Chapter 1 - Nullarbor, Here We Come

Day 1 - Wednesday 22nd May 2019 - Nhill

99% of the car and caravan activities were completed before bed time last night. Last minute jobs in both, and around the home were completed by 9am today.

It was 8:56 am as we started along the road to South Australia, the destination for our first major stop at Streaky Bay, which is a few days away. The weather was a chilly 9 degrees, but sunny. More importantly there was no wind.

Darryl & Kay were already somewhere in the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. David and Bev were on the road somewhere near us. David and Wendy are a day behind us.

Our first stop of the trip was just north of Ballarat, at Beaufort, for a late morning tea. After a coffee and a coffee scroll we wandered up the street and met up with David and Bev.

We moved along together and stopped at Dadswell Bridge for lunch beside the Big Koala - made from bronze and fibreglass.



The Big Koala

David and Bev with Lunch

A stop at Dimboola created a challenge - to produce a limerick for each significant town that we passed. Bev succeeded for Dimboola and I produced one for Nhill. Neither will appear in this blog.

We stopped for the night at Nhill after 392 km on day 1.  We had a coffee, then a beer, then the four of us shared a bottle of fine Pepperjack Shiraz over casserole and freshly cooked damper. The feature of the caravan park was some fine old farm machinery, among some magnificent gum trees.

Above & Below: Some pre-loved farm machinery

It was an early night. Our trip had begun.


Day 2 - Thursday 23rd May - Adelaide

The overnight temperature dipped below 4 degrees. However the start of the day was clear and sunny. I showered before dawn and Shirley was out of bed by 7:20.

We trundled out of Nhill at 8:30 under a clear and sunny sky. It was about 11 degrees. We crossed the border into South Australia as the temperature climbed. Our first stop was for coffee and a coffee scroll at Keith. Keith has some street art and recognized the contribution of the Land Rover in the development of the land.

A Land Rover on a Pole

Recognition of the country fire services

We headed on to Coonalpyn, also noted for it's art. It was a gem in the middle of nowhere.  First we had a good look at a community project to improve the visual aspect of the local railway pedestrian underpass. It is called "Tunnel Vision".



Two item of many in the "Tunnel Vision" collection.


Then we viewed a beautiful large mosaic. 


A magnificent mosaic

Finally we took in the art work on the pre-loved grain silos.

End of the painted silos

Front view of the painted silos

A replica of the silo artist was made from the paint cans that were used to produce the silo art.

Paint-can-artist

The four us headed towards Adelaide and had lunch at Murray Bridge, near the bank of the Murray River.



Chris, Shirley, Bev, David, with the Murray River in the background

Bev and David headed off to see friends in Lyndoch and we kept heading towards Adelaide. Our day finished after 380 km when we were 20 km north of the Adelaide city centre.

Day 3 - Friday 24th May - Port Augusta

It was a slow start to the day as we waited for news on the outcome of Bev and David's serious caravan problem.  However we hit the road about 9:40 and headed north.

The gusty (mostly head) winds made for a very hard drive. Our driver (me) was pleased to stop at Port Wakefield for a coffee and lamington. The torment soon resumed as we headed towards Port Pirie.

Port Pirie provided a temporary respite over lunch and an extended walk round town. Port Pirie apparently has a "negative" reputation with most people (us included), so they are working very hard to turn that negativity around. It has some lovely old restored buildings and has a lovely view of the adjacent mountain ranges.

View from Port Pirie

We left town and after 6 km we sat in behind a "wide load" that took up a lot of the road.

The severe head wind and restricted passing lanes held us there for the remaining 80km to Port Augusta.

We found our caravan park for the night, and discovered that it had new ambitious managers. This meant that it was cheap and all facilities are gradually being updated.  It was worth the few dollars to see the sunset.

Port Augusta Sunset

The sunset was shared with David and Wendy who had arrived minutes before us.

Wendy, Shirley, Chris & David

We dined together and parted in time for blog completion before bed. The good news was that Bev and David's serious caravan problem seems to have been resolved.

Today was a very tough and fuel costly day of 308 km. That is 1080 km so far.

Day 4 - Saturday 25th May - Streaky Bay

It was cool and sunny as we departed the caravan park at 8:20 am. While yesterday we had a vicious head wind, today we had a friendly tail wind. However the sunny conditions soon deteriorated into a weather front that looked more like a dust storm.



Approaching weather front

We entered the low level dark cloud and 10 minutes later appeared out the other side. That weather pattern was replaced by heavy cloud, then sun, then torrential rain - off and on for maybe 100 km.

We passed the tired town of Iron Knob and moved to Kimba.

First we visited the town "lookout" that has a statue dedicated to John Eyre - the pioneer surveyor whom the Eyre Peninsular was named after.

John Eyre Memorial Statue

Shirley admiring the statues and the view

We returned to the town and had morning tea in front of the magnificent silo art - painted by Melbourne artist Cam Scale.

Kimba Silo Art by Cam Scale

Right beside the silo was a large plant of the magnificent Desert Sturt Pea - the floral emblem for South Australia. It is an amazing plant.

Desert Sturt Pea

Kimba also has the "Big Galah", which was what I felt like as I took the photo below.

We were now on the home stretch and arrived at Streaky Bay, five minutes behind David and Wendy, and 90 minutes before David and Bev. The "Foreshore" caravan park lived up to its name and was a long skinny park along the Streaky Bay foreshore.

The eight of us (with Kay and Darryl) met together for the first time and moved into a friendly happy hour followed by dinner.

Today was 405 km, and was an easier drive than the 308 km yesterday.

I finish today's story with a cross between a reality check and some humour. Click here for details on our Trials and Tribulations.


Day 5 - Sunday 26th May - Streaky Bay

The average km per day will drop from 371 to 297 as I do not intend to move the car today. All travel will be by foot.

We know that the holiday has well and truly started when Shirley can sleep to whenever and I can be on the beach, with camera, before the sun rises.  The following is what I saw....

Streaky Bay Sunrise

I was able to get the clothes into the washing machine before I hit the beach. By the time I had a short walk, and a shower, and got the clothes out of the washing machine the rain had started. So much for that idea. But Shirley slept on.

I liked the following sign:

After morning duties we all walked in to town and found the best coffee shop in town - and it was.

Our Preferred Streaky Bay Coffee Shop

After coffee we checked out the hardware and food shops in town - before a couple of photos at the jetty.

View from under the jetty. Why? Because I could.

Ned, Wrighty, Crippsy, Dags

By the time we returned to the caravan park the washing was virtually dry.

Streaky Bay is a lovely small seaside town. However the weather today was pretty ordinary.

After lunch Wrighty and I made plain and date scones for afternoon tea.

Above & Below: Scones

However we did get time to see the pelicans seeking the dividends from two fisherman cleaning their fish.

Contented Pelican

We dined on BBQ together. As promised, the car did not move today.


Day 6 - Monday 27th May - Streaky Bay & District

The day again started miserably, weather wise.

Around 10 am Kay, Shirley, Darryl and I went for a drive. Our first stop was at "Murphy's Haystack" - rock formations known as Inselbergs. They were very impressive.

Chris, Shirley, Kay, Darryl

We then moved on to the Pt Labatt sea lion colony.  The weather was windy and cold, the sea was turbulent, and the sea lions were very peaceful.

There were plenty of sea birds and a few seals.

As it was too cold to stop for a thermos of coffee, we headed back to our favourite coffee place in Streaky Bay.

The afternoon was rest and relaxation in readiness for our movement west tomorrow, closer to the Nullarbor.

We dined inside again, in the park camp kitchen.  Today was a mere 135 km, with the daily average dropping to 270 km.



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This post is complete.
It was last updated around 7.45 pm on Monday 27th May 2019