Ok – this rain thing isn’t funny anymore. Drizzle drizzle. It’s not that I don’t like rain, or mind riding in it (if you have the right gear) but it does make for a slow start in the morning… having to wait for it to stop, rush out from under cover, pack a bit more, rush back under cover, rinse, repeat. Either that or everything gets wet. I eventually had it all done with the 1 thing that wasn’t going to go in the trailer dry and that was the tent itself – absolutely waterlogged. Never mind though – with a bit of sun and wind it dries very quickly so that will happen later tonight.
Ceduna – been there, done that – Eucla here I come.
The rain/drizzle continued sporadically for several hours. A little annoying but it did keep the temperature down. As I mentioned before, some find it boring, but it is an ever-changing scenery.
Then came the Nullabor. This is an area so-named because of it’s [almost] completely lack of trees.
About 100km east of the SA/WA border is the picture-postcard view of the Great Australian Bight – I’ve seen this twice before and, so far, never gets tiring.
While I was planning on staying at Eucla I had forgotten the benefit of travelling from east to west – you travel with the sun. That means the day is much longer than normal. So I was now thinking Madura – another 200km further on. But not before I visit the abandoned Eucla Telegraph Station… I’d passed this twice before but not today.
It’s a shame the graffiti vandals have got to it.
Onwards. Back at Border Village I’d filled up – the servo there had EFT problems so I had to use some of the limited cash I was carrying. I didn’t pay attention here. There was a telephone line problem stretching from east of Norseman to east of Eucla – so many places (ie. petrol stations) didn’t have EFT. After filling up at Eucla I had $22 in my pocket. That was to get me to Norseman for fuel, food, and accommodation. Eeeek! Lesson learnt – never travel the Nullabor with less than $100 cash… preferably more!
I refilled at Madura (still not realizing the issue) where I could pay the fuel bill by EFT at the caravan park and headed to Caiguna where I realised I was in a spot of bother. On arrival I didn’t have enough cash to pitch the tent, so I squeezed a bit more fuel in with the cash I had, heading further down the road with $4.40 to my name.
At this stage – I was aiming for the first road-side 24hr rest area, hoping that it would take too long as dusk was approaching and the national emblems were about to play hopscotch on the road – I rode for another 66km and stopped for the night. Safe for the night, but a little stressed that I might not be able to make it to Norseman without more fuel. Headache ensued.