Esperance – Nullarbor (x2) – Ceduna – Whyalla
Kilometres 22893 – 24915 km
What a week!
At the end of last week we were hopeful Leonie’s broken finger would
have a simple outcome and we could share a few days with friends at Cape Le
Grand NP, how wrong were we? Early Monday morning Leonie was at Esperance Hospital
for an x-ray and the results weren’t good. There was a clean break in the pinkie
finger just above the hand but the bones hadn’t re-aligned properly. This
resulted in plenty of discussion between patient, nurses, local doctors and an orthopaedic
surgeon in Perth. The short story being Leonie’s hand was placed in a half hand
cast requiring another x-ray in 3 days to check bone alignment. This could be
done in Esperance and then possibly surgery in Perth or we could dash across
the Nullarbor and try our luck in Ceduna SA, some 1400km to the east. We chose
the latter….. We paid for another night in Esperance while preparing for our
trip across the Nullarbor, we bought food and fuel and stocked up on water
ready for the demanding trip.
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| How exciting |
Tuesday we were up very early and on the road, the plan was to do as
many kilometres as we were comfortable with and then bush camp somewhere just
off the highway. We would still try and
squeeze in a few sightseeing stops as who knows when we’d be back over this
way. Reaching Norseman by mid-morning we restocked with fuel again before
heading east onto the Nullarbor Plains. The heavily wooden areas either side of
the road soon gave way to the flat grassed plains with barely a tree in sight.
In parts the road seemed to go straight on for miles and miles, rolling over
hill after hill, till we reached a sign saying the next 90 mile stretch of road
was the longest straight stretch in Australia. That proved to be the highlight
of our 1st boring day on the Nullarbor… Towards the end of the day
we stopped at a blowhole, not as we know them, but an earth blowhole where cool
air rushes out of a 1m round hole in the ground…. Just on dusk we found a very
nice bush camp and were happy to call it quits for the day.
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| One hole on the Nullarbor Links course |
Wednesday started with us feeling a little flat. Driving the Nullarbor
to meet a deadline isn’t fun but we put this behind us and were soon on the
road with no change in the scenery. We had a couple of stops at various Nullarbor
Golf Links holes, these make up the longest golf course in the world simply
because it’s a few hundred km’s between each hole and it stretches right across
the Nullarbor. We’d soon reached Eucla and the WA/SA border where we stopped
for the obligatory photo and to reminisce on our 2½ months in WA. Soon
afterwards we got our first views of the Great Australian Bight. This continued
for the next couple a hundred kilometres, culminating at one stop where we saw
the towering cliffs of the Bight and the Southern Ocean smashing into the base some 100m below. By days end we’d found another bush camp just near the “Head of the
Bight” and setup as storms threatened to lash the area.
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| WA/SA border |
We were now on SA time which meant the mornings were a lot darker and
more conducive to sleeping except we needed to be on the road. The remaining
200km into Ceduna passed uneventfully. Seeing civilisation slowly approach felt
funny, first there were a few fences, then sown fields, power poles, a few farm
houses and finally the township of Ceduna….. The Nullarbor Plain had finally been
conquered….. We checked into a Ceduna caravan park and waited for Leonie’s
appointment time, the kids did a bit of fishing off the nearby wharf. By late afternoon
Leonie had been to hospital to see the Dr and once again the news was bad,
however this time it was the doctor’s inexperience and her reluctance that deterred
us. She advised us to come back tomorrow after which time she could consult
with an Adelaide specialist.
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| Bunda Cliffs - The Great Australian Bight |
It was back to the hospital on Friday and once again the Dr was full of
suggestions but with a glaring lack of experience to perform any of them so we
err’d on the side of caution and with a nurse’s suggestion we would take our
case to Whyalla…. We spent the next few hours seeing a few sights around
Ceduna. As its wheat harvesting time the Ceduna port is a buzz with ships queuing
to transport wheat offshore…..Our friends from Esperance had arrived in town which
gave the kids an afternoon of playtime and the parents an enjoyable happy hour.
We all shared fish n chips by the wharf as the sun set over the bay.
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| Ceduna Jetty |
Saturday saw us on the road again, we’d deviated from our original plans
and were heading straight to Whyalla where hopefully Leonie could get her
finger attended to by a specialist. The drive to Whyalla is another one of
those inland boring highways with very little to see, the endless wheat fields
is a stark reminder of how much wheat Australia produces. Strong winds buffeted
our drive and on numerous occasions we drove through huge dust bowls that
blanketed the highway reducing visibility to less than 100m. Once in Whyalla we
took Leonie straight to the hospital where finally a positive outcome was
agreed upon, but as it was the weekend this couldn’t be achieved till Monday……
Ahhh! The country lifestyle and facilities can be so so frustrating sometimes…..
We were soon setting up the van but with the wind still relentless we spent the
afternoon tucked away cosy in our van.
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| HMAS Whyalla |
For the first time in quite a few days we could spend Sunday lazing
around the van. We caught up with family and friends electronically and really
enjoyed the morning just relaxing. At lunch time we joined a tour of the HMAS
Whyalla which is beached high n dry some 2km from the coast. This Navy ship
served in WWII before being returned to its name-sake. From there we took in
the views from Mt Laura, this unofficial lookout provided some 4WDriving and offers
sweeping views of the Spencer Gulf and the industries which use it to transport
steel and grain around the world…. Returning to the van, Leonie and the kids
spent some time baking. We haven’t seen or used an oven since leaving home and
as the van park had one the kids were keen for some cakes and cookies. They
were a yummy way to finish a busy week.
Let’s hope next week brings us some joy with Leonie’s finger and we can
get back to enjoying our holiday at a more leisurely pace.
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