Broken Hill to Perth - Smithsdownunder

Details: Category: Ocean to Ocean 2013

Australia


Since leaving Broken Hill we have been covering lots of kilometers and have been bush camping most of the way so without internet access we have not been able to update the website regularly.
		We are driving across Australia and others fly across but there is another way and that is to go on the train. The Indian Pacific takes three days to go from Sydney to Perth and on our way to Port Augusta from Broken Hill the railway ran alongside the road and we were joined by the Indian Pacific for a while.
We camped at a very nice campsite in the hills near Port Augusta at a place called Spear Creek. We stayed there 9 years before when we passed through here with the caravan. The scary thing was that when we booked in the lady manager recognised me from 9 years ago! The following day we stopped at a railway crossing and watched one of the other iconic trains go past - The Ghan - which runs from Adelaide to Darwin.
		We pulled into a small town called Poochera and saw this little house which was built by a guy called Peter Sheridan in 1920. Its made out of flattened kerosene cans.
Alongside the humpy was an old blacksmiths workshop which was also made out of flattened cans.
		We spent a couple of nights at Cactus Beach again but this time it was much quieter with only three or four others camping there. We did a roadside camp on the Nullarbor and as it was warm we decided to use our small tent without the flysheet so we could lay in bed and look at the stars. It looks a bit like one of those things you use to keep the flies off your sandwiches!
This is the view of the stars from inside the tent.
		They looked much clearer from the outside.
In the morning we woke to this view of the sky. There was a heavy dew during the night and we were a bit damp in the morning but it was worth it!
		There was a great sunrise that morning.
Another view of the Nullarbor coastline near Eucla.
		We wanted to drive down a track that runs from Balladonia to Cape Arid but it was closed because of the heavy rain so we had to travel via Norseman and Esperance. We found a great campsite in Cape Arid. It was at the end of a 4x4track and we had the place to ourselves. The campsite was set amongst Banksia bushes some of which were still in flower.
A short walk across the dune took us to a fantastic beach with white squeeky sand.
		Our beach, Jorndee Creek
I managed to get up for sunrise one morning and took these photos when I went for a swim before breakfast.
		(Honest I did get up early!)
This is what it looked like away from the beach.
	We managed to drag ourselves away from Cape Arid for the last part of the journey towards Perth. It wasn't difficult though because it started to rain and we had to pack up a very wet tent. There was still about 1000km to Perth as we decided to take the coastal route. It was raining when we stopped at Masons Bay but we managed to rig up a tarp and put the small tent under it so we stayed fairly dry. Our next stop was in Albany and as it was still raining we opted for a cabin for the night. Our final campsite was in a National Park near Margaret River and the rain stopped and the sun shone again at last. We passed the old Rabbit Proof Fence on the way which runs for 3246km and was built in 1901 to keep the rabbits out of the wheet growing areas.