May 3 ... Norseman

First off, in fairness, I have to say that the families were very considerate and quiet, and so no problem at all. Secondly, the price of petrol did continue to surprise us. Premium unleaded ranged from $2.01/litre to $2.06/litre. Fortunately we only needed to get a little to take us the whole way across.

Eucla is very much an "over-night" stop for most people so, at the crack of dawn or before!... people started pulling out. There was no way we could have slept in even if we wanted to, but it was good to get going as we had over 720kms to drive.
This morning was heavily overcast and we continued to dodge quite heavy showers for most of the day. One thing that was disappointing for me, was the scarcity of wildlife. I was looking forward to seeing heaps of fauna but I had to be content with one emu and three wedgetail eagles. I am sure there was a lot more but it was hiding ... well!

Rain on the Nullabor

It was a long drive today but there were plenty of distractions. A number of dead trees have been decorated in various themes to entertain the traveller. There is the "cap" tree, the "thongs" tree, the "hard hat" tree, the "bra" tree and the "undies" tree ... all of which had many pieces of said apparel dangling from them, but this was our favourite ... the "domestic" tree! Remembering that we were some distance from anywhere, you have to wonder how some of this stuff got there. Should you wish to undertake the challenge, you can try to find these objects or, you can just take our word for it.

The Domestic Tree on the Nullabor

A vacumn cleaner; a TV; a VCR; 3 electric jugs;1 kettle; a clock radio; a jar of honey; a hard hat; many pairs of thongs; a pair of gardening gloves (unused); a book; black leather shoes; a bucket; a tyre; a drink bottle; a grater; a pair of overalls; a workvest; coathangers; a santa hat; a sun shade; a bottle of listerine; and sundry clothing!

On a less frivilous note, we stopped at the lookout near Madura and the view of the plains was wonderful. One big improvement that has occurred since our last crossing is that you can now buy a really good coffee at most of the roadhouses, and quite tasty food too.

Madura Pass Lookout

At Cocklebiddy we stopped to check out one of the holes of the Nullabor Links, the world's longest golf course, and it looked ROUGH! There was artificial grass at the tee and for the green, but the fairway would have been a real challenge. We believe you are advised to "tee up" your ball on a cut off drink bottle! No doubt it would be lots of fun if you were with a group of friends but a lot of time would be spent trying to find your ball.

Eagles's Nest Hole - Cocklebiddy

Looking down the "fairway" to the green

On this trip Garry drove the 90 mile (151kms) straight, but in truth, there are many stretches of straight road that go for 30 or 40 kms or more. I think this is one of the things that makes the Nullabor so unique.
Anyway, we made good time, changing our clocks and gaining two hours helped, arriving in Norseman around 3pm. This has been our longest driving day and we do not plan any more like it in the near future, but it was always interesting and, as always, the WA roads are excellent

Tin Camels at Norseman