Broome or Bust

The Anangu people of Western desert language groups (Pitjantjatjara / Yankunytjatjara) are the traditional owners of the coastal lands, undulating plains and the deserts regions surrounding the Nullarbor. Wirangu occupied the land east of the Head of Bight and the Mirning clans occupied the coast west to Eucla. Kokatha, Antakarinja and Ngalea occupied lands to the north and north-east. These groups are linked through cultural affiliations and traditional practices which they still embrace. Today is a day to let the pictures do the talking. We visited The Head of Bight Visitors Centre to look for whales, and we were so pleased with what we saw. These are Southern Right Whales. They travel from Antartica each year and remain in residence at the Head of Bight between June and October, mating and having their calves. Spot the first calf of the season with her Mum near the end of the shots. Southern Right Whales are 'baleen' whales which have horny plates of baleen hanging down from

A travelling day, taking us further west than we had been before by car.  The scenery changed from agricultural land, to mallee vegetation to suddenly, a treeless plain.  We’re spending the night at the Nullarbor Roadhouse, which we’ve been told is typical of the roadhouses on the isolated sections of the highway - fuel, cafe, motel and caravan accommodation. This one is popular with travellers visiting the Head of Bight whale viewing centre a few kilometres away, and where we will go tomorrow.  What is striking to us are the huge distances. We have travelled about 2200 km and in some ways just started to leave familiar landscapes.  As if to emphasise that things are big here an enormous machine pulled by two trucks hitched together and escorted by two police cars pulled in for the evening, Perhaps we will spot whales and all manner of animals tomorrow. 

 (As Jeffrey’s mother used to say) The weather turned 180 degrees. Cold, windy and wet. But we still went for some walks along the beach paths.  Galahs living on the edge Spot the honeyeater After all that excitement, we returned to our cosy caravan, turned on the heater and ate delicious local pasties, followed by an afternoon nap and some art.  Tomorrow we’re having pancakes for breakfast courtesy of the caravan park before we travel 400km to Nullarbor Road House and the possibility of spotting whales!

Streaky Bay turned on its magic today - sunny, warm, no wind, still waters. An early morning beach comber Ducks take flight An afternoon nap And now the stars of the day, the sea-lions at Pt Labatt. Found in no oth­er coun­try in the world, the Aus­tralian sea-lion is one of Aus­trali­a’s most endan­gered marine mam­mals and rarest seals. Point Labatt is the only place on the main­land where Aus­tralian seal pups can be seen learn­ing to swim, play and rest on the beach. It is also one of the few places in and around Aus­tralia where they are pro­tect­ed from land preda­tors and which pro­vides a safe envi­ron­ment for the sea-lion pups to develop. This will be hard to top - except perhaps if we spot whales along the Nullarbor coast.  On our way back we walked around Murphy's Hay Stacks which are composed of pink granite 1500 million old, and were weathered and sculpted into their present form about 100,000 years ago and exposed on the surface of the land. It is amazing to be able

The weather being a bit problematic, we enjoyed taking our time around Streaky Bay today, chatting with locals and others travelling through, and looking at the wildlife and scenery.  The absolute highlight was spotting some dolphins in the late afternoon, captured with great skill by Gayle. We’ve got quite a few recommendations for travelling across the Nullarbor and places to watch for whales along the way. We’re hoping to visit the seals and sea-lions tomorrow.

The Roora Reserve Nature Trail is a jewel of Kimba and we had a really peaceful couple of hours. Sculptures are hidden in the bush and birds, much too fast for us, flit amongst the trees.  We came across a mural that may just help us in our Bird IDs, showcasing eleven native Australian species found in the Kimba region.  L to R: red-capped robin, chalky wattle, crested dragon, sandhill dunnart, woolly-glandular daisy-bush, thorny devil, scarlet-chested parrot, galah, Major Mitchell's cockatoo, bottlebrush hakea, malleefowl. We noticed that the Australian Radioactive Waste Agency was moving out of the building it occupied on the Main Street.  In 2023 the Barngarla traditional owners for the Kimba region in South Australia were successful in their court case against the federal government regarding the proposed site of a national radioactive waste management facility. Late this morning we travelled to Streaky Bay, where we be staying for four nights. It has been a rainy day here, but

Today we are on the lands of The Barngarla, the traditional owners of much of the Eyre Peninsula, spending the night at Kimba.  On Highway A1 we passed a variety of  scenes. The Eyre Peninsula is semi-arid but wheat and wool are also grown.  Wind and solar farm at the head of Spencer Gulf Kimba claims to be half-way across Australia, and as if this were not a sufficient honour, it is also home to the Big Galah (finally, a bird we can confidently identify) and Silo Art. 

Today we are on the lands of the Ngadjurri people. We had another lovely walk on The Reisling Trail, originally a railway line that traveled between Adelaide and Spalding and was first established in 1860. Its future was becoming uncertain in the 1980’s, and after it received substantial damage during the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfire a decision was made to close the line down. Luckily for the many thousands of people who have  walked and cycled its 33 km, it was transformed into the drawcard it is today.  A vineyard along the way The Trail passes many vineyards and wineries for which the Clare Valley is famous and today we stopped for refreshments at O’Leary Walker Wines. Chops approved of the choice of Cheese Platter and Polish Hill River Reisling.    A rail cutting from the old railway line  Lots of birds again. We think this is a juvenile black shouldered kite, but we wait for the experts to respond. 

A discussion while driving to the Clare Valley. Should we remain engaged with current events in Australia and the world on this three month journey? Should it, does it, make a difference where we are? There’s no difficulty connecting to the web out here. More broadly, what impact do we have on these events? We’ll let you know if we come to an answer. The road to Leasingham from Barmera goes through a variety of landscapes, with some of it a taster for the Nullabor and beyond. Some people find the red, dry landscape rather dull, but we find it has its own beauty. Gayle spotted this lovely bird at Morgan. Can any of our lovely readers identify it? At Leasingham we got straight to business, heading along the Reisling Cycle and Walking Trail to Crabtree Winery. We purchased some wine and to our delight, the owner, whom we had met last time we were here, gave us two half-started bottles of Grenache Shiraz and Tempranillo from the day’s tastings to have with our dinner!

Well, Chops has a rest for one thing.  Today we also meandered along the lake, enjoying all the birds in their hundreds.  And to top off a very relaxing day, Chef Leigh prepared a wonderful barbecue.  Tomorrow we arrive at Leasingham in the Clare Valley, a drive of 200km. Who knows, we may even visit a winery or two. Today is officially the 2024 Winter Solstice, and so with that the birds and we are having an early night.