This town is where you really turn ‘east’ to head off. Norseman was named after a stockman’s horse who, when tethered for the night overnight exposed with his hoof, gold and another settlement was born.
The gold did not last very long however the settlement has remained as a welcome destination after travelling west across the Nullarbor or as a last chance to top up supplies before heading east.
tin camels in Norseman
the view from the car window
Our overnight stops are all planned to be at Rest Areas along the road and looking at the map there is no shortage of possibilities. Those many names that appear on the map are mainly just roadhouses with a motel and maybe a caravan park attached. Our first morning we were packed up and ready to move on when a flock of budgies flew in and decided to land on top of Destiny. We were standing quite close but they seemed to have no fear of us. Needless to say the camera came out and the photos tell the story. They would fly off and circle then come back to land again so of course we wouldn’t drive off whilst they were still there. Finally they decided to fly to some nearby trees so we took our chance. What a lovely experience.
Driving down the highway later that morning we had seen flocks of budgies around the road and then we started coming across dead birds on the road. Probably a flock that didn’t get ‘altitude’ soon enough and were hit by trucks or such. So many of them in close proximity and then we saw no more. The weather must have been just right for their breeding season this past year.
We passed a caravan that looked as if it had lost a passenger side wheel (gouges in the dirt beside the bitumen) and the van had been left (presumably in order to seek assistance) just off the road. We heard truckies talking about it on the CB and it seems it has been there for quite a few days so who knows….
We also came across a young couple with a family, heading west about 30km out of Eucla and we stopped to see if we could lend a hand. They had two small children, 16mths and 3yrs, a trailer packed full of belongings and their vehicle packed to the boards. Seems they had been in Alice Springs for 12mths but were now moving to WA. The engine had just ‘stopped’ around 4.30am that morning and he thought he had picked up ‘dirty’ fuel in Eucla. He had run Eucla and been told the tow truck couldn’t come out till Monday. Today was Saturday!! We chatted for a while, well Lawrie was making suggestions etc whilst I chatted to the young mum and the littlies. They assured us they had plenty of water and we were thinking we would disconnect Destiny and Lawrie would tow them to a small cleared area a little further on as they were stopped right on the edge of the road. Not safe at all at present. We were discussing this when low and behold the cavalry arrived. Speedster drives past, police car coming towards us turns and chases, gives ticket, turns again and comes back towards us and pulls up. Now we will get results. We were now able to drive off and wished them all the best. Husband had spoken to the police, they were going to arrange something for them so we were able to leave in good faith. We later were talking to a family at the cliffs and they had met up with this young family in Eucla so we knew they had been assisted and seemed the diagnosed problem was the water pump.
Another sight travelling the Eyre Highway is coming across the 4 emergency landing strips marked on the highway. These are for the Royal Flying Doctor Service which would be called for assistance out here along this remote highway.
The cliffs of the Great Australian Bight are quite awesome and something to see. We were surprised to see that designated walkways have been built there now but understandable as the cliffs could be quite dangerous. When we had called there in 1996, we were able to walk right near the edge (and did) to admire the plants growing right at the edge. I even took photos of them but there was no way it was intended that you walk there now. At least it wasn’t raining like it had been the day before when we were at Bunda Cliffs Lookout.
how far to go??
just another sign on the Nullarbor
Our 6th night is being spent again in a roadside stop where we have finally cooked the remaining vegetables before we arrive at the Ceduna quarantine check point tomorrow. We have certainly been eating healthy for the past week as we worked our way through our salad vegies and lots of fruit. We still have about 100km to go before arriving there so I have kept out a small amount of tomato and cucumber for a sandwich tomorrow before Ceduna.
We watched a storm build up today after a much hotter day however fortunately it has swung to the north and we have only had a few sprinkles of rain as we have enjoyed our dinner. We have spent two nights here as we have a lovely view out over a valley with low growing grasses and what looks like a muddy waterhole out in the middle.
Ceduna will be a fill up for water and also the fridge (well all the fresh fruit and vegies are now gone) and then we will move on again slowly making our way to Port Augusta. This will complete a circle on our map as it was there oh so long ago that we turned north to head up to NT. That was early June and now we are nearly at Christmas. My how time has flown but oh the memories we now have.
one of the holes on the world's longest golfcourse
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