Across the Nullibor

Null + abour  = without trees.  A giant plain in the middle of Australia that acts as a natural barricade to easy travel between West Australia, where we have just been, and the Eastern areas of Australia that most people visit.  2400 km of usually extreme heat, and a journey worthy of bumper stickers and “I crossed the Nullibor” t-shirts…. And where we were headed next.

The ex-cyclone, tropical depression that brought us the cool weather also gave us a rare opportunity to cross the Nullibor in moderate temperatures.  We left Denmark with a fond farewell to Stu and Chantal, baby Eva, Uncle Rob and cousin Deano, and Gary too, and set out with a new tire on the RV for the trek across to the more populated area on the Eastern half of the continent of Oz.  Rick was excited for the challenge…. All the talk is “you are going to cross the Nullibor?” so the gauntlet was thrown.  How fast can you make the journey?  Well. Away we go.

From Denmark to Albany, over to Esperance, no need to visit the Top Beach in Australia as it was raining.  Then up to Norseman, the start of the “Big Journey”.  We toyed with the idea of a side trip to Kalgoorie to pan for gold, but they had a huge windstorm yesterday, like 130k winds ripping the roofs off buildings… what is with this wacky weather here????  So at 7pm, bellies full of Road Trip Tucker (meat pies and fish and chips) we started out by tailing a Road Train, making miles across the Nullibor.  We can only get 400k with one tank of fuel, so Rick’s strategy was to stop every 200 or so to make sure we are never close to empty, and average out the price of diesel.  We drove 1100k the first day, off to a good start.