May 23rd, 2011
Nundroo to Nullarbor
Distance: 151km
Total distance: 3692km
All hopes were not lost. Woke up in the morning to a silent atmosphere. No more tent flapping. A bit of drizzle and a one-off gust of strong wind while I was packing but that was it. Finally, Nullarbor seems to be calming down, at least for today. Made myself a cup of hot Ovaltine in addition to a bowl of cereal to charge up some extra energy for a big day ride. I aimed to get to the next roadhouse, which is Nullarbor Roadhouse, about 150km. Left at 8.30am, fully aware that there’s a high chance I may dip into the night sky later today.
My ride today was pretty good. I experienced occasional headwinds (coming at 10 o’clock) and some spontaneous bouts of rain, which were rather refreshing than a nuisance. My first stop was after 55km at the now permanently closed Yalata Roadhouse where I was sheltered to have my lunch of bread and peanut butter. The now abandoned caravan park there looks much better than the operating caravan park at Nundroo. I wonder why they closed down the roadhouse. Wasn’t completely wasted though, one of the cabin is now occupied by the police department.
As soon as I exited the Yalata roadhouse, I arrived at one of the unique Nullarbor wildlife crossing sign. There was a French and a German guy taking photos there so we spoke and took some photos. They were very friendly, they both find cycle touring very appealing.
My journey continued but about 10km down the highway, I was stopped by a photography enthusiast. Len is from Victoria, and he drove a couple of days all the way to Eucla, WA, just to take some shots of the limestone cliffs. In my remaining journey, I got my photo taken on two occasions, but wasn’t signaled to stop so I just rode on. Similar situation to what I experienced at GOR, haha.
Something amazing happens about 30km to Nullarbor (roadhouse). The largely wooded landscape turned into an open plain with very few trees (mostly dead). The view was absolutely breath-taking. The horizon suddenly becomes wide open and appeared endless. About 10km later, I passed the last tree standing. Here onwards, it was all scrubs, no plants over a metre tall to be seen. I get to see a nice sunset too while riding this stretch. Naturally, the wind got stronger too on the plain but I wasn’t bothered much as I was fully occupied by the awesome view. I rode at a comfortable 10km/h to quietly enjoy the best view I had since entering Nullarbor.
The sunset was quick, before I knew, it was already dark. I ended up riding the last 12km in total darkness, only my headlight illuminates the road. The roadhouse can be seen too, though the lights were quite faint from this distance. I noticed there were some small creatures on the road after dusk. Didn’t get to see it clearly but I’m guessing they could be mice, toads, or snails. I was also hoping to see some large wildlife so at times I grabbed one of my headlight and shone towards the scrubs. No luck tonight. I’m keen on seeing the short hairy-nosed wombat, or better still, a camel! Speaking of wildlife, I saw an eagle today! Most likely the wedge-tailed eagle and it really was a huge bird! Didn’t get to see it up close though.
Booked myself into a backpacker’s accomodation here at Nullarbor Roadhouse as it was too dark and I was too tired to pitch my tent. The caravan park looked pretty full. One thing for sure, this park is on par to the other 3.5 to 4 star caravan parks, clean and tidy, unlike the Nundroo one which I personally rated 0.5 star. Had an overpriced burger meal too as I didn’t have the motivation to cook. My steak burger didn’t taste good, and this is coming from a hungry cyclist where the last meal was ingested 7 hours prior. It did fill my stomach though and I’m now looking forward to doze off on a comfortable bed without worries of whether my tent would be ripped apart by the wind. Anyway, 151km today, now that’s more like it.
