Nullarbor Roadhouse, South Australia to Norseman, Western Australia - 900 kms 9:20 hours.
This leg is the backbone of the trip. And I will be doing it twice. From Ceduna to Norseman stands the only road - the Eyre Highway. At Nullarbor Roadhouse, I am 300 kms into the 1200 kms stretch. I will also pass through the straightest stretch of road in Australia (11th in the world) - 146 kms.
I will be passing a few roadhouse - some of them blink-and-you-will-miss-it small. I just need a single refuelling stop. I start the drive and come across a truck carrying a boat. Should he not be followed by a water tanker? Where will he launch the boat?
My question is soon answered when the road passes very close to the Great Australian Bight.
A bight is a bay on a much larger scale. The Great Australian Bight is over 1000 kms long and forms the southern coast of Australia. Driving out from the Nullarbor Roadhouse I pass the part of the Eyre Highway that is closest to the bight. There are several turnoffs to see the bight. Parts of it are on cliffs 100m tall. Stand on the edge or as close as you can get, it is a 180° vista of blue ocean. Below is a panoramic shot of the ocean from one of the lookouts.
On one of the lookouts is a memorial to a truckie who died in an altercation. Although it happened 12 years ago, there were fresh flowers and a peculiar Australian custom - a bottle of beer. All in all, it is a great place to spend eternity gazing at.
Along the way, I come across the only wildlife I see for the entire time. A dingo crosses the road. Strangely, it is perfectly camouflaged when it is on the road. It is only when it steps into the scrub off the road that I spot him. The dashcam caught it fairly well. You can see it cross over to the left in this slowed down video.
Soon, the road turns a little inland and we come to the South Asutralia - West Australia border near Eucla. There is the usual roadhouse and a quarantine station. A small queue of cars and trucks is inspected by quarantine officers who are looking for - you guessed it - fresh fruit!
As we queued up for quarantine inspection consisting of a question on if I was carrying any fresh fruit and a prefunctory look into the boot, it was just a matter of waiting for the car or truck in front of you to let you through.
As I was aimlessly loitering before being able to make my way, one of the police officers took the opportunity to do a breath test. My last beer was a distant memory and the meter hardly budged. As he walked off, I asked his partner if I could take a selfie. His gruff reply was - I can't stop you. I took that as a yes and proceeded and he did not smile but deigned to slightly turn his head towards the camera. His partner was slightly amused and quipped that I made the right choice - this chap was the photogenic one!
Once the vehicles in front of me took off, I soon followed. I was now in Western Australia. The bight was still visible in the distance, this time over sand dunes. I would soon turn further inland and lose sight of the ocean altogether.
Soon I was at the raison d'etre of this trip. The 146 km straight stretch of road. A sign marked the east end of the road. A family of four were already there. They took turns to photograph the sign with all possible permutations and combination of the members standing in front of the sign save one. They never asked me to photograph all of them. They soon ran out of variations and headed off. I was next in line in front of another couple. I quickly took a few snaps and headed off.
The straight road stretched out in front of me. If it weren't for the undulations of the ground, you could probably see the road from end to end.
A littleover an hour later, I was at the other end of the straight. This time there was no one around the sign. Also, this one seemed to be covered in stickers. And bang in the middle was a Climate Action Now sticker. I don't know how I feel about climate activists defacing works of art 😀
And without any warning the first thing after 146 kms of stright is a sharpish curve. Many a distracted driver must have been startled by its sudden appearance.
Once past the curve, what lays ahead of you is another 80 kms of stright road. This continues till you reach the outskirts of Fraser Range.
Soon I had reached Norseman. And it was only 5 PM! That two hour plus timezone difference really helped. I am so screwed when I am going the other way. There was a bit of searching for the hotel - so confusing whne there is more than one hotel in town! I arrived to a decent room, spacious and clean. A bit of rest and I headed to the restaurant in the hotel. I settled down to a nice Chicken Parma and a couple of glasses of wine. It looks like smaller the town, the better the dinner I end up getting.
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