After two long days of driving I have travelled approximately 1,400 kilometres from Kalgoorlie to Fowlers Bay and crossed the Nullarbor in between. The Nullarbor has become an iconic Australian road trip and it is possibly a heinous crime to have knocked it over in less than two days. But needs must. Contrary to many people’s reports, the vegetation is not dull and boring and there are some trees – as, hopefully, you will get some sense of from the photos. And there are some occasional bends and dips in the road! Birds, with Kamakazi tendencies, flitted regularly across my flight path confirming that, along with vegetation, there is also wildlife on the Nullarbor. The yellow hazard road signs raised expectations of camels, wombats and kangaroos but only a small number of flattened versions of the latter two were in evidence. I was mildly buggered at the end of the drive but I’m sure it would have been a much harder in earlier days. Like the Gibb River Road, the toughness of the track is mostly history. However, I was lucky to make The Crossing in cloudy and wet weather and on baking hot days I’m sure the Nullarbor’s darker side would come to the fore. Stopping to refuel at Cocklebiddy, – the picture of a quaint British seaside village that this name conjures up bears no resemblance to the roadhouse – determined that remoteness can still create some issues for the unprepared traveller. A recent lightning strike had knocked out the EFTPOS facility, amongst other electronic damage. For the cashless Nullarbor traveller who had coasted into Cocklebiddy with a near empty fuel tank, this meant several days stay at Cocklebiddy waiting whilst the EFTPOS was fixed. Highlights of the Nullarbor drive were: loads of thinking and singing time; confirming that the Nullarbor is not all flat and featureless; having a blast of sun come out whilst listening to Freddie Mercury’s Barcelona, which gave me a total body shivery sensation and watching a whale at the Nullarbor roadhouse.
parrygraphs 