Galloping across the Nullarbor towards The End

We left Kalgoorlie and spent the next few days galloping across the Nullarbor and heading towards home with mixed feelings.  We were looking forward to seeing our family and friends, but we have loved this life of travel and adventure and the concept of returning home to jobs and predictability is a bit scary. 

The Nullarbor has a reputation as a long and boring drive.  The name Nullarbor is reputed to mean treeless plain and there are parts which are exactly that.  Long straight roads with no trees and little scrub. 

But actually not that much matches this description.  By now we consider ourselves reasonably seasoned drivers who have seen a bit of country.  Well this is not the most boring road we have come across or even the longest uninterrupted drives.  For barren country we think central west Queensland wins that title, albeit it drought the country after Winton barely had even grass.  And for long straight monotony, well we think you can’t beat the road from Broome to Port Hedland.  We had expected this drive to be a combination of these two areas stretching out over days.  We were wrong.  The drive across the Nullabor is quite varied and interesting.  The flora and fauna change continuously and there are a range of places and sites to stop and visit.

We spent our first night at Fraser Range Station – a cattle station that had recently turned to sheep  This was a lovely spot, there were trees and hills to walk.  The station offered a set price dinner which was an offer we couldn’t refuse.  And as usual our kids met other kids and so began a connection with a new family that stretched from West to East.

We free camped near Madura after a day that had started with trees alongside the road and by the time we had reached our destination they were back.  We had a lovely evening with a spectacular Nullabor sunset and a campfire shared with the family we had met the night before – as I have said before you make friends quickly when you travel like this.

The next days drive saw us cross the SA border and with it came many opportunities to take a short detour off the highway and take in the amazing sight that is the great Australian bite.

Two great Australian bites in action here.

We also got to visit the Head of the Bite which is apparently a fantastic place to whale watch – when there are whales to be seen that is.  They had come and gone by the time we got there.

We ended our days driving in the lovely town of Streaky Bay as night was descending.  We stayed in a caravan park with one of the best views we had seen on this trip.  Our only regret was that in the morning after a quick stroll we packed up and headed off early for another long drive.

 

We spent the next night in Clare in South Australia and after several days hard driving both ourselves and our new accompanying family all decided we needed a nice quiet rest day.  The scene was set for a perfect day – lovely green treed countryside, a town picture postcard perfect.  However, the day didn’t turn out quite as we expected, fires raged through that part of SA that day devasting much country, burning houses and causing anguish and pain.  We new things were bad when the caravan park owner knocked on our door asking if we had good reception to hear news.  On the road alongside the caravan park fire truck after fire truck headed south.  Then the smoke rose over the horizon.  We packed the caravan up but stayed put – there were too many fires to make a decision to move in haste.  The closest fire to us was just over 10k away, but fortunately the fireys were able to control and contain that one before the conditions deteriorated throughout the day.

With the immediate threat averted we decided to stay close to the van and after a quick trip to the local supermarket we stayed at the caravan park, swimming in the pool and making use of the fantastic pizza ovens in place in the camp kitchen.

The next day we said goodbye to our recent travelling companions as we were heading to Mildura and they further south on their way to Melbourne.

Mildura

This was another stop for family.  My uncle and aunt live just outside Mildura in a small (very small town) called Curlwaa.  To make this stop even better my Dad had driven over from Canberra.  He had long wanted to show the boys around the place he grew up in and share his memories and passion for the area.

We did some of the sites, saw the Murray River locks, tried to do a paddle steamer trip out of Mildura but whilst we had bought the tickets at the Info Centre they apparently didn’t know that the trip didn’t run on Mondays.  We found out as we waited by the river for a boat that never came ……

Most of our time however was spent with family.  The boys loved my uncle and aunts property and their time picking fruit, fishing, sliding on the local sand dunes and driving the farm trucks!

Wooo hoooo – best thing ever!

Yeee haaaa can I go faster?

 

Mildura was a lovely stop.  My uncle and aunts property and house on the Murray River were simply beautiful, as was the time we spent in their company.

View of the river from the house

 

The totally gorgeous house

We headed off in convoy with my Dad stopping overnight in Hay.  We had a lovely dinner at the Hay Pub to celebrate my birthday (no cake on the road however) and parted ways with him at Wagga Wagga. We went on to Cowra one of our first destinations and now our last.

Cowra and the Young cherry festival.

We spent a week in Cowra at the beginning of our journey so didn’t repeat those activities this time.  We did have a day trip to Young as it was Cherry Fesival time.  Even before entering Young the road had farmgate stalls of cherries, jams and pies well before we hit Young.  In Young there were more and more cherries, and preserves and pies.  But there were also really cool old cars which my three boys loved.  In fact they loved looking at all the cars so much that when the opportunity to drive them presented itself there were off fast as they could go, at least until they crashed into each other.

Perfect colour for a cherry festival.

Scarily I think my Mum and Dad had a very similar car when I was about the boys age.

The Last Hoorah!
 
Our last trip event was a barbecue dinner at the Cowra Van Park (where we had stayed the last time here with our beloved Cool George).  Davids parents joined us as we joined our lines on the map to make our full circuit!

Yep it was a quick gallop across that Nullarbor and then the Hay Plain.

And now we join – Cheers!

This map was stuck to our caravan table the whole trip.  We ate on this map, created inland soup lakes, pasta mountain ranges, cereal hills galore.  Its edges were frayed, maybe there is a stain or two where dinner didn’t quite clean away.  But we loved our map because it tells the tale of our amazing family adventure!!!!!!

Back home and a sad goodbye

We returned home, to our families (yay) our friends (woo hoo), our house (thanks Janey it was in good hands), our jobs and our lives.  We had been enriched and changed by what we had done.  Some months later we had a sad chapter in this story.  We had never intended to keep our beloved caravan – it was too big to have at our home and too heavy for short trips.  So with great regret and sadness we sold Cool George.  We very much liked the family that bought it and we hope they have as much fun in it as we did.  Goodbye George we wish you well wherever you go!!!!!!

VALE KEVIN SLOAN

On 14 June 2016 Kevin Sloan beloved father of David and Michelle, husband of Christine and grandfather of five glorious children lost his battle to mesothelioma.  He was diagnosed just as we were planning to leave but insisted that we continue this journey.  We came back in July 2015 to celebrate his birthday it was to be his last.  I believe he was proud of his son and the courage and grit this journey demonstrated.  Kevin is sorely missed to this day and I would like to dedicate the blog of our 2015 adventure to him.  

 Rest in peace Kevin.