22/04/12 - The first day in WA

The classic Nullabor sign shot

Dawn at the roadhouse camping area

Nullabor links Wombat hole

Not the easiest of terrain, but good form!

The Nullabor links is the World’s longest golf course – 18 holes par 72 course which spans 1365km along the Eyre highway. We decided against the full course but thought we should give one a try so went with the par 5 Wombat hole commemorating the nearby, largest colony of southern hairy nosed wombat (no sightings unfortunately). After the pretend hole the day before, first thing in the morning it was straight on to this golf ‘course’.  You have to use the term loosely – the rough was rock hard soil, scattered with some actual rocks, and the fairway wasn’t that much better. Our golf practise was slightly rusty, and after 2 feared lost balls we finally managed to get on the green and hole out. Mulligans for us both – enough said.

Bunta cliff action

Any way you look at it,
it's a long way to go!

More Bunta action

Giving passers-by a wave

Nothing more to hang around for at Nundaroo, so it was back on the road and on to the Nullarbor proper. 

Rooey + 1

After checking out the Head of the Great Australian Bight, where we were too early for whale watching season but enjoyed the Bunta Cliffs. Enjoyed saying the word ‘Bunta’ even more - go on, try it! Got through the quarantine check at the border after a spot of time in Rooey’s pouch, and we’d made it to WA! Not many other highlights in the day – after Annaliza cooked up another storm we headed to the roadhouse for a drink and spot of pool, plus get the latest update on Strictly…

Pool action at the
Caiguna Roadhouse

Funny, some of the things you see
in roadtrains...

 Key Learnings:

                1. Our golf needs work…

           2. Bunta is a great word to say aloud!

21/04/12 - Time to get this show on the road!

Hanging out in Murphy's Haystacks

Coffin Bay - What it was supposed
 to look like and the actual view...

Lovely day for a drive...

Rocking out at the Haystacks

Today the weather turned on us – whenever Tony was behind the wheel anyway! We got the general sense of Coffin Bay, but knew it would have been much more picturesque in the sun. Keen to munch through a good chunk of the kms to the SA/WA border, we hardly stopped for anything – had a bit of a rock out at Murphy’s Haystacks, and then a final stock up on supplies (coke, snakes and water) prior to hitting the Nullarbor proper (see comment).

Ceduna - so much happening in the town
it advertises something 300km away!

Impressive skies

The Nullabor Links - for pretend

It was our longest drive to date, a cool 630km, and the reward was an $8 campsite. Bang. We were now in roadhouse territory so this consisted of a rocky/sandy field next to a petrol station pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  Oh for the wonders of camping comforts!

Key Learnings

Set up for a feed!

1.       It’s amazing how much entertainment can be derived from waving at cars coming the other way on the Nullarbor, and the suspense involved before seeing whether they’ll wave back.

2.       Annaliza’s star night Pro App allowed us to enjoy the impressive southern night sky armed with more knowledge than we otherwise would have had. Seeing the the reddish tint of Mars nestling within the constellation of Leo was a highlight! 

20/04/12 - A Whaler's Way of a time

The surf in the background adds a bit of gravitas to the sign's message...

Theakstone cravasse - don't go down there!

No osprey's here...

Rugged, dangerous coastline

It had taken two weeks, but Annaliza finally got a morning run in along the beach. Tony decided against it…  After, it was straight to Port Lincoln tourist office to stock up on tourist brochures and then onward to a privately owned ‘nature reserve’ called Whalers Bay. Don’t really know why it’s privately owned, but the amount of signs stressing how dangerous the cliffs were combined with numerous memorials potentially meant that SA’s national parks office wanted nothing to do with it… Again, wildlife spotting didn’t work for us – no Whales in the whole area, no ospreys at Osprey reef and a lack of seals at the Seal lookout. Instead we satisfied ourselves with the rugged coastal landscape and the Beaut performing some ‘controlled’ sand sliding…

Flinders'monument, and
the lesser known Tony
Sturge monument...

Lincoln NP

The Lincoln National Park was lovely, but time was not on our side so we only managed a quick walk up to a lookout – again we couldn’t escape Flinders and his exploits in Australia, which this time focused on the 8 crew members lost and the naming of Memory Cove. Of more immediate interest was the young lovers we interrupted at the peak – rarely have we seen two people move apart so quickly!

Key Learnings

1.       ING aren’t the easiest bank to deal with.

2.       It was easier getting memorials erected in your name in Matthew Flinders’ day than it is in ours…

19/04/12 - Getting off the Pound

The classic aerial shot of Wilpena Pound (without the wing...)

Down safely, despite George's attempts

Rugged mountains in
every direction

Today was our first real treat – a scenic flight over Wilpena Pound. It was something we’d talked about doing since we first became aware of it over 3 years ago, and finally we were getting the chance to do it. The pictures speak for themselves, but we weren’t too comfortable when George the OAP insisted he sit in the front seat after he’d enjoyed kicking barrels close to the runway. Someone his age should have known better…

Scenic drives and classic skies

The view from St Mary's Peak -
Panorama style

We had to retrace our steps slightly back to Port Augusta, via a lovely scenic drive giving us our final farewall to Wilpena (apart from the 30m panoramic painting – 10,000 hours painting is a pretty solid effort!). 

Pier gazing for Leafies...

There they are - two massive ones!

Timing wasn’t on our side to see the cuttlefish at Wyalla, so we gave the larger cities a miss and ended up at the sleepy town of Tumby Bay. This was another place famed for its population of Leafy Seadragons, but our scanning of the pier only rewarded us with a dolphin sighting. The search continues…

Key Learnings:

1.       If you ever come across George Klutz, avoid him (I hope no-one I know is related to this guy!)

2.       If you want to get the panorama view from St Mary’s Peak, then paying $8 at the Hawker Panoramic building is slightly easier than the actual walk (but obviously not as rewarding!).

3.   Take care with Australian pay-phones – they have significant money eating tendencies

18/04/12 - Conquering the Pound (St Mary's Peak, to be precise)

After a bit of a sweat and a scramble, made it!

Bags back on - happy days!

Sunrise brought some nice colours into the Pound, but all too soon we were putting our backpacks on again and starting the ascent. Pretty tough going, was a relief to get to the saddle where we could ditch the bags for the peak attack. Quite a rock scramble towards the end, but unbelievable views of the Pound and surrounds when we got there.

All smiles now we'd got to the top

The trip down, particularly after we got the bags back on, was very steep and pretty challenging. We were so pleased when we got back to the resort, we splashed out on a permanent tent so we didn’t need to set ours up that night – big spenders! 

Kangaroos watching our
recovery session in the pool

With the extra time saved, we had a recovery session in the ice cold pool, a couple of drinks with the oldies at happy hour, and then tucked into bangers and mash. Having a proper mattress to lie down on was the cherry on top – simple pleasures!

Key Learnings

1. You should take more than 2 litres per person for an overnight walk especially when your dehydrated evening meal requires 500ml…

17/04/12 - Operation avoid more wineries

View over the Clare Valley

Jamestown - the best shot
we could find of the place!

 Due to slipping back behind schedule, another early start was required. Worked out very well in the end – given we went through the Clare Valley wine region first thing no wineries were open to tempt us so settled for a walk up to a viewpoint over the valley instead.

From there it was foot down for the rest of the morning, apart from taking advantage of some photo opps at Jamestown (primarily for Annaliza to send through to Jumbo Balfour!) A shout out to any/all James’ reading this blog!

On the fringes of the Flinders Ranges

More Pound action

The Pound coming into view

By early afternoon we were starting to get into the Flinders Ranges, and shortly after got to Wilpena Pound. We were recommended to take the easy route to the campsite and attack the peak the following day, and despite Tony’s intentions Annaliza’s voice of reason won out. A good thing too – we only started walking after 3pm and hot-stepped the 9km to the campsite, and still only arrived shortly before sunset. We were the only campers, so were sharing the inside of the Pound with kangas, which meant we were more sensitive than usual to noises outside the tent!

Spectacular sunset

Prepping the campsite

Key Learnings

1. Tony should listen to Annaliza more often. She is right more often than not!

16/04/12 - The hunt for the Leafy Seadragon continues

All the gear, but no idea

 The plan was for a large drive today, and as such it was another dawn rise. Before getting properly on the road, Tony couldn’t resist giving the Leafy Seadragon another shot – braving freezing temperatures with gogglecam – but no joy.

Going straight for danger!

Mt Lofty in the Adelaide Hills

Seeing double?

A long way to Perth! And
Darwin, for that matter...

Clever Llama - run away!

Wine, great views - content 

100 year old port - content

Got slightly lost in the Adelaide Hills, and then waylaid in the Barossa Valley. A travel brochure listed 101 things to do that we’d narrowed down to ten, but since that involved a couple of wineries we were never going to get away quickly! 

Pizza awards

Pizza done - guilty,
but content

Add to that Maggie Beer’s farm shop , the winner of the best pizza slice in Australia (2009) and a delightful vanilla slice, and we were destined to stay there the night. Now we were one day and 5 hours behind the initial schedule…

 Key learnings

1.       There is a best pizza slice competition in Australia. The winners do excellent pizza. How Tony didn’t know about this before amazes…

2.       100 year old port is lovely, but perhaps not quite worth $300 for a 100ml bottle. Resisted the temptation to buy, went with a $32 750ml bottle instead!

3. Annaliza + wineries = time lost.