Yeah we did it, we crossed the Nullarbor East to West. I’ve achieved a bucket list trip for Chris and I, I know he would be cheering and doing fist pumps up there in heaven. I know he would be so proud of me.
Corrugated iron camels on the main roundabout in town.
So we stayed at the Norseman 72hr free camp. A fenced, some grassed area with marked large sites. Bins and a short walk into town. There is also a dump point and toilets not far away.
We arrived on a Sunday, pretty well all shops were closed, we were able to duck into the supermarket and grab a couple of things.
After lunch we did a walk around town and had a lemonade at the pub, as it was hot.
Mural on the side of the Woodlands Centre which is the Information Centre.
Even on Monday the place is pretty quiet, the Woodlands Visitor Centre was open so we popped into there.
There are several other murals around town.
Laurie Sinclair’s horse Norseman pawed up a very large nugget of gold, from there the town was born and name Norseman after the horse.
We spent 2 days here resting. But did have several bad storms, some very strong winds and dust storms.
Wow there are sure a lot of flies out here. If you were a Ferengi, from Deep Space Nine you might think they would make a great addition to a meal. I’d rather not, not keen on eating them, having them between my sunglasses and eyes, up my nose, buzzing my ears or swallowing one. Poor Jess isn’t impressed either, she has her own fly net.
Wearing a fly net constantly gets a bit thin, eating meals or drinking a cup of tea can be challenging. Many years ago Chris forgot he was wearing his fly net and drunk a cup of tea through the net, he also nearly blew his nose through it. Judy has followed his example many times, with the cup of tea that is 😂.
Over the next few days we continue to head west along the Nullarbor, not as much to see this side of the border. We stopped for the night at the Madura Pass. The Madura Pass lookout offers views of the Hampton Tablelands dropping down to the coastal Roe Plain.
The view
Drove along the Nighty Mile Straight (146.6km’s) Australia’s longest straight road.
Stayed a night at Baxter Rest Area which was an awesome large area, well off the road. Bins, dump point, table and chairs. So many little bays to camp in leading off the main entry road. But OMG the flies, they were still around when it got dark and first thing in the morning back again with a vengeance. If we were Ferengi we would have had enough flies to last us several days of meals. But since we are not Ferengi we could not wait to get out of there.
Just one of the unusual things you can see out here.
We called into the Balladonia Roadhouse, famous the US Skylab space research laboratory which burned up on re-entry on the 12th of July 1979 scattering fragments in the Balladonia area. Balladonia was rocketed to international fame for the point of impact of Skylab.
The day after Skylab returned to earth, Balladonia Roadhouse had a call from the American President, Jimmy Carter apologising for crashing the satellite in the Australian outback and offered the U.S Government assistance for any damage.
We stayed a night at Newman Rocks, a free camp area off the main hwy 142km’s east of Norseman. It is a large area with a bins and tables. Right at the back is an area of rocks, with a lagoon and impressive views. Again more flies and horse flies wow they would make a great finger food for the Ferengi, and the smallest mossies I’ve ever come across. Not much of a feed in them, sorry Ferengi.
We stopped at several viewing areas overlooking the Great Australian Bight, some with some great views of the cliffs.
One area had many people camping there on the cliffs edge, one of the few places left to camp. Great views be awesome to have a sunset on the cliffs. Fingers crossed for on the way back.
The Vegemite Kangaroo at Border Village.
SA/WA sign at the border. Unfortunately surrounded by a fence.
The big whale at Eucla.
Eucla has its own timezone. 45 mins behind WA and 45min ahead of SA. All our devices are on different time zones. A common issue travellers talk about so nobody really seems to know what the time is.
Next to the roadhouse at Eucla is a good gravel road down to the Eucla Old Telegraph Station, with free camping close by.
The Old Telegraph Station is only a short walk, most of it is being taken over by the sand now. So sad to see some graffiti all over it. Eucla telegraph line and manual repeater station were established in 1877. Together with the telegraph line, a jetty and tram line were also constructed for offloading supplies brought by ships. 1927, the Eucla Telegraph Station closed.
The station also had to deal with a rabbit plague. The sand drifts were caused by the rabbit plague that destroyed dune vegetation. Now it is little more than a few old stone walls protruding above the moving dunes.
The Old Eucla Jetty was a bit more challenging to get to. Follow the 4wd tracks they said. Well that worked in the soft sand, we were happily following the 4wd tracks and other foot prints. Until we came to hard ground with no clear 4wd tracks and multiple tracks leading off in all directions. We took what we thought was right, which turned out to be wrong. Having us taking the long way, getting lost and following our nose or maybe Jess’s nose to the beach. Which we eventually found a little distance from the old pier.
Built in 1887, the old Eucla Jetty was once used by sail & steam ships to bring stores from Albany and Esperance. It was also used to export wool and Sandalwood from out of the Eucla region. The original jetty structure extended out into the Bight for more than a hundred meters.
Some young people climbed up there easy.
There were some other people there in 4wd’s so we asked them was there a clear road back. Yeah sure follow our 4wd tracks. 😳 So we did that coming back and again came across hard ground, with no tracks and multiple ways to go. Thankfully another 4wd came along and we headed off on the track they took. Eventually we go back to camp exhausted, very hot and sweaty.
Head of the Bight is a great place to see Southern Right Whales in the winter months from May to October. Outside that time the entry price is half price and is still a great place to visit.
Free camp area at the entry gate to the visitor centre.
A easy boardwalk leads you to the cliff edge with amazing views of the ocean and Bunda Cliffs.
Amazing views of the Bunda cliffs, our first glimpse.
A couple of small lizards heaving a fight.
The coloured one seemed to be loosing the battle.
Next was the sign for the Eastern End of the Treeless Plain. Nullarbor” is derived from the Latin words nullus (“nothing” or “no”) and arbor(“tree”), directly translating to “no trees” There was indeed no trees but small bushes. It is a really good road.
I was a little emotional at the sign, thinking of Chris and how much we both wanted to do this trip together.
The famous Nullarbor Roadhouse. We had lunch here and I bought a cute Emu with big eyes that will sit on my shelf at home reminding me of this trip. I’ve called in Nelly from the Nullarbor Roadhouse.
Photo of the original roadhouse.
Camels, Wombats, Kangaroos and dogs 😂 We have not actually seen any animals on the Nullarbor so far.
A few other signs at the Nullarbor Roadhouse.
Inside the roadhouse an amazing mural.
A sense of humour, love it.
Royal Flying Doctor Service R.F.D.S landing strip on the Eyre Highway.
The first scenic lookout of the Great Australian Bight showing the Bunda cliffs. Amazing, can see how the cliffs edges are falling away. A lot of the previous entry points to view the cliffs have been closed off deemed too dangerous.
We found a spot to camp for the night just off the road well hidden from sight.
Time has come to finally cross the Nullarbor, as mentioned something we have tried to do many many times, that hasn’t happened for different reasons. With the current fuel situation it was once again up in the air but I felt it was now or never and something I had to do for both Chris and myself and a big step in my healing journey.
So the day has finally come, our idea is to take our time stopping as many things as we can. First stop was the Penong Windmill Museum. A great display of windmills of all shapes and sizes, including Australia’s largest windmill. We decided we would do Lake MacDonald – The Pink Lake on our way back.
Australia’s biggest windmill, called Bruce
Lots of windmills.
All shapes and sizes.
A brief detour to the Big Wombat.
Minions on the side of the road.
Bookabie School Ruins, the remains of a school that operated from 1892 until 1957.
We stopped for the first night at Kidnippy Rest Stop near Yalata. This was a big area, going a fair way from the Eyre Hwy. We were able to get a great spot along the back fence and had a really quiet night.
Ceduna, gateway to the Nullarbor. We had booked into the Big 4 Ceduna Tourist Park, a month ago for 2 nights. When we arrived we saw they had a deal of pay 2 stay 3, so we decided to take advantage of the deal. Judy had booked and paid the deposit which covered her site. When we came and I paid for mine the price had gone up $4 a night so thought that was a bit rough when she had booked both sites and the deposit covered both sites.
I’ve never been a Big 4 fan because in the past most of them are not dog friendly. These days the demand for pet friendly accommodation for the travellers has increased and they seem to be changing their policy at least in some places. Even though this place allows dogs I would not say they are dog friendly and other travellers said the same.
It was still nice to have a break for a few days, catch up on some shores. The weather was not the best with overcast skies and drizzle.
A great mural near the other caravan park.
We did a drive to Thevanard Bought some fish and chips back in Ceduna and ate them down near the pier.
Some great murals around Ceduna.
The local post office.
All of the bins are painted with different art work.
We met some lovely people at the caravan park including 2 young inspiration people who had ridden their bikes across the Nullarbor. One from Ireland was riding around the world.
The Ceduna pier.
We were excited to head off across the Nullarbor on our first clear day for a while.
We left Peterborough and headed to Port Augusta for a few groceries and a stop at the local bakery. Judy had taken us on a bit of a short cut that took us past wind farms and some picturesque scenery, road was narrow and bumpy.
It had rained the night before and was still a pretty gloomy day.
We stopped for the night at Iron Knob RV Park, a donation park, and $2 for hot showers. The best hot showers since I have left home.
Camping was on a gravel base which was great when the storm rolled in at 4.30am.
There was not a blade of grass around, plenty of spiky weeds and loads of flies.
The town of Iron Knob is situated at the foot of an iron ore mine on the North East of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.
Iron Knob began as a housing settlement for miners somewhere between the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. It is often said to be the birthplace of Australia’s steel industry, and the mine is among the oldest still active in Australia.
Star Date – 9/4/26
We stopped for a break at Kimba and boy were we impressed. We weren’t staying the night but plan to spend a few days there on our way.
We pushed on at stopped at the Star Base Wudinna at the RV park. $10 unpowered, $20 powered. Drinking water, bins, table and chairs, toilets and one shower for $2.
Aboriginal meaning is Granite Hill (Woodina), has a population of approx 500 people and is the largest town in the council area.
Star Date, 6th day of the 5th month in the year 2026.
After my enjoyable stay at Nyngan I headed towards Broken Hill, stopping at base camp at Wilcannia. We have driven through it several times but due to not finding any suitable places off road to stop for the night I elected to stay safely at the Victory Caravan Park that is council run. There were 9 other travellers there as well as a large group of locals staying a few days. Families with lots of youth from town coming and going. We had no issues at all, a friendly bunch having a great time.
I’d was at Broken Hill in Oct 2024 with Chris, we stayed here for several day exploring the local attractions. You can look back over past Captain’s logs to read what we got up to.
I stayed at the Event Centre and Racecourse where we stayed last night. We had a grassed non powered section all to ourselves. It’s a few km’s out of the main town area but that makes it nice and quiet.
After a brief stop at the shops it was onward to Peterborough SA. My meeting place to meet up with Judy. I was arriving a day earlier to relax a bit after my long few days of travel.
There are strict restrictions of bringing in fruit and veg, check before you cross the border to avoid having to throw out any food. The quarantine station was at Oodla Wirra, friendly man who gave Jess’s carrot the thumbs up and we were on our way.
I was excited and a little emotional to reach Peterborough. I had driven 1865km’s on my own over 6 days. It was a big deal, I said to Chris I made it and knew he would be so proud.
I drove straight to the self contained RV park, setup camp and chilled for a few mins before lunch. It’s like a big oval, people camping mostly around the outside, a big green area in the middle, mostly weeds rather than grass. Nice and flat. There are bins but no other facilities which is why you must be self contained. In town is a dump point and potable water. There is also a dog park very close by.
We mostly chilled for the afternoon with a few short walks with Jess.
7th April, Jess and I did the walk into town. About a 1km to the dump point area and then a very long street. Peterborough is known for trains. Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre and visitor information centre was unfortunately closed, due to the Council’s current financial position. Sounds like they are working towards reopening sometime in 2026.
There are several old steam trains around town.
Y Class Steam locomotive, in the town square.
Town Carriage Museum, a 1916 first class sleeping car, which was used on the first train across the Nullarbor from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie.
Bob the Railway Dog, located in front of the carriage museum. Bob was the engine drivers companion, died at 13 years of age in 1895. Jess makes friends where ever she goes.
Judy also arrived today, so no more travelling solo for a while.
I always go to say this name wrong. I can hear Chris correcting me when I think about how to say it. 😂
Nyngan was a pleasant surprise. A small country town with a lot of history, beautiful parks, free camping areas and one big, make that huge Bogan.
There are 3 free camping areas, one in town called the Flood Memorial Park, Nyngan Weir and the Nyngan Bowls Club. All 3 look great, the Weir seems to be a popular choice as it was obviously well used as it was very dusty with little to no grass, there were several campers there.
The one in town where I stayed is on bitumen, has shade, bins, table and chairs, dump point, potable water and well maintained toilets. It’s a very popular stop for people using the toilets. It’s in a very handy location to walk into the town area.
It was Good Friday when I was there so hardly anything was open and it was pretty quiet. It was also pretty hot so I did a drive around the area which allowed me to get further a field than if I had walked.
The Big Bogan is a site not to be missed with his fishing road and faithful friend Rusty. The Bogan Shire Council erected the structure in September 2015 as a tourist attraction, to promote Nyngan and the shire. The term Bogan originated from the Aussie larrikin and ocker. And where better to have a big Bogan than on the banks of the Bogan River. The Bogan represents the relaxed lifestyle on the river. So you have the Big Bogan on the Bogan River in the Bogan Shire.
In April 1990 the Bogan River flooded and completely inundated the town despite the efforts of the locals the leeve bank was breached. The flood broke all previous records. The town was cut off and under water, all services were cut. It was decided to airlift almost the entire population.
The Coach House in the same park as the Big Bogan.
In 1992 the Governor of NSW and the Nyngan Flood Recovery Coordinator, Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair presented a helicopter called Iroquois A2-1022 to the people of Nyngan on behalf of the Australian Government to commemorate the evacuation of Nyngan on the 24th October 1990.
The Iroquois A2-1022 had been used in the Vietnam War by the 9 squadron RAAF. The Iroquois remained in Nyngan for 19 years the town unaware of significance of the military history of the A2-1022 until in 2009 when a former member of the 9 squadron travelling through Nyngan spotted the aircraft.
Following talks between the Bogan Council and the Caloundra (QLD) RSL Sub Branch Recovery Team 2011, the A2-1022 was transported by road to Caloundra where it was restored and put on display outside the Caloundra RSP with a dedication ceremony in March 2012.
A Iroquois airframe was also restored to replace the A2-1022 in Nyngan which is on display in the main street.
I also came across a water tower beautifully painted, really outstanding. The people that paint these are incredible talented.
We drove down to the river where Jess insisted on a swim. Not that I blamed her it looked incredible inviting.
After a drive out to the weir it was decided we would stay back in town where it was less dusty.
There is also a Visitor Centre, Museum, Mid State Shearing Shed Museum, Nyngan Coach House, Golf Course, lovely parks with several public toilets around town. A main street that has plenty of shops and banks, but all closed.
I was impressed with Nyngan and it would nice to come back again when things are open.
A “state of flux” describes a situation that is constantly changing, unstable, and uncertain. It signifies a transitional phase where the outcome is not yet determined or settled, sounds like the world at the moment. And also a title of an episode in Star Trek Voyager, so seemed a fitting title for this post.
On my trip, I need to be fluid, be able to change, adapt and be flexible. I’ve certainly felt like my plans were in a “state of flux”
My planned route had to remain flexible, it has changed several times due to different reasons including flooding.
I also factored in where more star-bases were to fuel up, keeping topped up along the way.
Houston we have a problem. Ready to head off and leave home port to find my Staria Trek would not start. It turned out to be the power cell and I had to get Battery World out for a replacement. Have to say they were excellent. The power cells in my particular star ship are rather unique in that, they are an AGM and the poles are the opposite to most star ships, according to the guy who came out they are the only star ship like that. That means they can charge a premium for the power cells. An extra cost I could have done without but also very thankful I was still at home base and they came out very quickly. Only 2 hrs delayed start.
First stop for the night was Goondiwindi show ground. It is rather dry and dusty.
Next stop was Hickey Falls, not far out of Coonabarabran. It was nice and green, gravel bitumen base carpark area that was relatively flat. A nice green grass area next to it. Shelter shed with tables and seats, several bins. A local council worker came and cleaned the tables and seats, saying they were cleaned 3 times a week.
The walk to the falls is less than a min walk from the carpark. It was not flowing when I was there but did have some water in the swimming hole, which Jess got to have a little paddle.
