We set off from Kalgoorlie for the long trip across the Nullabor.  We had gotten friendly with our neighbours, Suzie and Arthur and their little fox terrier Daisy.  Daisy is particularly fond of Motley1, in fact, all the dogs we meet gravitate to him and I get the occasional look in.  Motley1 says this is because dogs are really good judges of character.  We decided that we would travel across the Nullabor together with Suzie and Arthur although they travel slower than us so it was a case of meeting up
wherever we decided to stop.

Our first stop of the day was in Balladonia whose claim to fame is that Skylab crashed here and huge pieces of the spacecraft are on display in their little museum and on their roof.  Motley1 who has suffered listening to my Jim Diamond CD many times sang “Balladonia” instead of “Caledonia” for the next half hour. 
We stopped here for something to eat and ordered a plate of wedges with sour cream and chilli sauce.  The plate fed four of us comfortably so we were glad nobody else had ordered food.

We travelled another 60kms or so and pulled into a rest stop for the night.  There were quite a few caravans already there but we found room and settled in for the night.  Suzie had cooked a big pot of bolognese sauce the day before, so i cooked some spaghetti and we dined exceedlingly well.

The next day we travelled to Nullabor Roadhouse and Caravan Park.  Driving along the road during the day a truckie had called us to tell us that our caravan was leaking water. The hose had come off the drain pipe for the water tank and our tank was now empty. We had to find a caravan park to be able to fill up the tank with drinking water.  Unfortunately, there was no water at the park  and we were unable to fill up.  We had to fill kettles to be able to make coffee and wash dishes.
This picture is too prove that there are trees on the Nullabor and this one to show what most of it looks like.

The following morning we called into a roadhouse to fill up with fuel and Motley1 was asked to make a delivery to the next roadhouse a couple of hundered kilometres along the road.  A carton of toilet rolls !   The situation was desperate there apparently as they were almost out.

This was our view for mile after mile or that should be kilometre after kilometre I suppose, just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

We stopped for lunch here and I was so surprised to find we were halfway across the country.

Eucla was our next stop where again we could get no water for our tank so we stayed at the caravan park here.  Suzie and Arthur had accompanied us at each stop.  We were approaching The Great Australian Bite and looking forward to driving down to the coast the next day for a look.  We thought we would be too late for the whales but you never know.
What wonderful scenery, the coastline is spectacular.  Here’s Motley1 taking the mickey as I just kept telling him to stay away from the edge as it didn’t look too stable and many of the lookouts along the road were closed due to erosion of the cliff face.
This is a picture of Suzie and Arthur and Daisy standing way too near the edge for my liking.  It was pretty isolated out there and there wasn’t a lot of traffic around.

This is one of the very few hills whilst crossing the plains so was worthy of a photograph.

We headed to Penong for the night where the caravan park which looks empty here apart from our two vans soon filled up before nightfall. The highlight of this park was free washing machine, powder and softener, unheard of anywhere else.  As yopu can imagine that poor machine  didn’t stop all night long with everyone taking advantage of getting all their accumulated washing up to date.

Ceduna was our next stop, we stayed there for a couple of days and had a look around.  Day 1 was very hot and after setting up the van and doing some shopping, the best beer ever disappeared in minutes in the local pub.  Half an hour later, the weather had changed and the temperature dropped to a much more comfortable level.

From Ceduna we headed to Port Augusta and decided to have a couple of days R & R here.  This was at the edge of the carpark and I couldn’t get Motley1 to move.  there are many Port Augustians wondering about the strange man laying on the ground shouting…grass…grass….
We walked the boardwalk here and as has been usual for weeks now it is still windy.  Warm but windy.
The caravan park is full of lizards, blue tongue lizards.  They were all sizes and Motley1 spent a while antagonising them so that he could photograph the tongue.  How does this one compare to Stumpy, Bren?

The following day we took a drive to Whyalla.  The town is really a steel town and the ships have to be filled by barge as there is no deep water jetty.  They are going to build a three kilometre long jetty to cut out double handling of the ore.
In the middle of town, just beside the highway, it was disconcerting to see the HMS Whyalla.  No water in sight.  Just this ship sitting at the side of the road.  Actually, it is the mainstay of the Whyalla Maritime Museum.
Motley1 had a tour of the ship but I haven’t been too well for the last few days and have a really sore leg which I am dragging around at the moment so climbing up and down narrow stairways onboard ship didn’t appeal.
I was really taken by the town signs and thought them very clever.

We left Port Augusta and headed to Port Wakefield where some friends have settled and bought this lovely house which was delivered from Adelaide in one piece and set on the block.  On the way, driving past one of a few pink lakes, we noticed a ripple on the water.  Wow ! I had no idea that there could be a tunnel straight down from Scotland to Australia but there obviously is.  Widely travelled like all Scots, Nessie has migrated for the winter.  Not stupid this Loch ness Monster.  The next town was Lochiel, are you beginning to see a pattern here.  I think there must have been a huge influx of Scots to South Australia.

Port Wakefield Caravan Park was small but pleasant as you can see here we had water views.  it’s a very historic town with only 600 inhabitants but looks like going the way of all nice little coastal towns as they are building a marina, a shopping centre and about 500 new houses in the next few months.

We could only stay here one night as the park was booked out by a caravan club so the next day after morning coffee with paul & Raylene we headed for Adelaide.

We stayed at a park in Windsor Gardens a suburb of Adelaide.  Mistake!  Full of flies, dogs and dust.
We met up again with Suzie and Arthur and Daisy here.
Adelaide is much bigger than we remember and we are told it has grown enormously in the last ten years.  We took a stroll down Rundle mall and watched the buskers.
The city of churches is well named as there are so many of them.  Something we had never seen before was the O Bahn. These buses move at speed into the city and are an incredibly good way to get about.  We headed to Port Adelaide where “I’ts Happening“.  Well Monday mornings are not when it’s happening at all.  All six (yes six, I counted) of the people who were wandering around found that everything “Happens” on a Sunday only.  Darling Harbour or Southbank it is not.
The lighthouse is very colourful right in the middle of the precinct. Motley1 was a little peckish so helped himself when no one was looking.

John, I said earlier about the scottish connection to South Australia, This one is even closer to home for you.

The following day, feeling a little better, did I mention I had now developed some sort of stomach bug?  (The drawback to caravan living is when you almost live in the loo for days) we headed off to the Adelaide Hills.  Lobethal, Stirling and Hahndorf were our destinations.  On the way we saw this cute little fellow sitting at the side of the road and he chatted for a while before heading up a tree nearby.
A little aside here for the Norton Branch of the family, some must have emigrated here as there are Norton this and old Norton that wherever you go.

Hahndorf is as you can probably tell a German town which boasts some of the finest winemakers and wines in the country.  The entrance to town through the trees is very pretty.  The pub grub was good according to Motley1 (my stomach couldn’t face Bratwurst and German Beer). 

On our drive we found Camelot, the story goes that it is in England but everyone is mistaken.  Here it is, right in the heart of the Adelaide Hills.
This picture is here just because I took it and I think it’s lovely….so there

Our next stop was Victor Harbor a very picturesque town where Adeladians come for weekends away.  They have a horse drawn tram which crosses the bridge out to Granite Island. Here I am with Misty one of the Clydesdales who pull the coach every day full of tourists.  Poor thing, if you saw the size of some of the people getting on that tram !  I loved this fountain in the park and think it rates as one of my favourites.
This shot from one of the residential streets in town gives you an idea of the length of the bridge to the island which used to be a whaling station.

We went out to the Bluff to do a little fishing and watched those around us catch some pretty amazing fish.  Who’s ever heard of a blue fish?  That’s good for eating ?  I don’t think so…blue and food don’t go together in my book!

The coastline around here is pretty nice too and there are some very pretty drives.  Tomorrow we are going to have a look at the mouth of the Murray River which isn’t too far away and also the “Scottish Town” of South Australia.  I’ll keep you posted.

Tonight we had dinner in the pub here with Suzie and Arthur who have caught up with us again here where we think we are now going in two opposite directions until we catch up with them next year in Queensland.

Until next time …miss everybody..it’s those B####Y Christmas things starting already …..

P.S.  Motley1 became an uncle again ..Congratulations M & T on having such a beautiful little girl and to you to 2jays on the birth of your second grandchild.

P.P.S.  Chill…did you know that cat of yours was an entrepeneur?