Day 8 - Parking Bay 50kms E of Nullabor to Norseman

Thursday 24th March 2016

It’s Thursday morning and we’re about 250kms east of Eucla but first we’ll head into Nullabor and top up the tank, it’s only 50 kms down the road. Nullabor is nice stop and the roadhouse has good bathroom facilities with coin operated showers ($1.00) If you haven’t passed this way before you can’t miss the roadhouse, there is a statue of a Southern Right Whale known as Kondole in the local Aboriginal language. There is a dreamtime story as to how Kondole came to be. The South Australian Dept of Environment brochure on Southern Right Whales tells the story as follows;

One hot day, many Aborigines gathered at Encounter Bay for a large ceremony. The participants wanted to hold the ceremony through the night, but they did not possess any fire to enable them to see at night. Two messengers were sent to find Kondole, a large and powerful man who owned fire. Kondole, was only invited to the ceremony for his fire. Kondole hid his fire, however, and thus infuriated the other participants. They determined to obtain the fire by force, but no-one dared approach him. Finally Rilballe decided to wound him with a spear and take the fire from him. Rilballe threw the spear and wounded Kondole in the neck. The participants laughed and shouted after this and most were then changed into different animals. Kondole ran into the sea and became a whale, and now blows water out of the wound in his neck.

During the months of May to October you can visit the Head of the Bight to view whales from the viewing platform (there is an entry fee). There are other places along the Eyre Hwy where you may also see some whales during the season.

After leaving Nullabor we headed down to the Old Eyre Highway to do the section we missed back in August. Back on the bitumized Eyre Hwy we took a track down to Wigunda Cave. The view of the bight was impressive as are the Bunda Cliffs but you have to be careful here and all along the bight. The cliff edges are prone to breaking away and you could fall. These limestone cliffs were formed when Australia and Antarctica separated, some of the cliff layers contain fossilized marine life. You can see evidence of marine life here at the top of the cliffs, we saw plenty of shells embedded in the sand. As impressive as the scenic view is we have to ask ourselves how long will it last. The Great Australian Bight is already subject to exploration permits for large companies to sample the sea bed for oil. The question is will our current & future governments allow oil to be drilled in the marine park thus risking damage to this beautiful site, a site future generations may not be able to enjoy?

Back on the bitumen again and we’re heading toward the border but first we pull in at Border Village to fill up – diesel $1.65!! hmm wasn’t that much at Eucla on the way over, we’ll fill up in WA, 12kms down the road. Before we cross the border we have to go through the quarantine check point – no tomatos today 🙂 We filled up at Eucla which was 22 cpl cheaper than in South Australia, definitely worth the trip over the border.

 

We came across a lovely flock of Pink and Gray Galahs snoozing in a dead tree. It made a nice photo against the overcast back drop. We love taking photos of nature but every now and then we see something that spoils the landscape. We still take a photo to show how thoughtless people are and as a contrast to beautiful sites we see on our travels. One such site was when we pulled into a parking bay throw out some rubbish and fill up the kettle for a cuppa. There next to the bin were some tyres that had been dumped which is illegal. Tyres have to properly disposed of and there is legislation governing the disposal of them. There was evidence to suggest these were from a commercial outlet. There’s a variety of environmental reason why tyres shouldn’t be dumped. Two important ones are;

Mosquitoes – when water collect inside the tyres they are an excellent breeding ground for mosquitoes, mosquitoes that can spread Dengue Fever and Ross River Virus.
Fires – tyres are combustible and hard to put out once ignited. Not good especially when the land is parched and dry, a tyre fire would cause havoc to the landscape and wildlife.
Shame, Shame, Shame whomever dumped them!!

Just out of Balladonia we encountered a swarm of flying ants. When we were kids we were told that flying ants meant rain/storm coming. The swarm lasted about 50kms and we went through one windscreen bottle and half of another keeping the windscreen clean. As we got closer to Norseman and with fading light we decided to check in to the Great Western Motel rather than start down the old Hyden – Norseman road tonight. Tomorrow we head home via the old Hyden – Norseman road.

Total Time : 12.18
Total Distance: 952 kms
Average Speed : 77 KPH

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