34. Wheat Belt of WA, Esperance excellence, Nullarbor marvels and east into South Australia.

The Wheat Belt of Western Australia currently appears to be fairing better than the east coast farms, with many loads of hay heading across the continent to help their farming cousins.

Realising why this is called the wheat belt.
Or is it barley, canola, oats, lupins or peas?

Assorted birds revelling in the local supermarket.

Nick and Lucy are working on several crops at the one time, all without chemicals.
The study they are doing, with knowledge being shared Australia wide is impressive.
The future looks great.  Watch this space!!

More than your standard quarter acre block. 

Architectural styles never cease to marvel. 

Newdegate Silos
How does one even start to paint something like that?

Lake King
Forget about a quick dip!

Salt giving the appearance of waves breaking on the shore. 

Ravensthorpe Silos

Esperance is a beautiful coastal town where we enjoyed the brilliant views, and met some wonderfully hospitable locals.

West Beach
 Very passive

Observatory Point 

Twilight Beach with surfboard bench. 

10 Mile Lagoon

Despite the signs advising of loss of life for fishermen; and to secure to the provided anchor points, wear a life vest and cleated footwear, this chap knew better. 

He even brought his family along to highlight the dangers.
Makes one wonder!

Cape Le Grande National Park featured some incredible sights, with some great rock formations and pure white sand on the beaches.

Frenchman Peak, named after the caps worn by French troops in the 1800s.
We opted against climbing after watching through binoculars a climber slip three times on the wet and windy slope.  

Lucky Bay
Clarity of sand and water beyond belief. 

Lucky Bay Sandman

Local tour guide being groomed. 

Guide wondering what happened to the groomer. 

Saltanas for the salad. 

Contrasts in colour
School kiddies on an excursion somewhat changed the tranquility of the bay. 

Hellfire Bay
The name didn't give justice to the area. 

Gull practicing goose stepping. 

Leaving the coast for a 200km drive north to Norseman, and turning right across the Nullarbor.

As we drove to the Norseman Lookout, this four million tonne tailings pile from Australia's longest running Gold Mine presented an out of this world sight. 

Quiet but neat

Approaching the Nullarbor.

The bustling Nullarbor campsite alongside the highway.
We shared with two other vans, however, there was room for at least one hundred. 

The road is occasionally an airstrip for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. 

End of runway and plane turning area.
Plane on a plain.  

The Lennon-McCartney song "Long and Winding Road" was not played during this drive. 

Warning drivers of a bend in 146.6kms 

We enjoyed a subsidised ride behind this escorted load, travelling at 100kph as the truck broke wind for us.
Through our UHF radio, we have enjoyed discussions with truckies as to where they were going, with what, and often to co-ordinate them overtaking us. 

Caiguna Blowhole often has wind exhausting at over 70kph.
Blowholes from underground caverns abound across the Nullarbor. 

Serious damage is possible to vehicle and animal. 

This is the maximum we paid.
Fortunately we had enough range to drive past the next fuel opportunity at $2.12 per ltr. 

Still on the Nullarbor, there is the Madura Pass, which sees a drop in elevation.
Quite staggering. 

Expecting to see herds of wildebeests and zebras. 

Annual rainfall of less than 200mm and we experienced some. 

Roadhouse with limited parking. 

The bends and rise to Ceduna in South Australia. 

More varieties of traffic hazards. 

Day 2 of heading east. 

The Nullarbor Plain, (from the Latin Nullus "No" and Arbor "Tree") is rather elevated and simply drops off into the Great Australian Bight, with the bite becoming bigger all the time through erosion.
The cliffs are 60-120m high (200-390ft).

Afternoon on the cliff edge

Hardy scrub at our overnight camp.

Morning glory, and the cliffs take on a new light. 

Safety fences are absent for much of the 1,675km length of the Eyre Highway. 

With the lack of trees and soft vegetation, it made the strong cross wind difficult to see until once out of the car, and suddenly we have a bad hair day. 

 We were surprised by the number of drivers who didn't stop at the lookouts along the Nullarbor, no doubt not realising that in parts, the lookouts were just a few hundred metres off the road.

Endless cliffs into the distance. 

Cliffs like teeth bite marks.

Good rainfall for Australia's driest state. 

The Head of Bight is the top of the Great Australian Bight.  This is a seasonal breeding centre for whales, giving great viewing opportunities in season.  By the time we were there, they had headed back to Antarctica for summer.

Opportunity for watching whales in the bight.
The head of bight is to the left. 

1,500kms of cliffs extending to the west. 

Massive rolling waves from the Southern Ocean. 

Note the amount of sand being eroded away and carried around the headland to form sand dunes to the east. 

The Wild Dog Fence at 5,400kms long is the longest continual fence in the world designed to keep dingoes and wild dogs away from primarily South Australian sheep.

Wild Dog Fence and extra wide cattle grid.

The fence extends out from the base to discourage digging under. 

In the bush alongside the road near the Wild Dog Fence there were multitudes of small shells of all sorts. 

We were equally disgusted in the multitude of cans and bottles out in the middle of nowhere.
It was not possible to walk through the bush without seeing signs of litter. 

1,100kms after leaving Norseman, we drove in to Penong, at the eastern end of the Nullarbor.
We enjoyed seeing a field of Aussie Icons.

Penong Windmill Farm
A variation upon the current wind farms. 

Australia's largest windmill, with Carrol doing windmills. 

Note the self propelled windmill. 

A swing pump, which actually pumps water. 

Ceduna is at the top of the Eyre Peninsula and a very pleasant little town.
The main shopping precinct has easy listening music playing from loud speakers located all around, with the shops playing coordinated music.  No self-respecting lout is going to loiter listening to that music, but it makes for enjoyable shopping.
Security cameras also seem to abound, no doubt making the area safer.

Ceduna Jetty with some rare grass in the foreground. 

Pigeon demonstrating a swan dive to its mate.
As in Olympic diving, the low score by the judges reflected a good approach, take-off and execution, however was badly let down by the entry into the water. 

Impersonating a Falcon on the bonnet of a 1960s Ford Falcon sedan. 

Ingenious mobiles making use of the continuous breeze.

Recycling at its best. 

More opportunities to see the coast via separate bike paths. 

Silos awaiting artwork. 

Not one of the biggest lighthouses, but certainly the most decorated. 

Never rely purely on GPS when ploughing a field. 

Out of the South Australian town of Minnipa where we had camped for the night, we were advised of a wave rock and simply had to venture to it.
Pildappa Rock is perched out among the fields like a fish out of water.

First impressions were of a scene out of the "Independence Day" movie. 

Cresting wave. 

Again the model giving scale to the shot. 

We couldn't help but liken the lichens. 

Some rocks perched up on top, as if just placed there. 

The Gawler Ranges can be seen in the distance. 

GPS assisted straight lines. 

Natural water reserves

Carrol had been talking in this pose for 10 minutes before realising her phone was not in her hand. 

A wrongly positioned pole always creates problems.

Man made reservoirs from days of old, even giving good pressure from the height. 

More lichens with the appearance of bubbles, on the southern face. 

Kimba is a small service town at the top of the Eyre Peninsula, with a population of 600 and three free camp areas for caravans and RVs.  As a result, the town seems to be getting a new lease of life with the nomads coming into town and keeping it alive.  It recently won an award for the most welcoming town in South Australia.

The artwork on the silos in such a scale is beyond belief as to how it is possible. 

Facts behind the artwork. 

More brilliant artwork with a sky blending in to suit. 

The Kimba sign made from hundreds of locals' photos.

Everyone in town must have featured in the montage. 

Checkout the size of that art, taken from a lookout we rode to about 6kms from town along a purpose made bush walk/ bike track. 

Explorer Eyre and his companion marvelling at the changes in the scenery over the years. 

Full sized steel sculptures scattered throughout the bush and track. 

These pair would send security running at an airport security scanner.  

Signs can be deceiving.
Although it says half way across, our trip is nearing an end as we pick up the pace in the run for home. 

Due to the eastern side of Australia being our backyard, it has always been our intention to see the far away areas first, with shorter local holidays possible to catch up on areas of South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.

Meanwhile it is off to Port Augusta, Adelaide and up to Broken Hill as temperatures start to increase.

Hope all is going well with Christmas preparations.

Cheers, Don and Carrol.