Esperance to Ceduna

1-1-09

I left Esperance on New Years Eve and made it to Cocklebiddy and spent the night in the back of a petrol station. I got in late and finally got my tent set up in a place where I could get my tent pegs in as it was blowing like mad. It had stated out a nice calm day and was working it way into a real smoker of an afternoon when in a bout a mile I went from a sweat dog to pulling up zippers and battening down all loose openings. I even considered stopping and putting on another Bob’s Motor Werks tee shirt but decided I could tough it out. After I got my tent set up I went into the restaurant part of the Road House and ordered a hamburger with fries. Jeez, it cost $18.50 with a pop for a drink. These Road Houses really know how to fleece the public. There is nowhere else to go. They wanted $90 for a little room which is why I was camped out back. I met a couple of guys that were setting up there tent and went over to offer assistance. Turned out that you couldn’t get a ten peg in that ground with a ten pound rock so they decided to come over where I was camped and set up. Damned if they didn’t and they put their damn tent right next to mine. I mean like six inches. She-it…. To hell with them, then I noticed that one of the guys was not only wearing a pink tee shirt but had his toe and fingernails painted to match. Oh, sh*t…. I just got in my tent and went to sleep and was up before they got rolling.

When I got filled up with petrol in the morning the guy at the service station asked where I was from. When I said Montana, he said that there was a guy working here from Nevada and really liked it here. Most people don’t care for it here, as there is ‘Nothing’ of miles and miles. I told him that people that are from Nevada are people that like nothing for miles and miles and don’t like people much either. “Yeah”, he said, “he doesn’t like people either.”

It was still cool in the morning but not too bad and I rode all day today across the Nullabor Plain. It was just as good going east as it was going west (Well almost eh, Amigos?).

Before I left I was loading up my stuff and had this much of my licorice stash out on the table to load up. I have been trying all the licorice that I have been able to find and I am so far disappointed in what I have found. I must have spent close to fifty bucks trying the different kinds. So far the best Australian licoirice has beent that that I have bought in Miles City, MT. Go figure…..

These are the two farmer guys that I was sharing a room with at Experance YHA hostel. It was wonderful to have a couple of guys that I could sit down and talk farming with. The sure knew what was going on too. The guy on the right just got off a combine (they call it a header) and got the hell off the farm for a few days camping, swimming, drinking beer and chasing the women. They were having a good time and with some success….. The little camper van was extra cool little rig. He bought it for $1000 and it is just so cute. It only had 50,000km on it. I see a lot of little vans like this here.

This is a kilometer road sign that tells you how far to the next town in km’s. This one was 20km from Norseman. I find it really handy especially when things are so damn far apart here. The normal distance between Road Houses on the Nullarbor is about 200km or more. It sure makes a lot more sense than mile markers that we use in the USA. 

I just love these open forests with these gum trees.

I stopped in a place where the ground was covered with these little round stones sitting on a sandy bed of soil. What a perfect place to have a sling shot and be surrounded by ammo.

I was just enjoying the 90km’s of straight road when  I suddenly came upon this accident. The waved me on as they had everything under control but I had to come back and see how it was that anyone could have an accident like that on a perfectly straight road with almost no traffic.

This is why it happened. The trailer ball hitch bolt broke in half and I suppose he was chained to the trailer. This is why I almost always have a breakaway link in my trailer safety chain. I always figure it is better to let the trailer go rather then end up like this guy. They said he wasn’t hurt bad. It sure put an end to his happy holiday.

I saw the sign for this on my way over but didn’t stop. This time I did to see about it.

The cave entrance. I didn’t go down.

I saw this guy at a petrol station and had to take his picture. This is the only fifth wheel rig like this I have seen so far. As usual, I love over loaded rigs and I have to give him 100 points for style.

Another sign on the highway pointed to the side and said Water. There is a little water trough under a faucet and it requests that you fill it for the animals. It also says that you should boil the water before use. The little campground I am staying at tonight has a big water tank that stores the rainwater. The manager said use the rainwater rather than the town water, as it is better and tastes good. These guys down here are VERY serious about catching all the water that lands on the roof and piping it off to a storage tank. It is really rare to see a roof without a catchments system. I took a quick nap on the table. No ants and I used my head net for the flies.

A sign at a Road House petrol station. Oh, speaking of petrol, I need to clarify something I wrote about a while back about that guy that had the diesel pickup that use gas to increase his horse power and fuel efficiency. I used the term gas as he did and down here gas is like propane and not gasoline. They probably use butane because they don’t need the propane because they don’t have cold weather. The gas vapor is run into a regulator that has circulating water from the radiator to keep the temperature of the vapor high. Then, that vapor is inserted in the intake air of the turbo. So the term he used ‘diesel, gas, Australia’ might be better said ‘diesel, butane/propane, Australia.

all you need to know….

one came bouncing across the road this morning. They sure make it look easy. Oh, one of the farmer guys said that the Roo meat that you get in the store is from the Broken Hill area as the ones other places have worms and are not good to eat. I think that is where I saw the hunter rig.

Yeah, another sticker had to go next to this one that must be a bike group.

I liked this spot when I came before and stopped again this time to have a little snack and drink some water. A guy came by and needed a picture of him and the sea which I took and he took one of me. I went in and paid for my petrol at one Road House and thought I would get a Snickers candy bar to tide me over until supper. I had to put it back as I just couldn’t pay $3.80 for a damn candy bar. It wasn’t a big bar either. It has been years since I bought a candy bar.

Do you remember that strange looking animal on the warning signs? I have an idea that this might be where it lives. I see these big areas out I some fields and figure it must be some sort of burrowing animal like a prairie dog but these dudes are a whole lot bigger. Must be why they have the warning signs on the highway. (Wombat ??)

1-2-09

I made it to streaky bay library now at noon. Finally a free wifi connection. Damn I have been really bummed out by this first world country possibilities for wifi service. I have used a few places that let me plug in my laptop but it seems like all service down here has a BIG price. Most places are 15 minutes for $3, 1/2 hour $5 and there seems to be all types of ways to screw ya when you pay up. Most places when you buy a 1/2 hour I am not able to hook up and down load for ten minutes and then disconnect and hook back up again when I want to send answers to my email. Finally here in south Australia the library gal said that my card would be good in all libraries. She said that they even keep the wifi going at night and weekends. Wow, that is nice for a change. In the US I have often just gone to a big motel and used the wifi from the street but down here everything is encrypted and password needed.