Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[roverdriver]

If you have missed it, Part 1 of this story is here-

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=118273#118273

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As usual, we were up and on the road before sunrise. Here we are still in wheat country.



Which continued for another 160 or so K's



We passed by the town of Penong, and stopped for fuel at Nundroo Roadhouse, where Noreen espied a flock of Galahs.



Gradually the wheat fields fell away and we entered lightly wooded country.



The woodlands continued for about 100 k's taking us past the now closed, once Aborigine operated roadhouse at Yalata. Gradually as the area became more arid, the vegetation changed to salt bush and spinifex.

We were now in 'new' territory, as on our last trip (1975) this is what the road from here looked like-



Eventually on that wide horizon there appeared something that nature had not put there. It resolved itself into Nullarbor Roadhouse.



This 'new' road is a bit closer to the sea than the old one, and the old Nullarbor Homestead and roadhouse could be seen one kilometer away.



Back in 1975, we also stopped there too and could then see machinery, in the distance working on the new road.



While having a break here, we were approached by a young lady, asking if we were going to the rally. We knew nothing of a rally, but had, from time to time, seen some cars that were covered with stickers, all heading the same way as ourselves. The visitor explained about the fund-raising rally and invited us to the start of it in Perth.

We were now in the Nullarbor National Park. Land that once used to graze sheep is now a nature preserve.



We continued on our way once more. Now a curious thing occurred. There are the main distant signs, but also a small marker every 5 kilometers. We have checked them against the odometer and they all seem to be 5 k's apart. Now the speed limit here is 110 kph., and at one point I gave my wife my watch and suggested that we time ourselves between a couple of the 5 k markers. The elapsed time was 2 minutes and 20 seconds. Now I am not one to exceed the speed limit, so my only conclusion is that those markers were much less than 5 k's apart!
Come to think about it I did overtake a road train and a couple of slow caravans on that stretch. I'll leave it to someone else to do the mathematics.





Before we reached the border, the road came very close to the coast, so we paused for photos.





Our next stop was ,as you might have guessed, the next settlement, Border Village. There was no Border Village to the best of my memory, in 1975, nor was there a plant quarantine check point back then.



We passed through the check point without problems. We knew better than to take fruit or vegetable into another state, but were not going to spend money with those newcomers, so pressed on a further 10 k's to Eucla, which was there 39 years ago. We topped off the petrol once again remarking on the new buildings, and promising ourselves to explore on our way back.



Here the road descended from the low escarpment that is the 'true' Nullarbor Plain. The actual plain, the largest expanse in the world of bedrock limestone covers some 200,000 square K's (77,000 square miles)



A few miles further on, I spied something of importance, at least it is important to me, so I brought the car to a near halt and tuned off the road to this-



Water is very precious here, so the Roads Authority set up these sheds. Any rain flows into storage tanks and is available for the use of travellers.

Here is the same shed tank in 1975.



A little past the shed tanks we saw a wider section of road.



In an emergency the road becomes an emergency landing strip for the Royal Flying Doctor Service planes.

As the afternoon wore on, clouds gathered. I was pleased as they obscured the westering sun, but after a while, my pleasure disappeared, the clouds heralded rain squalls, and vicious ones at that. We reduced speed and continued on to the next place, Madura, where we again refuelled. I asked the proprietor there and some road train drivers if they knew how wide the rain band was, but they could not help. By this time the squalls seemrd to have stopped giving way to gentle rain, so we pressed on. The road climbs back onto the escarpment so we were back on the limestone plains.



There was still the risk of running into wildlife, but the usual time for extreme caution is at dawn and dusk.

We finally decided to stop at the settlement of Cocklebiddy, having clocked up 814 k's for the day.



Cocklebiddy and nearby Caiguna fall into an interesting time zone. It is called Central Western Time. In Victoria we have Eastern Standard Time. South Australia is half an hour behind that, and a narrow strip of Western Australia uses Central Western which is 45 minutes after S.A. time. Perth and the rest of the state uses Wetern Australia Time which is another 45 minutes after Cocklebiddy's time, and therefore 2 hours later that Victoria's time. Doctor Who id not the only time traveller!



Cocklebiddy has a motel and restaurant among its attractions, so we booked into the motel and watched the sun set.



Then made our way to the restaurant for a nice meal. With a population of only eight people, everyone takes on a multiplicity of roles. The manager, who was attending the petrol station became a barman, the receptionist became a waitress etc., etc.

Troy, the manager, was able to chat with us for a while during the last of the daylight. We asked about the fact that the eatery was called the Wedgetail Inn, and it was because of the number of eagles in the area. Noreen and I were then greatly privileged to be introduced to Sammi, a Wedgetail Eagle, that had been injured. Troy had arranged veterinary help for her broken wink and lost eye, but Sammi would never be able to hunt for herself again. Troy was keeping her in a 'regulation' recovery cage, but was setting up a proper aviary for her in which she would be able to fly about.

Here is Sammi.



We liked the atmosphere and staff so much, that on our return journey we stayed here again.
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Part 4 of the tale can be found here-

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15998
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.