We always intended to head off early this morning as we had well over 500km to travel. With all the times zones playing havoc with our phones, we think we hit the road at about 7am Western Australian time. It could, however, have been Western Australian border time, or South Australian time. Who knows, it was ridiculously cold, so we are favouring 7am.
Today was always going to be a bit boring. Not much other than the Madura Pass brought interest to our day. It was just set Puma on 90ish, watch for B-Triples mowing us down, letting them past and continuing on. But wait, there was the sign saying ‘90 mile straight’. Yes that’s right, 146 km without a corner. Thank God there were a hill or two! Actually, prior to this point we did comment about the amount of corners we had encountered. It is not a set and forget journey at all.
We stopped for lunch at Balladonia. The lovely gentleman behind the counter was fluent in seven languages. His eight was English. Standing back watching G order a Bacon and Egg sandwich, steak burger, coffee and tea was quite the comedy interlude. Funnily enough the bacon and egg was scrumptious, as was the burger. The tea was largely donated to thirsty ants.
Latte afternoon we rolled into Norseman being the official end of the Nullarbor. The Welcome to Norseman triangular arch at the entrance to the town did nothing for our expectations. It was faded beyond repair, covered in poor standard graffiti with the surrounds un-mown. The service-station was just one small step above the quality of the sign. Thankfully it was in stark contrast to the town centre that was green, beautifully manicured and just plain nice.
Our day ended at a camp beside the quarantined dam, 37km south of Norseman. Off the road, in a flat level camp area, it turned out to be a winner. Tomorrow we head to Esperance for a few days rest. The weather radar tells us it might be a bit of an experience. The words, heavy rain and gale force winds were bolded.
