CROSSING THE NULLARBOR

From Adelaide we drove to Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula and then on to Ceduna. From here we passed through wheat growing country where we came across this feature known as Murphy’s Haystacks. Actually an outcrop of large red granite boulders that have been weathered into beautiful forms that reminded someone of haystacks.

        

This next photo shows the beach at Ceduna.

 Beyond Ceduna the counrtyside becomes very flat and dry. This is the arid Nullarbor plain that occupies the southern central part of the continent. There are only a very few rather small trees, so the plain is called Nullarbor, from nullus arbor ('no trees', in Latin). 

The next photo is of the northern most point of the Great Australian Bight, which is the southern edge of Australia. To the east are huge, brilliant white sand dunes.

To the west are the Bunda Cliffs that stretch continuously for 200 kilometres and are about 80 metres high.

This photo shows Laurie driving across part of this plain. 

About midway across I took this photo looking east along the line of the cliffs.

Because of the flatness the roads are straight for many kilometres. The longest stretch being 145.6 Kilometres (90 miles) without a bend, just an occasional gentle rise of a few metres.

On three occasions we passed a section of the road that is used as an airstrip by the Royal Flying Doctor Service in an emergency. There are no hospitals between Ceduna and Norseman, a distance of 1,200 kilometres. 

In this next photo you can see a wide graded area on each side of the road for traffic use when the sealed road is being used by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

We stayed a night at Eucla the first settlement over the border of Western Australia. This was the site of a telegraph station opened in 1877 the ruins of which are still visible. However, they are being slowly buried by the drifting sand dunes.

The remains of the wharf at Eucla.

At dinner in the Eucla Motor Hotel over looking a garden oasis. 

Our next night was spent at the Fraser Range Station where my grandfather had stayed on 30th August in 1897. He and his brother Fred made an epic bicycle ride from Mount Magnet (in Western Australia) to Melbourne (in Victoria) covering 4171 kilometres (2,592 miles) in six 1/2 weeks.

This is the cottage in which we stayed.

The station office and shop.

The old station building.

There was a surprising amount of wildlife to be seen when we had a late afternoon walk.

Laurie spotted this Shingleback Lizard.

There were also quite a lot of kangaroos among the rocks on the hills around the station.

Before we left on this holiday one of my friends asked me to make some ikebana by the roadside with materials from the roadside. This is for you John. A sculptural installation of massed unconventional (man-made) material with dried botanical materials. This work is also an exercise in 'Tones of the same colour'.

Greetings from Christopher and Laurie.

8th March 2014