Week two of our Big Lap around Australia in The Duke was full of contrasts with dry dusty endless days on the road across the Nullarbor to colourful gold mines at Kalgoorlie, eerie open salt pans at Lake Bollard and then wide open wild seas at Esperance. Take a look at the highlights below:

Tue 20/4. Great Australian Bight – Ceduna, SA to Nullarbor village 480km

This long and straight 480km stretch of road is not for the fainthearted. It’s monotonous and heavily used by quadruple axle double-double B Road trains! There are a few highlights along the way however. 1. The Penong Windmill museum – a collection of about 25 windmills lovingly curated by the ‘windmill warriors’ as a tribute to the old ways of collecting water before solar power came to the fore. 2. Nullarbor Links – this 1365 km golf course is the longest in the world and you can play four holes in SA – 1 at the Penong roadhouse, the next at Wombat hole behind the Nundroo, the third one at Nullarbor roadhouse and the fourth at the Big Kangaroo at SA/WA Border village roadhouse 3. Head of Bight – this popular whale-watching area is just a couple of Km’s off the main Hwy on a sealed road. There’s an admission fee ($16 ea in whale watching season and $8 other times) and two very long boardwalks zig zagging down to the cliff’s edge. Amazing views east of white sand dunes flowing into the water and west of steep cliffs crumbling into the ocean.

Wed 21/4 The Nullarbor roadhouse to –SA/WA border town to Balladonia WA 709km

The long and non-winding road, aka, the Eyre Highway shoots a straight arrow through the largest treeless plain in the world – the Nullarbor Plain. There’s a 150 km stretch that is notably the longest stretch of straight road in the world between Caiguna and Balladonia and plenty of signs warning that fatigue kills. The SA section of the Nullarbor plain abruptly ends in the Bunda cliffs which stretch for 200 kms and are up to 100 metres high. There’s a half dozen popular spots along the cliffs for overnight camping with no facilities but killer sunsets and views. Just on from Eucla starts the Roe Plains which run for 250 kms and have a few Sandalwood trees dotted here and there. Then beyond Caiguna the road follows the Baxter cliffs for a short while before they dip south and the road heads inland. There’s nothing much along this long stretch but basic fuel stations with abandoned cafes but some highlights to note are: 1. Bunda Cliffs – there’s quite a few viewings or camping spots not far off the road, 2. The Nullabor Links golf holes 5-8, especially hole 6, the Nymph Hole at the Eucla rifle range where you have to crunch through the clay pigeon debris and drive 15 mins down a rough road to access. 3. Caiguna Blowhole – accessed via a dirt track and the only access to Baxter Cliffs.

Thur 22-Fri 23/4 Balladonia to Norseman to Kalgoorlie 394km

This inland route takes you back into civilisation (sort of). The first ‘big’ town is Norseman – named after an explorer’s horse that ended up lame in the town and upon inspection of the horse’s hoof it was found that a gold nugget had lodged itself in his shoe. A claim was lodged for mining at ‘Norseman’ and the rest is history! Like many towns on our adventures so far, this one has been hit hard by Covid-19 and 50% of the shops have closed down. The Visitor centre was spanking new and relocated from its original site on the main highway in (the signs had yet to catch up) and the town showed signs of once being a busy tourist-service hub. We stocked up on fuel (first decent prices) and brochures and pushed on to Kalgoorlie on the road north where we stayed two nights in the big thriving gold mining town which boasts the richest, biggest pit (650 m deep and $82M in gold extracted so far) in Australia. Top things to tick in this stretch are all in Kalgoorlie and include: 1. Historic buildings in Boulder and Kalgoorlie Hannan street including the classic veranda pubs 2. The open Cut mine viewing area – perfect for sunset and reading about how the mine evolved over 150 years 3. The recreation facilities from the bike paths to the footy grounds to the Recreation centre which has a massive 50m pool and is perfect for working out the kinks from the Nullarbor crossing.

Sat 24/4 Kalgoorlie to Menzies and Lake Bollard

Driving North out of Kalgoorlie you soon reach the charming, spotless and beautifully presented little town of Menzies (1hr 15m). Despite it looking totally abandoned on a Saturday in April, a lot of effort has gone into making it an attractive stopover by the placement of dozens of rusty silhouette sculptures depicting the tough and colourful life that locals lead in this once bustling gold mining town. The turnoff to Lake Ballard is here and after 51km (30 on sealed road) you reach the dry salt lake made famous by the installation of 51 iron sculptures by UK artist Antony Gormley. The sculptures are based on body scans of the inhabitants of Menzies and are dotted over 10 sq km across the lake. The salty crust often gives way to slippery mud and in parts the salt sticks to your shoes like glue making your legs feel heavy. Depending on the time of day there’s about a billion flies to keep you company (they disappeared after sunset around 6pm and didn’t reappear until 7am) and the only other evidence of animal life is the footprints in the mud – we counted 5 emus, 2 kangaroos a couple of wombats and many dog prints.  The top things to tick at Lake Bollard are 1. Hike out on the lake in early morning or late afternoon to all the sculptures. Pack loads of water, a fly hat, sunscreen and allow a few hours. 2. Climb the hill for sunset. 3. Dine under the stars – we had nearly a full moon so could also walk out on the salt pan by moonlight.

Sun 25 and Mon 26/4 Lake Bollard to Esperance 570m

It’s a long haul from Lake Bollard to Esperance but after a week in the red dusty interior we had a craving for the ocean. There’s not a lot to note on the route except that Kalgoorlie is still the best value for filling up but once in Esperance there’s definitely more than three things to tick. Top of the list so far has been: 1. The bike path that winds 12km all around the coast 2. The glorious white sand and turquoise sea beaches and 3.   the soft sunsets and stunning moonrise vistas from many lookouts.

Next week: Exploring the south west coast around cape Le grande and up inland to Wave rock at Hyden then across to Bremer Bay….