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See a condensed version in Freesail magazine, Summer 99/2000!!

The W.A windsurfari pilgrimage is, for any wind nut east of the Eucla pub, simply compulsory at least once in a lifetime. What follows are just some thoughts, musings and observations about doing the trip that churned though my mind somewhere between no-where and whoopsville on our recent return voyage. It's generally about Ceduna (S.A) to Norseman (W.A), as this is the "big kilometres" and reasonably remote (and hence to most, unknown) part of the journey, but everything pretty much covers the entire Melbourne- Adelaide- Norseman- Kalgoorlie- Perth trip. Oh, and if you have any qualms after reading this about doing the drive, I say to you... You just GOTTA do it!

What should i do Pre-trip? Ok, well you're going a long long way. In fact, Melb-Perth is about 3500km, so you'll be spending at least about 80hours in the hot seat for the full return journey. So heres a few tips... 1)Car colour - dark cars are bad! Ok, that may be a tad harsh but believe me, dark blue/green and black cars just vamoose into the mirage on the Nullabor. Think of how visible you are in a mirage/heat haze for cars overtaking coming the other way. If you have such a car.. drive with the lights on. Do it - Believe me. 2)Make sure you are comfortable in the seats and have a pillow for sleep (passenger only!) 3)Cruise control - this is a big big bonus. You'll be sitting on constant speeds for looong periods of time (If you're on a motorcycle, check out my mate Tony's cruise device) 4)air conditioning. Hey, its the Nullabor. It gets hot. Air con, we found, left us feeling far more refreshed at the end of the day, and hence able to clock up more kays. 5)Tinting likewise, some form of window tinting might be good to keep the inside cooler. We didn't have it, but i can see the benefit. When the sun got too strong in one side of the car we often just hung a T-shirt in the window to counter the direct rays - worked fine. 6)Water. Ceduna (S.A) - Norseman (W.A) there is little water, and the roadhouses wont give you any. Carry your own. (The water at the roadhouses is bore stuff - yucky/unhealthy to drink, both for you and your car. We were also warned "dont wash your windscreen with bore water - just puts more oil/dirt on than when you started". On that point, however, I was absolutely amazed how FEW bugs are in the air on the Nullabor. We hit more between Melbourne-Adelaide than on the entire way to Norseman.) In W.A there are some roadside parking areas with water, but they advise you boil it for at least 10 minutes. 7)I would have liked some headlight protectors - we cracked a windshield but luckily (with nothing protecting them) didn't crack a headlight 8)Get you car serviced beforehand and take some oil (as well as water), and maybe a couple of fuses, at the very least!

Do I need to carry petrol?? This was a concern for me pre-trip, but it never should have been. So long as your vee-hicle isn't some nitro burning funny car and can drive 200km on a tank, you'll be fine. 200k's is the furthest between any of the roadhouses on the journey, and a kilometre or two before each roadhouse will be a sign advising you how far until the following fuel stop. So.. no need to carry any fuel for anything other than a small tank motorbike. A number - possibly most - of the roadhouses are 24hour (definitely Caiguna and Border Village), but we would advise knocking off the driving in daylight (see: "What about the roos?"). If you're unsure, just try to aim to do a fill up around 5pm (see "What's the deal about time zones?") Oh, and a final word about dogs and roadhouses.. for some reason roadhouses HATE dogs! Signs at one indicated a "shoot on sight" policy! We think its the fact that a dog cooped in a car will immediately poop everywhere when let out - which is usually, yes you guessed it, on the roadhouses front door step. As one sign at a roadhouse said - "You've just travelled across thousands and thousands of square kilometres of NOTHING. Why let you're dog poop here!" Fair enough (hairy mutt) I say too.

What about petrol prices??? Well, heres the bad news. As of Jan 99 there was a number of roadhouses selling at over the metric ton (ie, > $1 a litre). Worst was 103.9c/l at Madura, W.A (about 200km from the S.A border). (Thats old info now... but check out the W.A Gov's Petrol Price Page .) The good news is, of course, you'll be doing the easiest, flattest, straightest, no-stop-signs/red-lights-for-two-thousand-kays drive you've most likely ever done, and hence your fuel economy should be high, even with air-con switched on. We, for example, had two windsurfers on the roof and a car full of camping gear and still averaged just over 10km/litre - so, all up we did nearly 9000km, meaning about 900litres of fuel, therefore with an average of about 80c/litre (that could be a cent or two low..), $720 total between two people - $360 each return with use of car and total freedom - top value!

What about speed? Well, heres the tip every man and his dog will give you. Back off at Norseman (W.A)! There also police at Ceduna (S.A) and Eucla (W.A/S.A border).. however we saw the Eucla guy 200km away, near Madura! BUT (again)... you will be surprised. Theres a sign or two "advertising" aerial speed checks in S.A (ie, planes track you from above - "pigs in space" as we heard someone say..!). The speed limit in S.A and W.A is 110kmh for cars (in W.A i think its 100kmh for trucks and maybe even cars with caravans). The thing you will be surprised about is that pretty much everyone stays on or close to the limit. Even the road trains. We personally sat on a solid 110-115 (usually dead on 110) the whole way... its just a plain simple long drive, and going too fast tires you out more quickly. I was honestly surprised that we did not have one person go past us doing 150+, even though the road is just so tempting to try some "time-catching-up" in places. Stick around the limit and the fuel economy and fatigue factors drop out. Plus... you'll have the road to yourself a lot more of the time! (Seriously, you can drive for long periods rarely seeing anyone in front or behind you). As for overtaking, this too can be done very very easily - there's usually no one coming so often i didn't even change speed from what was set on the cruise control - just flowed past them (road train included). But of course a bit more throttle would be safer if there's any dips/hills/big mirage/heat haze. Oh, and in Victoria its 100kmh and fairly heavily policed along the Western Hwy all the way to Adelaide.

Road trains? Road trains are only the 36.5 metres double trailer jobs; only in a couple of places are the triples allowed (and i never had to overtake one of these). Like i said, they don't speed - quite amazing for someone who's ever driven on "Sesame Street" (a.k.a the Hume!) The truckies are nice blokes and will indicate for you to pass if you're not sure. Give 'em a wave as you overtake - its a long trip for them too!! In S.A they appear to be allowed to 110kmh (W.A only 100), so take this into account when passing etc. Oh, and our favourite truckie thing... hearing (on the radio station near Pt Pirie) an Adelaide to Darwin driver announcing.. "my favourite drink is coffee stirred into coke - tastes like sh*t but sure keeps me awake"!! :-) One final point, and yes, I know they aren't a road train, but.. keep your eyes out for planes tootling down the highway! In a number of locations in W.A between the border and (I think) Balladonia the road is marked out as emergency landing strips for aircraft from the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).

Where can i stay at night/eat food?? Closer to the cities you have motels and caravan parks etc, but Nullabor way there is basically two options. Firstly, roadhouses. Every roadhouse will have powered and unpowered sites that you can pitch a tent on or hook a caravan up to. Virtually all have motel type accommodation too, so however light you are travelling there will always be a place to stay at the end of the day (but I'd pack a pup tent just in case there isn't a room where you want it and you're not prepared to drive another 200km). All the roadhouses will also have all sorts of "truckie fare" on offer, so there will always be something to eat - if a little pricey and fattening! (ie my $5 steak sandwich whose only vegetable included was the tomato sauce!). Some of the roadhouses will also have a pub! The other overnight stay option is (if you are caravaning or camping)... anywhere you damn well please!! Parking/Rest stops often will have a few caravans parked in them for the night, and along the Nullabor cliffs there's many a track you can pop down. BUT... check your map that you are not on Aboriginal Land, as camping is not permitted in these locations (Yalata land is from about 200km east of the W.A/S.A border and stretches east for about 200km). Of course camping out means no showers; they are available at roadhouses however (check out the "Border Village" $1 showers.. best we had the entire trip including staying in friends houses!) Roadhouse tent spots are about $5-6, with motel rooms a rather pricey $60-70 (powered sites (i think) were about $12-15). One place i could also recommend, and which is spot on a days drive (about 8 hours road time) from Adelaide, is "Cactus". "Cactus" is a famous (world famous) surfing spot (and wavejumping for windsurfers), with a camp ground and basic loos and fireplaces, looked after by a great bloke (who's name i cant remember- sorry "great bloke"!) on his private land. There's the surf break and a calmer bay a bit down the road (would have loved to windsurf it!), as well as huge dunes and bright pink salt lakes. Just turn left (south) at Penong along the road to Pt Sinclair. "Cactus" campground is about 21km down the road. Stop at the Edward John Eyre sign too, and think about the country that guy walked through...

What about roos?? Ok, well on the Nullabor and particularly in W.A from about Caiguna to Norseman there were a _lot_ of dead roos (I cant help it... "der, der der deeer,,.. *DEAD ROO!*" (Cosmic Pshycos; Dead Roo song)). So, ipso-facto, there must be a lot of them about. BUT... during the day you will rarely see any (at least in summer). Hence the tip is.. don't drive at night. Roo bars will not do a lot of good at 110kmph (unless you are a road train with 1500mm diam ones!) and i suspect powerful driving lights would just mean you ignite the fleas on the poor buggers back as you slam into him. Not worth it.. my tip is; drive in light and she'll be right.

What's this Quarantine thing...?? Well we didn't know about this one and got stung big time. You think W.A is just another state in Oz, right?? BWAHahahaha!! You funny man! W.A is a land unto its own, and you will realise this when you hit the border where you are confronted with a huge carport, and guys and gals in police like uniforms who will ask you to open every door on your vehicle, and pull out any box or container that even vaguely resembles a food carrying device. Why?? Well, W.A being so remote and isolated, it does not have a number of diseases and infestations we take for granted elsewhere, and they wanna keep it that way. So, off the top of my head, they will take ALL... Fruit, veges, nuts (but packet nuts not in shells are ok), honey, farm products,.. even, i think, dirt off work/farm boots. They will also take any fruit boxes you may be carrying things in (but they will give you a new box, as we found!) We also found washed mushrooms are ok (hence our next nights dinner was steak and mushroom - thats all the food we had left!) So my advice, if camping and crossing the border.. take some freeze dried, dehydrated or canned veges to get you through the next day or two. Eat as much as you can before the border, and don't use fruit boxes to pack gear into. Gotta admit, as weird an introduction to the state it is, it is only a minor inconvenience to a traveller when you consider the enormous benefits such quarantine must have for the primary producers of W.A (ie, don't try and get around it.. its not fair on the blokes farming the W.A red dirt). Going the other way (back into S.A from W.A) there's a quarantine too - not quite as heavy handed as for W.A, but they'll still take most of the same things. The S.A quarantine post is not at the border, but a good 500km back into the state, at Ceduna.

What's the deal with time zones?? This got our watches spinning too - we were out by 2.5 hours at one stage! Ok, Victoria and NSW are on Eastern Australian time. South Australia is 30 minutes behind that. Now the next time zone we'd never heard of, but its Central W.A time, which is west of the W.A/S.A border, and is 45 minutes behind S.A time. (N.B "Border Village", which is actually in S.A, runs on central W.A time..) Now, one thing to remember is that W.A does NOT have daylight saving, so in summer, Central W.A time is actually 1 hour 45 behind of S.A time: 2hr 15 behind Melb/Syd (East Aus time). At Caiguna, W.A (about 350km from the W.A/S.A border) you switch to "Perth" time (as everyone calls it), which is another 45 minutes behind. So... from Caiguna to Perth you are 2hrs behind Melb/Syd (3hrs in summer), and 1.5hrs behind South Australian time (2.5 in summer). Confused??? She'll be right mate - you're on holiday/windsurfari anyway so who cares! There are no signs in S.A (or coming back into Vic) to tell you to advance or retard your clocks, but there are signs telling you this stuff in W.A (though no mention is made of daylight saving (or W.A's lack thereof) on these).

What about Sydney? We've driven the Broken Hill to Sydney Route, which may be a good way to Perth as well. Turn off just after Port Augusta for the 350 odd km's to Broken Hill. (I cant tell you anything about this road, but i reckon it'd be pretty good - skirting the southern Flinders Ranges and then the desert country (near where they filmed Mad Max II!!) before Broken Hill. Drop into the famous Silverton Pub... From memory there were quite a few police on the Broken Hill - Sydney route. Oh, and be very very VERY wary of travelling near dusk on the Wilcannia to Cobar stretch (250 odd kilometres and only one (closed when we went past) roadhouse...) the roos on this stretch were the worst i have EVER seen - eating right at the roadside a dozen per kilometre. Also drop in and do the compulsory laps around the Mt Panorama race track in Bathurst. Blue Mountains are a nice one too. If you can detour north (whilst in far western NSW), White Cliffs is fascinating for its underground homes and opal mining (but it would be a fair old detour on dirt roads - though they might have sealed it by now)

Who are "the Loonies"?? Ahhhh.. the loonies. This was the affectionate name we attributed to the surprising number of people who not only chose to cross the Nullabor unconventionally, but also to do it in summer. By unconventionally, we include (at the very soft end of the loonie scale) 250cc trail bike riders, but mostly mean the people on heavily laden mountain bikes cranking up 100km a day in the sun. (ie, what we do in under an hour, they do in a single day + blisters) We spoke to a couple of English ladies at the W.A border who had cycled from Brisbane and they were remarkably sane! (Actually, quite wonderful to talk with.) Of course the bloke taking the cake we referred to as "Nullabor Man", who we saw, as we headed to Perth, WALKING the other way pulling a handcart. Of course we also saw him again a few weeks later upon our return STILL walking.... We fell in love with "the loonies" and made sure we gave "The Wave" to each and every one (as well as plenty of room - there's certainly heaps to give!).

What's "The Wave"?? Now as you leave Ceduna heading west, or leaving Norseman heading east, you'll start to notice people waving to you as they drive the other way. You'll soon realise you have entered the territory of... THE WAVE! When you think about it, anyone on this section of road (ie the Eyre Hwy) is either 1)going a bloody long way, or 2)come a bloody long way! There's a definite commaraderie on the Nullabor, so be polite and wave back! But remember.. the ettiquite is... if you're within a few hundred km of either end having only just started, YOU ARE THE NEW BOY! The guy coming the other way has come a couple of thousand more kays than you and hence deserves respect! (ie, let him wave first!!) There are many and varied forms of wave, and again these relate to your pecking order (ie distance you have just travelled along the Eyre). After crossing the halfway point people have earnt respect, which, added with their possible tiredness, will mean they may only give you "the finger flick" (one finger raised casually off the top of the steering wheel). More excited travellers approaching the end may give "multiple fingers". People closer to the start may succumb to the naive "full hand" wave, whilst younger and more lively types have been know to do the full "two hander" (no, i don't know what they're steering with either). Passengers can help too, adding variety to the waving routine; passenger greetings include the "two feet flapping wildly on the dashboard wave".... BASTARDS just don't wave. (NB Truckies are excused waving as they are top of the Eyre pecking order.)

Highlights?? Well there are so many i will miss a bunch, and hence will barely try! In Vic the Grampians or the Little Desert. In S.A, the road runs along the southern edge of the famous Flinders Ranges (around Port Augusta/Port Pirie), you gotta visit "Cactus" as mentioned above. We also heard about a seal colony near Ceduna (Pt ??something) worth visiting. There's a "big Galah" in Kimba i think!! All the cliffs along the Nullabor (there are viewing spots west of Nullabor roadhouse - the road even runs only 50metres or less from the edge between Nullabor roadhouse and the border in places). Between June-October there's whale watching at the "Head of the Bight" - the turn off is just a few miles east of the Nullabor roadhouse. In W.A, the Eyre bird observatory near Cocklebiddy (but you need 4wd). The caves near Cocklebiddy also hold the record for the deepest ever cave dive. From Caiguna to Balladonia is Australia's longest dead straight section of sealed road - 146.6 kilometres (remember to turn/remove the ocky straps from the steering wheel at the end!!) Balladonia, by the way, is where NASA's Skylab plummeted to Earth in 1979 - way to pick a desolate landing site NASA dudes! At Norseman you can head down to Esperance (absolutely magnificent beaches) or to go directly to Perth, turn right towards Kalgoorlie. Check out the "Superpit" - an open cut gold mine in Boulder that will eventually be 500 metres deep (currently 280m). Then watch the water(?) pipeline all the way to Perth! There's heaps more of course, and most roadhouses and towns will have pamphlets of local info. In W.A there are some great maps available in roadhouses - The "StreetSmart Touring Maps" in particular provide a great deal of information about not only where to camp and facilities, but also give descriptions of places of interest - well worth the $6 or so.. Finally, one last tip for W.A. If you have a 4wd you will be allowed to drive on many of the beautiful beaches (try the trip from Cape LeGrand National Park (Wylie Bay) to Esperence along the beach - cuts out 40 km from the normal bitumen drive too!). Many beaches will have soft sand and it is advisable to let down your tyres to between 10 and 16 psi. Hence, carry a compressor that can re-inflate your tyres when you return to solid road and you'll be able to go anywhere! Theres some good info on the towns on the drive at the Sydney Morning Herald "Walkabout" site, and if you are interested in the windsurfing in W.A, you gotta check out the Windsurfing in Western Australia page.

So thats about it for tips... except for one final one.. If all else fails and you're feeling its all too much, just think about olde Edward John Eyre and his companion Wylie, way back in 1840-41, walking all the way from Port Augusta to Albany, not even knowing where they might next find water. Think about that as you look at the scrub and contemplate the distance and you'll realise.. Man, we got it _easy_...