CROSSING THE NULLARBOR

I was so looking forward to crossing the Nullarbor in springtime with the wildflowers in full bloom. We had obtained a special guide for the journey, which offered alternatives for Nullarbor travellers:

“there are two ways to negotiate this journey – you can roar through on the max, or take a little time out to smell the saltbush...”

So we set out, cruising along in anticipation. But it wasn’t long before we hit the 145 km section of straight road – the longest in Australia. How fast are we travelling?

Sadly the south-west has been through a very dry wet season, meaning that the expected wildflowers were yet to bloom... what is that speedo reading now?

OK, there are very few trees, very few curves, a blustery wind, and a rising temperature... why are we travelling so slow?

Some beliefs talk of a place called limbo where one enters after death. It is sort of a nothing space where one waits until the real action takes place. I wonder if the Nullarbor is a prototype? CAN’T THIS CAR GO ANY FASTER!!! I can still smell a little saltbush!

The term ‘Nullarbor’ is not an aboriginal term, but the description given the plain by South Australian explorer Edmund Delisser (starting a long line of people leaving Adelaide in search of something better!) It comes from the Latin “nullus arbor” meaning “no tree”. WHAT IS THE SPEED LIMIT HERE?!?!?!

Samuel comments occasionally from the back seat, “Are we on the Nullarbored yet?” His mispronunciations convey more truth than he realises!

We park for the night on the Great Australian Bight, at a roadside stop. The view of the sea is spectacular, with the sun setting and a subsequent electrical storm out to sea illuminating the night sky near the horizon. The canopy of stars and the 360-degree views are indeed spectacular. Perhaps this 200,000 square kilometre piece of limestone has some beauty after all. We sleep peacefully at the edge of one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world, on one of the driest stretches of land. Australia is a country of extremes, often juxtaposed against one another.