Round the Paddock 2014: The Nullarbor Plain - 1201kms from Norseman to Ceduna

If you ever attempt to travel the Nullarbor Plain, expect to be surprised. It is not the barren wasteland of desert sands I was expecting, in fact it is quite beautiful in parts. However, it is very, very, very long.
This means you need to plan well for water supplies and food to get you over the border.

There is no water available to refill your caravan tanks anywhere on the Nullarbor, in fact, you can pay up to $5 for a 5 minute shower at some of the roadhouses along the way (well worth it in my opinion). The last supermarket before heading east is in Norseman, WA, and it's not until 1201kms later at Ceduna, SA that you can refill your water tanks and restock your fridge.
Now I do like to overstock my pantry (I am sure it's a Mum thing to make sure I can feed my kids), so when we were preparing to leave Esperance I did a light shop thinking that surely there would be somewhere along the way to restock fruit and salad supplies...
Lesson 1. Buy anything you might possibly desire to eat before you go as the choice of fresh food options on the Nullarbor pretty much consists of sausage rolls, steak burgers or crumbed sausages.
Lesson 2. Fill your tanks, fill all drink bottles, fill anything that can contain water before you go. Now of course you can buy water to drink on the way, and we also got very creative at cleaning ourselves in minimal water, but you'd be surprised how much water that just washing dishes, cleaning dirty kids faces, and flushing the loo uses. We wished we had filled our third tank on the van :(
By the way, I drove the longest straight road in Australia, all 146kms of it on the Nullabor, I now certainly have some bragging rights on that one.
Enough said, here are some pics from our amazing trip, first stop Balladonia WA, second night Cocklebiddy WA, third night Great Australian Bight SA (@lookout 1):
Balladonia, WA (938km east of Perth) -

Balladonia, WA Roadhouse caravan park - 412kms from Esperance. Very isolated but luckily we brought the cool weather and rain with us

My contribution to driving, bragging rights to say I have driven Australia's longest straight stretch of road, and part of the Nullarbor

The long road - Nullarbor Plain, WA

Pit stop and photo opportunity for entering the New Age Caravan annual calendar competition (no wasted opportunities!)

Two most favourite boys

The build up Nullarbor style - Nullarbor Plain, WA

Bities - I would have put a coin near him for size comparison but was worried he would have eaten my hand - check out the caparison to the checker plate markings, huge!!

Another road sign - we pass so many, I just want you to share in the experience

Balladonia oasis - the last pool we would see at a roadhouse until the end of our trip (and a free bath?! - nah just kidding)

Cocklebiddy, WA - (219kms from Balladonia)
Ok, so Cocklebiddy is a dusty roadhouse on the side of the Eyre highway, so I planned a short (35kms) trip out to there Eyre Bird Conservatory, not knowing that the 35kms was pretty decent 4WDing. We left at 3.45pm and it kind of took us 90min to get there. By the time we had a look around and got back it was 6.45pm (kids normally eat at 5pm). There were actually no birds to see as it had been a stormy day... so we were all tired and a little grumpy, BUT it was a fun experience anyway, and the lovely caretakers were amazing so it was worth the trek.

Loggerhead turtle skeleton - Eyre Bird Conservatory, Cocklebiddy WA

The Eyre Telegraph Station Museum - Eyre Bird Conservatory, Cocklebiddy, WA

Rattles Ride for Cancer - Ian & Matt the horse

I had the amazing opportunity to meet Ian when we stopped in at Cocklebiddy Roadhouse, WA on our trip around Aus. Ian is and amazingly generous man who has given up is life (and temporarily his family) to raise money for cancer research by driving a horse drawn cart around Australia. Donations can be made at Ian's website www.rattlesride.com.au or follow him on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/RattlesRide‎

Cocklebiddy statistics

Outback Humour.... Nom nom nom!

Great Australian Bight - crossing the border from WA to SA

She who leaves the caravan step out after a toilet stop, owes Damien a beer... sorry babe

Prepping for the border - none of these foods can be taken into SA from WA

In case you want to be reminded exactly how far you are from civilisation - Eucla (18km from SA border), WA... or Dave's and Andy's places

It all felt a little bit like Border security... until we drove straight through as they don't actually check you for quarantine until Ceduna (475kms east)...anticlimax much!