So, it was a great morning packing up in the drizzle and then on the road, horrible weather and freezing, about 2 degrees C.
I stopped at Balladonia which is the first fuel stop to get a hot tea and bacon and egg sanger, this is where I met Rachel and Greg, she rides a 08 WeeStrom ABS and he rides a GSX1400.
They were also freezing and going the same way. I chatted a while but then headed off, I would maybe see them in Eucla. That was my destination as I could do the distance. I had sent an SMS to Saab and also Donunder trying to find the exact time the footy was kicking off. It was 4pm QLD time which I had on my tyre gauge, so I knew travelling at around the 120kmh mark I could get there.
Not long after Balladonia you get to the longest straight stretch of road in Australia, it runs for 146km.
I can tell you it was long and straight and with the wind, I was at a constant lean to the right as it was blowing around 20-30 knots, then just occasionally a 40 knot gust would hit you and knock you 2 meters to the left, very bad feeling that I can tell you!
It was even worse with the truck wash, especially when two were following each other. As the truck went past, you immediately drove towards it because you were now sheltered from the wind. Then after you straighten that up, the wind hits you again and then the 2nd truck wash hits you, but you are closer than before, so it can get a bit hairy at times 🙂
This is my first crossing of the Nullarbor Plain, where Nullarbor = Null Arbor = Nill Trees and the landscape proved it.
But just to compensate for no trees, we get different things to run into and over 🙂 Different to what I am used to anyway, especially camels 🙂
I must say that the long stretch was full of dead roos, I even saw 4 live ones, sitting on the side of the road facing the wind doing nothing, but they were spaced around 200m between them. As I got closer to each one, they skipped away back into the bush. I never saw any carrion birds like crows or eagles anywhere until the other side of Caiguna, very weird.
I fuelled up at Cocklebiddy, very expensive and found I had lost 45 minutes in time zones, but kept on to Madura as I figured, even at the speed I was doing, the further east I went, the more time I lost. When I checked the TV at Mundarabilla, it was a live telecast of the footy but still showing pre-game entertainment, so I hoofed it to Eucla at a quickish rate as it was only another 70km 🙂 I got there to the roadhouse/motel/caravan park where I had planned to stay and walked into the bar and all I had missed was the first 10 minutes of the game. I was happy with that, but not the price of beer at $6 a can, I paid up. Anyway, I relaxed with a number of other eastern staters while we watched the Storm get absolutely flogged by Manly, good on em!
Did I mention the wind and the rain, we were on the coast and the rain was horizontal so I chose a budget room, just a bed and use park showers, which cost an extra $1 for 5 minutes, rip off etc, it was warm and dry and I slept real fine 🙂
Day – 721km
Trip – 16,485km
TravellingStrom 