Caiguna...desert and the long road ahead

Wakling on the sand dunes outside of Eucla

Well, the day finally came to head out across the Nullabor and brave the desert. We managed to make great time on the road after a bit of a later start to the day, we ended up in Caiguna, ~420km from Kalgoolire. The roadhouse in Caiguna actually has a small desert museum that makes the stop at least slightly more entertaining than just being a gas station. The road is barren and desolate but surprisingly there are areas of vegetation and sparse forests. We didn’t have a lot to occupy our time along the way other than the sights of the desert, hunting to see if we could spot any animals and our conversation. We managed to see a number of eagles and a couple of emu’s but that is it. The tradition lives on, across the entire desert we didn’t see a single live kangaroo!

Look out all of these dangerous animals!

The next day we stopped for a tour of the Eucla telegraph house and the sand dunes, where we were again attacked by fearsome flying insects intent to lay eggs somewhere in us. It was a great little walk through the desert dunes until the flying insects started biting, about 20 minutes into the walk. We made a few stops along the way at cliffs overlooking the Southern Ocean. Standing on the cliffs you feel like you are at the end of the world, which is partly true! The only landmass south of us at that point is Antarctica. There was no one around to top it all off, it felt like a true deserted tropical island, it was stunning.

Looking out at the end of the world! Nothing but Antarcita past the horizon

That night we stopped at the Nullabor roadhouse on the South Australian side of the state border. This roadhouse is about as barren as you can get. No cooking facilities, just a patch of dirt on the limestone plateau with some basic shower facilities. We got to take advantage of our little propane cooker that came with our campervan. While cooking and eating we literally had to chase away birds from our plates. Chad picked up the camping chair swinging it trying to chase the hopping birds away but they only ran far enough not to get hit and then would start hopping back towards us and our food. Apparently when you are that hungry, you don’t mind the odd chair in the face!

Ewa bundled up against the cold and the voracious animals!

Caiguna...desert and the long road ahead

Caiguna, Australia