Border Village, South Australia to Port Lincoln, Victoria - 882 kms 9:10 hours.
Having driven half way across the Nullarbor, it was time for the second half. As it was the start of the day's drive, I took a few detours into viewing platforms giving me a view of the Great Australian Bight.
The Great Australian Bight Marine Park is on the South Australian side. So just at the start of my day's drive was the start of the marine park. Turn off to any of the lookoputs along the route and spread across in front of you is a spectacular vista of a blue ocean and sheer cliffs.
Turn around and you see the stark view of the Nullarbor - just scrub and no trees, just like the name suggests.
The Bight is pretty spectacular. The cliffs are sheer and go on for kilometers. It would be impossible to have guardrails and they haven't bothered to. If you are bleeding and your feet are wet, you have gone too far towards the edge. The drop is spectacular and deep.
Get back on the road and you see what the Eyre Highway is all about. Almost dead straight roads, no trees blocking the horizon, clouds looking like they are from a cartoon. Or sometimes, clear skies. This road seemingly stretching to infinity may be off-putting for some but almost meditative for me.
The most prominent of the lookouts is the Head of the Bight Visitor Centre. As it was the start of the trip and I had time on my hands, I decided to make the detour. It turned out to be a rather large detour. The visitor centre is about 12 kms from the Eyre Highway. And then once you get there, there is a $9 entry fee. The whales are supposedly visible from July to September. As I was well out of that range (mid-January), all I saw was the pristine ocean. It was a considerable walk to the edge and it was hot and sunny. Having spent several hundred kilometres in a hermetically sealed, air-conditioned car, it was a bit of a relief to feel the heat and discovering I did have sweat glands. The experience was quite novel and I enhanced it by jogging most of the way down to the edge.
Finally, I reached Ceduna, probably the end of the Nullarbor. Usually, quarantine stations are on state borders. But at Ceduna, there is an extra one although you are deep inside South Australia. The inspection was pretty casual - a muttered question, a nod and I was on my way. Stay away from fresh fruit and vegetables and you will be fine.
On my way into Perth, I came in to Ceduna through Eyre Highway. On the way back, I wanted to take a different path, so I hugged the coast along Flinders Highway. This follows the coast and passes through a number of places with the word Bay in them. Having been used to driving down the Eyre Highway, I continued to casually overtake slow moving trucks by getting on the wrong side of the road. There were occasional cars coming in the opposite direction but I was used to timing my overtake. Unfortunately, those drivers were not. In one case, as I got on to the wrong side a driver in a car in the opposite direction panicked and drove on to the shoulder! After that, I kept my overtaking to the minimum and left plenty of safety margin so as not to spook the drivers in the opposite direction.
At Elliston I made a brief stop and walked around the Elliston Historic Jetty. Built in 1900, this was the lifeline to the then isolated town of Elliston.
I reached Port Lincoln well before 8 PM. After checking in at the motel, I went out for a leisurely meal at a restaurant. I was back in a touristy area with the right facilities. The motel was on the coast and you could see the beach on the walk to dinner.
On the walk back to my hotel, it was dark and the lights were visible across the sea and the grain silos (marked Viterra, an agriculture company) could be seen in teh distance.
Tomorrow, I shall continue up the coast of Spencer Gulf towards the interior of NSW.
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