Adelaide to Brookton via the Nullarbor

December 16, 2019

24 th November we arrived at Gawler and are staying with our friend Glen.
The weather here in Adelaide since we have been here has been lovely. Not to hot or cold. At night the temperature goes down to about 10 great for sleeping. During the day in the mid 20s.

We met this lovely family Who live next door to Glen .  John and Amanda Reiman and their beautiful children Aiden , Lochlan and little Amber.  Had many chats and on our final night had a happy hour that went on until 10 o’clock. I taught Amanda and John how to play sequence. A game they said Lachlan  and Aiden would enjoy it. Maybe Santa will deliver it . Little  Amber is all smiles as usual.

John and I had a evening out with cousins he had met for the first time, Maureen, Johns mother’s cousin and Don Waters and Don’s partner Nancy.

Maureen and Her son Don Waters with John in the middle 

During the day Margaret had the opportunity to visit a artist friend that lived in Woodside at the edge of Adelaide. I had a wonderful day discussing many different DecoArt products and getting some more Snowtex for my Christmas ornaments I sell whilst travelling.

                                                                   

John had a relaxing day doing things on the truck and caravan and having a good talk to our friend Glen.

27 th November 

Margaret had a talk to Dragon and Kerry managers at  Bunnings Munno Para West about doing some causal work there if she was needed. She is going to see them on Friday morning. Fingers crossed I can get a couple of weeks work . It sure would help with the fuel for the truck when traveling to Perth. Saw them on Friday and they said there was a possibility of work available for me . So it’s playing the waiting game. 

Tonight we are visiting our friend Judith Steed and having a lovely roast of lamb for tea. 

6th December 

We have decided to pack up and go tomorrow and head towards Perth stopping at Streaky Bay for a couple of nights. Sadly I did not get any causal work at Bunnings so we thought we would  take our time heading to our friends in Perth.  2700 km to go.

7 th December 

We left Gawler at 11 o’clock this morning and  arrived in Kimba at 5.30 pm just in time for happy hour. We travelled  458 kms. The land was very dry not much stock around, a few dead kangaroos and one paddock we saw a lot of wild emus.

            John and Margaret saying goodbye to Kathy and Glen at Gawler.

We stopped at Port Piri for lunch for half a hour .

Water tower in Snowtown SA . Honouring the  Fire Fighters . Fabulous art work 

 Then from here we fueled up at Port Augusta. Diesel was $1.46.7 unleaded for the echo was  $1.51.7

We then headed off to Kimba where we are staying for the night at Kimba Recreational Reserve . A dollar for a two minute shower . Toilets etc very clean . A great place to park up overnight. Quite a few caravans are here. We left a donation in the box.

Paddy melons on the side of the road

               Straight roads we have been driving on all day towards Kimba. John is in the distance.

                                                                                 

Kimba Silos as you come in Kimba on the left hand side

                     
                                                 The locals are very friendly and welcoming

             Us all parked up for the night at Kimba the temperature got to 42 degs today a little warm .

The showers cost $1.00 for 2 minutes of hot water. Toilets and showers are lovely and clean well worth stopping here for a night when travelling through.
Kimba is half way across  Australia on Eyre Highway and home to Australia’s first silo art on the Eyre Peninsula . It has a population of 1,061 residents. It is a very quiet friendly town.
In 1839 three years after South Australia was declared a colony, the first white man known to pass through the Kimba district was explorer Edward John Eyre . For thousands of years prior to this , Aboriginal tribes from Gawler Ranges tracked through the area until 1905, when the first settlers came. Leases were held over the 60 square miles (100 square kilometres).  Wheat was the first sown crop here in 1908 on 20 acres (8 hectares) of land which was ploughed with horse-drawn five-foot (1.5 metre) plough. Technology  sure has changed now .

First thing in the morning we took a short drive up to White’s  Knob lookout. It gives you a look over the Kimba area. Kimba in indigenous language means Bush Fire. Photos below are from the look out.

This statue was carved out of granite rock

 As the wind was blowing quite a bit John decided to turn left towards the coast and we stopped at Port Kenny where we had lunch along the beach .

Molly Hawke bird 

The temperature today here was 39 degrees. By late afternoon a very pleasant cool breeze came up . Hopefully it will cool down a little before bedtime . We traveled 267 km today . We had a lovely cool evening great for sleeping . It went down to 12 degs

9 th December 

From streaky Bay we went to Perlubie Bay where we meet up with a couple that are on the same site as us on Facebook Travelling Australia in a Truck. We have txted a few time to each other  Shane Malden and Kathleen Glossop . It was great to meet them in person.

Cohen Old School rest area was our next stop for the night . 

On our way there we stopped Ceduna and brought some fresh oysters and Whiting for tea , very tasty they were also.

We field up thee truck and spare drum in the back of the truck with diesel as it was the cheapest we had seen for a long time Diesel was $134. A litre an Unlead for the car was $138. Total cost for fuel was today was $564.22.  This would last us for 3 fill ups travelling.

We stopped at Penong, where the largest Comet Windmill ever produced in Australia now stands. Photos below.

Our kilometres for the day was 242 to  the old school rest area. The weather was not too hot but great for driving with a gentle tail wind.

Also today was Mums 90 th birthday . As a surprise John and I organised two pipers to play the Bagpipes. This was done through the Atherton Tableland Caledonian Society. Mum loves the Bagpipes so this sure did make her day. It was very emotional for her. Even Anne sister shed a few tears.

                       Mum and Anne listening to the pipes and watching them through the windows

10th December

We left next morning after 7 am and headed towards the boarder of Western Australia travelling along the Eyre Highway . We stopped at a rest area for coffee and came across a Ranger whose vehicle had broken down and was in need of some assistance . We offered Alex a ride to the next town so he could get his vehicle sorted out. He travelled in the truck with John and he told him a little about area that he looked after. Alex worked for the Yalata Aboriginal Community. He persuaded us  to go and have a look at the Head Of the Bight Whale watching centre, which is on the reserve. He told John that the local aborigines eat Wombat 5 nights a week . Plus red kangaroos (only) and the odd camel. According to Tribal traditions in this area men are only allowed to kill and cook red Kangaroos.

The whales come to the head of the bight to give birth to their young because in that area there are no currents in the sea. They stay here for a short time looking after their young. About 150 whales visit this area yearly. Photos below.

                                                          Alex and John having a chat

Just off here in the deep blue water is where the whales give birth 

John is in the far distance in front of me . This is what a lot of the road scenery was like travelling through here .

The treeless area here is because there is very little soil. The small shrubs root system is only a little below ground and they creep along the top of the ground when growing. There is the odd tree and we were told by Alex the ranger that if you see a tree it means there is a lot of soil for its roots to grow downwards.

Our total km today was 409 to just before the South Australia and Western Australia boarder. We are half way through the Nullarbor Plains. 

We had to sort through all our food in the fridge and cook anything that we could not take uncooked over the boarder. Margaret cooked 3 large zucchini slices and put these in the freezer for another day. Our tea that night was a lovely piece of  rib fillet and zucchini slice very tasty.

We parked up here at the 10 km peg .Which means 10kms from the boarder.

                     Photos below are from the lookout point on at the 10k peg 

We crossed the boarder into Western Australia at 6.30 am when it was cool plus the time zone goes 2 hours. They only took a lettuce from us everything else was all good.

          John talking to the quarantine officer and showing her in the back of the truck and caravan

This was the price for fuel just over the boarder. No we did not buy any here.

From the boarder we drove to Baladonia where we stayed in a caravan park just off the main road so that we could charge up the battery’s by power as today was very cloudy. $30.00 a night for the two of us. Total km today was 544 , we were both very tired and was asleep by 8.30pm 

A Roadhouse we past .The name made John and I have a smile 

This airstrip in the main road is used for Emergency landings for the Royal Flying Doctors Service. We saw many of these along our way through this area.

Yes it was straight . The scenery on either side of the road did not change much . Lots of low shrubs and very  grey in colour. We saw the odd dead kangaroo and a lot of  crows having a feed off them.

12 th December 

We woke up at 4.30 am and it was day light.  Time for a quick cup of tea and get on the road and do a few kilometres before it got too hot to travel. We stopped at 8 o’clock for our breakfast and checked our phone and found that we had signal range on the phone. The first time since we left Streaky Bay.

We made our way to Kalgoorlie and arrive around 1.30 in the afternoon. Time to stop and park up for the night. We found a RV site for 24 hours free parking in the centre of town. After a cool drink we decided to have a look around town and go to the local Bunnings and get our gas bottle exchanged. It cost us $26.00.

Driving along the open road we spotted these beautiful coppery looking trees. Loved the colours of them so hence the photos.  They are called Salmon Gums

 These trees are Eucalyptus . Commonly known as Salmon Gum native to Arid regions of WA.

Lovely old building - Hotel on a corner in the Main Street of Kalgoorlie 

Opposite corner from the above another old building 

Again opposite on the same street another old building - Hotel

This is one of the worlds oldest working brothels with its famous starting stalls .This is part of a historical guided tour you can take around Kalgoorlie.

13 th December 

We woke up around 6 o’clock and decided to go and visit the Super Pit Gold mine here at Kalgoorlie before it got too hot. It sure is a very deep hole. Photos below.

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These tyres cost $4O thousand each and are replaced every 4500 hours of work. 

From Kalgoorlie we followed the eastern highway to Coolgardie where we were told to have a look at some old farm equipment. John found these very interesting and there was a museum in the Information building that was worth seeing. Yes we agree well worth stopping for a hour or so and having a look.  A lovely kiwi lady is in the information and very helpful. Photos below of this area .

We were told by the lady at the information that they have just had all the bottles in this  collection  valued. There also was a lot that have not been put out. Total value is $440 thousand. These all came from one family in the area that had been collecting them for many years. 

It is wonderful to see the locals save the wares from long ago for future generations.

From here we had a leisurely drive to Southern Cross, a small town where we had lunch and a stretch.

This area is a wheat growing area . Here are very large fields of golden wheat . 

Then onto Merredin where we are staying in a RV freedom park. you are allowed to stay here for 24 hours as long as you are fully self contained which we are. 

 A total of 333 km we did today from Kalgoorlie to Merriden. The temperature got into the high 30s which sure is enough when you have to drive in that sort of heat.

14 th December 2019

We had a lovely evening in Merriden last night. Decided to have fish and chips at the local shop and found that they also made pizza’s. Yes we had a large supreme pizza . Very tasty it was. The local RV

park at the edge of town was surrounded by trees and very quiet. 2 other vans also parked up with us.

We arrived at Beverly where Keith met us in a rest area. After a quick trip to the IGA for a bag of ice we headed out to Brookton where they are house sitting and minding a dog.
To get to here from Malanda we have travelled 7728 km. The Toyota Echo used  $630.10 dollars of unlead fuel . Total litre use was 414.20.

John relaxing at happy hour in Merriden 

                   Silo towers painted with the local scene of the area representing Wheat

         
                                The wheat fields as far as your eyes can see in Merriden

We stopped here for breakfast today. Found this very interesting reading. Once again this
Area is used for growing wheat. We did not see many cattle just a few sheep and they were very hard to see due the dryness of the land as the sheep are covered in a brown dust.

15 th December

Wow the temperature today here in Brookton is 44 degrees in the caravan and 43 outside at 11.15 am . It is a dry heat .

                                           This is how hot it is in the caravan today.

Our dear friends Anne and Keith Nicholson at happy hour where we are staying until early February.