decided to head off with our light rain coats on, and I took this short video just after we got out on the highway ...

A little further along we spotted this sign advertising whale-watching tours …

Whale watching season

This area is whale-watching central on the Great Australian Bight, with scenic flights available at Nullarbor. There are also lots of places nearby where you can drive yourself to the edge of the bight and just have a gander but it was also nice to see evidence of an indigenous enterprise cashing in on the tourism opportunities in this part of the world. The day we arrived at Nullarbor there were 25 whales and 20 calves spotted cavorting out in the bight so there is plenty to see.

After we'd been on the road for about half an hour and were warming to the task at hand we stopped to strip off our jackets as the rain looked like it was retreating in front of us. Before much longer we clearly had reached the eastern end of the true Nullarbor Plain. I was a bit disappointed that I'd missed the sign marking that fact as I'd intended to get a photo to match the one at the western end. When I'd realised what was going on I took another video as I wasn't keen on riding back in search of the sign ...

As you can see, the roads are still quite wet, and I think we'd had our jackets on and then off again while a squall passed through. There were two good things about the ride up to this point: the wind, although slight, was in our favour, and the country had become gently rolling which added some interest, especially with trees reappearing in numbers.

Collis had set the morning tea stop at 45 kilometres and Kathy passed us about 42 kilometres in so she was ready with hot drinks and nibbles when we arrived at the appointed distance. Here’s Di chatting with her beside the road …

Shooting the breeze ...

Kathy asked whether we’d been in a hurry to leave camp this morning, which surprised us as we thought 7:45 was actually a little tardy, but then she went on to enquire if we might have forgotten something .... luckily, when she was packing things into the trailer she realized that our tent was missing. Neither of us had brought it over to be loaded so we were very grateful that Kathy was so alert as to what was going into the trailer – and what wasn’t!

Sufficiently restored, we remounted the bikes just as Peter was arriving. The weather seemed to be fining up and the wind was still favourable so we wanted to make the most of the conditions. Much to our surprise - and bemusement! - a heavy squall came through shortly after leaving morning tea. We managed to don our jackets before the worst of it, but it was pretty persistent and made the roads quite wet for about 15 kilometres. And then suddenly, the sun came out with some conviction and before long we found ourselves riding on a dry road for the first time for the day. Here's Di marking the happy occasion by taking her jacket off yet again. Notice how casual she's gotten about the road trains rumbling by, with scant concern that she might have her right foot flattened ...

On again, OFF AGAIN!

This time it looked like the sun had gotten serious about sticking around which inspired me to shoot another short video ...

It was so good tripping along in the sunshine that I suddenly found myself recalling that great feel-good groove (warning: nudity and other nice things) Going Up the Country as played by Canned Heat at Woodstock. And no, I'm not quite old enough to have been there, but have seen the movie plenty of times!

At one point we started to see evidence of the old telegraph line, including this pole in good condition with wires still hanging off it ...

Traces of early settlement remain

Shortly thereafter we were pulling into the lunch stop by the side of the road at Yalata beside a defunct roadhouse and were surprised to see Jacquei sitting down alongside Kathy. It so happened she started to feel off-colour about 10 kilometres before lunch and had asked Collis to pick her up. Peter soon arrived so I took a photo of him with beside his bike as he readied himself for lunch ...

Peter readies himself for revictualing 

Here's a typical lunch stop scenario, with Peter heading towards the food bins in the back of Collis's truck ...

Chowing down at the side of the road

It was great to be back into the mallee, with lots of big specimens around. Here's a typical example of the particular species we found ourselves surrounded by, with fallen bark draped around the base and our bikes parked behind ... 

Mallee habit

As I was readying to leave I spotted the remains of a Blue-Tongue on the ground ...

Dust to dust ...

The fresh sprigs of grass and hint of flower are clear evidence that it has been raining a bit more than us usual in this part of the world.

Conditions had improved so much during the day that Di and I decided we'd probably forego another drink stop and ride through the end of the stage. Shortly after leaving Yalata we passed some impressive new roadworks, where a big intersection and a double lane had been added to our side of the highway. I noticed a sign that said "Exact Mining Jacinth Ambrosia". Shortly after passing that intersection we were being regularly passed by huge trucks going past in both directions, each with three trailers towed behind. One thing we noticed about these trucks was that every time one passed going in our direction they alway pulled right across to the other side of the road. So, hats off to you blokes - and perhaps sheilas - who are driving so thoughtfully.

At about 105 kilometres we stopped for some bladder relief and a gel. Here's Di a bit further back from the road than when she took her jacket off earlier in the day ...

A little energy boost to get us to Nundroo

About 10 kilometres out from Nundroo Collis and Jacquei passed and enquired if we needed more water. We gave them the thumbs up to let them know that we were good to continue, so off they sped to ready things in the campground. Just before the end of the stage we were gobsmacked to suddenly see large expanses of cultivated ground again - the first since a little way past Salmon Gums, 10 days ago.

We had been noticing for a while that the wind had swung around and was now blowing into our faces; a concurrent drop in temperature clearly indicated that it was a sea breeze. The last five or so kilometres were a real slog as the breeze continued to freshen and were were mighty glad - actually, thoroughly relieved would probably best sum it up - to finally pull into the roadhouse. 

The first thing we wanted was something to eat, but offerings in the shop were pretty meagre so we settled for an ice cream before heading over to put the tent up and then a shower. The seven of us all decided on dinner in the restaurant as prices were reasonable and cooking facilities in the camping area were non-existent. Happily the food turned out to be really good, hearty fare. It was an early night for everyone as we knew we had a long day ahead into Ceduna: at 150 + kilometres it would be the second longest stage of the trip so far and happened to come at the end of 12 consecutive days of riding.

Nundroo to Ceduna: Back to the Sea After 12 long Days Away

We woke to the alarm at 6:00 a.m. to find that the clear skies and warm conditions of the night before had been replaced by a heavy ground fog and quite chilly temperatures. Collis had suggested that with the long day ahead we might want to head out on the road by 7:30. He planned a three stage stop: morning tea at 40 kilometres, lunch at about 80 kilometres at a small settlement called Penong and then a water stop at about 115 kilometres.

The Nundroo Roadhouse doesn't open until 7:30, which is probably one amongst a number of factors which cause the bulk of truck drivers to bypass what once must have been a very busy place. As a consequence breakfast was a pretty ordinary affair: a standup engagement in the sifting mist with a cup of Milo, a muesli bar each and a handful of dried fruit. 

With no reason to linger, we set off as soon as were ready. The thermometers on our bikes said it was between 6 and 7 degrees when we set off, but with the mist hanging around the apparent temperature would have been lower still. It took a long time to warm up and we were both happy to set out with our heavier rain jackets on over our warmest cycling tops. 

Despite not getting away until a couple of minutes after Collis's designated departure time Di and I were still the first on the road. Our first hour or so was pretty hard work, imperceptibly gaining height all the time in those quite cool conditions. Eventually we started to feel like we getting a bit of rhythm up, which probably only coincided with the terrain levelling off and even descending slightly at times.

After riding 40 kilometres without being passed by either Collis or Kathy we decided to stop at a likely looking spot with a nice level, wide shoulder just before the 41 kilometre mark. Kathy soon arrived and pulled over. It turns out that where we'd stopped wasn't entirely suitable as it was just at the start of a section of highway with a double white line, which is, apparently, a no-no for stopping. As the visibility was actually quite good she made an exception this time, but we'll be sure not to repeat our error.

We had a cup of tea and a few biscuits and, wanting to make the most of the reasonably benign conditions, were back on the road just after Jacquei arrived. The ride through to Penong was uneventful, but we had noticed a slight shift in the wind just before we gaining the town's boundaries. Here is the only photo I took out on the road today ...

Welcome to Penong

Windmills are supposedly a big deal here - hence the windmill here on the welcome sign - but we didn't actually see many at all. After checking out the general store, where Collis suggested we might have lunch  and finding that they only had meat pies and no sandwiches, Di and I decided to go back to the roadhouse where they did hot meals. We were delighted to discover that they had an all day breakfast menu, including a "Deluxe Breakfast Wrap". We both ordered that; it was delicious but we realised that we should have just had one between the two of us. 

After nearly an hour's break we finally got back on bikes only to have confirmed what we thought earlier: we would be riding into a headwind the rest of the day. Thankfully it was  only light and the road was ever so slightly downhill overall. We did stop briefly for water and a gel at 115 kilometres but didn't want to linger in case the wind increased. It was a great relief to finally complete the 151 kilometre journey into Ceduna and see the sea again at last. 

Di had decided way back at Walpole that we would get a motel room for our two nights in Ceduna. It was situated just past the renowned oyster bar at the entrance to town where Collis had paused to pre-order his and Kathy's dinner. After he dropped our gear off at our motel we changed into our walking shoes and promptly made our way back for a post-ride celebratory snack of a dozen oysters each. Di had the oriental inspired version which she seemed to enjoy despite channeling BB King by telling me it was just a snack ...

A Delighted Di chowing down

A little later we strolled into the town to have a look around and were treated to the sun setting across the bay ...

Ceduna sunset

Looking Back; Looking Forward

We are so pleased to be here in Ceduna. After 12 days straight on the bike, covering 1425 kilometres - much of it in less than ideal conditions - it will be wonderful to finally have a day to relax, catch up on a few things and give the bum a rest. We have ridden over 2600 kilometres since leaving Perth and are over halfway through the trip, both in days on the bike and total distance to be covered. There is only one more roadhouse left, which means it should be easier to ensure we get a more balanced diet. 

We wondered how it would be riding across the Nullarbor which is so notorious for its preponderance of huge trucks. It turned out that the vast majority of truck drivers were fantastic, giving us lots of room, and even slowing their mighty vehicles right down when they deemed it was unsafe to pass. Only a few in the whole ten days between Norseman and Ceduna did we feel a little shaken by a close-passing truck. In fact, we felt much safer crossing the Nullarbor than we did between Albany and Esperance, where there were plenty of road trains, but the road lacked the width of the Eyre Highway and it seemed that the truckies operating in that corner of the country just didn't have the same level of consideration for us as those on the Nullarbor.

It will be interesting to see what lies ahead. Apparently we can still expect lots of road trains down around the Eyre Peninsula, but perhaps not so many massive trucks moving mining equipment and there should be more variety in the scenery. We'll let you know how it pans out.

Postscript

Sorry about the varying font size throughout this post. There is obviously some glitch that I haven't been able to find and correct. Hopefully the next post will be okay.