Tour Number 2: Crossing the Nullarbor

Day 3

Our third day was meant to be the most awesome tour day that started with a surf lesson but it wasn’t to be. The company overcame the lack of instructor by providing us with two long time surfers who could guide us only for the surf to be nonexistent the next day. Since we had a morning free our guide took us to Murphy’s Haystacks where we took our own rock surfing photos to make up for the lack of visit to wave rock at the end of the trip. We had fun taking silly photos of one another for a short while amongst the ancient granite rocks before we were on the bus again. The rest of the morning was spent at a nearby lookout where we were able to observe sea lions relaxing and playing whilst our guide provided us with many sea lion facts. Our day improved at lunch time when instead of our usual sandwiches our guide cooked up some chicken burgers before it was time for the highlight of the tour.

Though it cost us extra we all decided to go on the boat trip out to swim with wild sea lions and dolphins and it was totally worth it. Like a lot of our tour our luck wasn’t the best for this either. It was the first warm day of the summer so the sea lions were being lazy and at first we thought they wouldn’t join us in the water but a few of the younger ones were tempted to explore and see what we were up to. They didn’t hang around for long and soon we decided to head to deeper waters to look for the dolphins. We had been told that they had been very friendly in the morning so we were hopeful of more success with them. We spent some time looking and we did find a few and ventured in to the water where they played with us for a short while before swimming off. I was glad that I had invested in one of the underwater disposable cameras so with any luck I have even captured them on camera. We saw a few more but weren’t as lucky as the other group who had been surrounded by them earlier that day. It was still an amazing experience and one I am glad I shoes to take part in. Both the dolphins and sea lions were so close that we could almost touch them and a couple of the dolphins danced right in front of me and it was fabulous to be snorkelling again. The experience was over too soon and it was back to the farm where we took advantage of the electricity to do some washing in preparation for our coming week without not only washing machines but most. After dinner that evening I decided to try out my tripod and take some night photos as the mostly clear sky and fire provided many interesting opportunities before it was time for our last night in a proper bed for the next week.

Day 4

As we left the farm the next day we all stopped by the hostel sign for our first proper group photo before heading for a morning of surprises. Our first was as stop at Streaky Bay where we stopped at a service station and walked into a room only to be greeted by a shark hanging from the ceiling. I had seen the sign on the way in but my friend in front of me hadn’t and jumped impressively. Even though I knew the shark was there I was still startled to have it stare me in the face as I walked through the door. From there it was on to Ceduna to a wombat sanctuary where as well as a cute little Joey and numerous wombats we also met a baby white wombat which we were allowed to hold.

On our way to our campsite for the night we stopped at a cattle grip where we were able to wait underneath until not one but two road trains drove over us which was more exciting than you’d think. We also stopped at the famous wildlife sign and the sign that marks the start of the Nullarbor plain. To break up our journey and get a rest from the bus we stopped to see the Bunda Cliffs at the head of the Great Australian Blight before we finally reached the evening’s campsite: the abandoned Koonalda Homestead.  The homestead was abandoned when the new Eyre highway was built and it was no longer financially viable. The owners just walked off and left everything behind. It’s a sad story but it was amazing to walk around and see the abandoned cars and buildings. We set our swags up under the shelter of the veranda of the cookhouse as we had seen some dark clouds threatening rain earlier in the day. We explored the homestead and I was able to try a few different settings on my camera with all the photo opportunities surrounding us. After our group prepared dinner we spent our night in the usual way and I enjoyed trying to get some more night photos. The weather was getting worse and the clouds meant there weren’t many stars out that night but it was still interesting and fun in between chatting to everyone. At bed time our guide warned us to move our swags out from the wall of the kitchen building so we didn’t have mice run over our heads and to listen out for dingoes during the night. I never thought I would regret being a heavy sleeper and whilst I was glad to miss the scurrying mice I was disappointed not to hear the dingoes in the distance the following morning

Day 5

The halfway point of our tour was a day of driving broken up by various interesting rest stops along the way. We stopped to admire the Great Australian Blight once more before crossing the South Australia/Western Australia border where we all trouped out of the bus to take the obligatory one foot in each state photo (or one on each side in the case of my stuffed companions!) before continuing on in to WA. Our first stop in WA was the buried telegraph station of Eucla. We stopped by the new Eucla on the way before continuing on to the buried telegraph station where we walked over the tops of the ruins and found an abandoned flip-flop which we left on a tree full of flip flops on our way across the plain. When travelling a long straight road anything that isn’t road or a bush becomes interesting including the sign alerting us to the start of the 90 mile straight. Of course with no air conditioning the opportunity to get off the bus could have had something to do with our enthusiasm as well but whatever the reason we all piled out and took photos of the sign and the road beyond it. The lack of air conditioning was definitely responsible for our excitement at the next stop, an atmospheric blowhole which blew some amazingly refreshing cold air that we all wished we could take back on the bus with us. Sadly that was not possible so we were back to being relieved at the numerous stops including the one where we could see 13km of uninterrupted straight road.

 

 Eventually we made it to our latest camp site where we hurried to set up our tents before the rain that had been threatening all day arrived. As well as setting up our tents we were able to have a look around the bush which felt like it was in the middle of nowhere instead of just a few meters away from the highway. The rain did eventually arrive but it didn’t stop us from enjoying our dinner under the makeshift shelter provided by our guide and before the rain settled in we were rewarded by a rainbow. As well as not spoiling our evening we were able to get a decent night sleep in our tents leaving us refreshed for our first full day in Western Australia.