THE BIG TRIP - 2008
AROUND AUSTRALIA 2008
Saturday 6 December – Friday 12 December
Esperance – Port Augusta
Blog 18
We are really now heading east with only a few days left in WA after about seven months there. We stopped at Norseman for a look at what the town had to offer including the statue of Norseman, the horse after which the town is named. In 1894 the horse was tethered overnight and as he was stamping his foot he unearthed a large gold nugget and that was the beginning of the gold rush and Norseman.
We decided to spend the night at a farm stay at Fraser Range Station, a great choice as we enjoyed a lovely camp fire with the other campers.
The countryside around the Nullarbor was very green and looking most beautiful. The shrubs are still low but the area looks wonderful. Our first stop was at Newman Rock, a huge granite rock. We then stopped at Balladonia on the Eyre Highway to read the stories and look through the museum which had a piece of Skylab space debris that fell to earth there in 1979.
Five km out of Caiguna we stopped to look at the Caiguna Blowhole, a big hole in the ground that is the opening to one of many caves in the area. The difference in air pressure between the air in the cave and that outside causes air to be sucked in if the air pressure outside is greater than inside and to be blown out if the air pressure inside is greater than outside.
We stopped for the night at Madura which is exactly halfway between Perth and Adelaide. On the way we stopped at the lookout at Madura Pass which provided spectacular views of the Roe Plains and views towards the Southern Ocean.
At Eucla we drove down to the old telegraph station which was nearly consumed by sand dunes so that we could walk into the rooms and climb to the top of the room on the sand. It was a beautiful spot.
We had to stop at all the lookouts along the way to see the cliffs the first being beautiful limestone Bunda Cliffs on our way to Nullarbor. All of the cliffs along this coastline are being undercut by erosion.
We stopped at Head of Bight and on to Penong, the town with lots of little wind mills used to pump water to the town and settled for the night in Ceduna.
After Ceduna we stopped to see the granite outcrops, Pildappa Rock which is another large granite rock that is a mini wave rock. Around the base of many of these rocks they have built stone channels to collect the water from the rock and direct it to dams. We next went to Tcharkulda Rock which is a massive granite outcrop featuring the largest and most spectacular tafoni and boulders in the district. Tafoni are the caves and holes worn away in the granite. The scenery was spectacular.
We stopped at the little town of Wudinna which had commissioned a 8.5m sculpture of the Australian Farmer and it was still being worked on ready for completion by April 2009. The sculpture, Marijan Bekic who was born in Croatia, used to live in Adelaide when he was asked to be the sculpture for this project 15 years ago. He has been working on the sculpture for the last 2 years. He took the time to explain his thoughts about the sculpture. It was most beautiful and the best part was the interaction with him.
We stopped at Mt Wudinna, the 2nd largest monolith in Australia after Uluru and Turtle Rock and then continued to head east.
Our drive to Port Augusta was filled with lovely scenery going from trees and green to arid lands with the Flinders Ranges in the background.
Saturday 6 December – Friday 12 December
Esperance – Port Augusta
Blog 18
We are really now heading east with only a few days left in WA after about seven months there. We stopped at Norseman for a look at what the town had to offer including the statue of Norseman, the horse after which the town is named. In 1894 the horse was tethered overnight and as he was stamping his foot he unearthed a large gold nugget and that was the beginning of the gold rush and Norseman.
We decided to spend the night at a farm stay at Fraser Range Station, a great choice as we enjoyed a lovely camp fire with the other campers.
The countryside around the Nullarbor was very green and looking most beautiful. The shrubs are still low but the area looks wonderful. Our first stop was at Newman Rock, a huge granite rock. We then stopped at Balladonia on the Eyre Highway to read the stories and look through the museum which had a piece of Skylab space debris that fell to earth there in 1979.
Five km out of Caiguna we stopped to look at the Caiguna Blowhole, a big hole in the ground that is the opening to one of many caves in the area. The difference in air pressure between the air in the cave and that outside causes air to be sucked in if the air pressure outside is greater than inside and to be blown out if the air pressure inside is greater than outside.
We stopped for the night at Madura which is exactly halfway between Perth and Adelaide. On the way we stopped at the lookout at Madura Pass which provided spectacular views of the Roe Plains and views towards the Southern Ocean.
At Eucla we drove down to the old telegraph station which was nearly consumed by sand dunes so that we could walk into the rooms and climb to the top of the room on the sand. It was a beautiful spot.
We had to stop at all the lookouts along the way to see the cliffs the first being beautiful limestone Bunda Cliffs on our way to Nullarbor. All of the cliffs along this coastline are being undercut by erosion.
We stopped at Head of Bight and on to Penong, the town with lots of little wind mills used to pump water to the town and settled for the night in Ceduna.
After Ceduna we stopped to see the granite outcrops, Pildappa Rock which is another large granite rock that is a mini wave rock. Around the base of many of these rocks they have built stone channels to collect the water from the rock and direct it to dams. We next went to Tcharkulda Rock which is a massive granite outcrop featuring the largest and most spectacular tafoni and boulders in the district. Tafoni are the caves and holes worn away in the granite. The scenery was spectacular.
We stopped at the little town of Wudinna which had commissioned a 8.5m sculpture of the Australian Farmer and it was still being worked on ready for completion by April 2009. The sculpture, Marijan Bekic who was born in Croatia, used to live in Adelaide when he was asked to be the sculpture for this project 15 years ago. He has been working on the sculpture for the last 2 years. He took the time to explain his thoughts about the sculpture. It was most beautiful and the best part was the interaction with him.
We stopped at Mt Wudinna, the 2nd largest monolith in Australia after Uluru and Turtle Rock and then continued to head east.
Our drive to Port Augusta was filled with lovely scenery going from trees and green to arid lands with the Flinders Ranges in the background.
posted by Mike and Carol at
9:15 AM
