For some "The Nullarbor”- from Latin “Nullus” and “Arbor” meaning “No tree”- is a magical place. For others it is the most boring flat stretch of road through arid landscape imaginable. Austin and I feel that both points have some validity. After three days of driving through the barren landscape and hardly having to turn the steering wheel we could do with a little bit of excitement other than seeing the odd sign pointing out the obvious.
On the other hand, there is a magic to the wide open space, the colours of the grassland and lack of human intervention, well, that is apart from the masses of roadkill.
Unfortunately, towing a big caravan and not having allotted enough time to stop and unhook, we didn’t explore many of the 4WD side roads leading off the beaten track. However, we turned into some of the great lookouts and one in particular will stay in my mind: a lookout on the so-called Australian Bight. Overlooking the jagged cliffs along the massive Southern Ocean and the vastness of the grassland behind us it seemed to me as if we landed on a new planet.
While watching the sun set we decided to stay there for the night and were joined by a few other travellers. During the night we got to feel one of the forces of nature. A storm rolled in with wind so strong that it rocked our caravan and ripped one of our window stays right of its hinges. It even deadened the sound of Austin’s snoring! He, of course, was blissfully unaware!
As we carried on the next day, we found that the sparsely distributed settlements and roadhouses we passed had come up with their own tourist attractions. In Penong the local men decided to show off a variety of windmills including, of course, Australia's "largest windmill”, all to make people stop and spend some money! We also passed the “Big Wombat” and the “Big Roo”, hideous plastic replicas. Marked as an attraction on the Wiki Camp App, I was intrigued to learn what the "Teddy Bear Tree" might be. In passing we just caught a glimpse of a small tree adorned with old teddies and dolls.
Now to all our golf obsessed friends, here is a challenge: to play on the worlds longest golf course, the Nullarbor Links. The 18 hole par 73 course spans 1365 km with one hole in each of the participating settlements or roadhouses along the Eyre Highway. How about it Blake, Pete, Peter, Georg, Renate?
For us the main attraction is the nature we encountered.
Where there are trees on the otherwise treeless plain there is an array of beautiful birds, like galahs, ringneck parrots, magpies and Australian miners, like at the Baxter rest stop, a beautiful free campsite with the rare luxury of a toilet.