Down, over and across- Tick!

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Down, over and across…
Down -Cairns to Melbourne. Tick.
Over -Bass Strait to Devonport. Tick
Over- Bass Strait to Melbourne. Tick
Turn Left. Tick
Across – Victoria, SA and the Nullarbor to Perth – TICK.
God is good and we arrived safely in Perth, 36 hours before Richard is due to start work.
The Nullarbor, once the road was open, is quite a journey. The word Nullarbor means ‘no trees’ in Latin and at the start of the expansive plain, that is a fitting description, however we soon discover that the Nullarbor is actually quite a diverse landscape. Several things really surprised us.
Firstly, much of the early part of the drive hugs the coast. Although it is not always obvious, the road is within a few kilometres and occasionally within a few hundred metres of the cliff tops of the Great Australian Bight. There are a several photo opportunities to view the Southern Ocean, but sadly we were so far behind schedule that we don’t stop but push through.
Secondly, there are plenty of trees on the Nullarbor. The later part of the plain merges with the Great Western Woodland, the largest intact temperate woodland left on earth, covering 16 million hectares, a region larger in size than England. The fires that caused our delay burned through parts of this woodland and we were sad to see the blackened landscape, but pleased to see only a handful of remaining smouldering logs. Broome’s cyclone of a few days earlier had finally made it south, delivering 25mls of much needed rain.
The final leg of our journey from Norseman to Rockingham is also a surprise. We knew WA was dry, but we hardly cross a river, creek or lake across 1400kms of WA. Running parallel to the road is the Golden Pipeline, a water pipeline built in 1902 that carries 300 million litres of domestic and agricultural water to Kalgoorlie and much of Eastern WA from Mundaring Weir 39kms east of Perth.
Our 10,421km journey ends in Rockingham, the nearest town to HMAS Stirling. The Isuzu D-Max Ute (Izzy) drove magnificently without incident or trouble the whole way. A young boy watching us erect our A-Van (Morrie) for the last time exclaimed “That is a magical caravan!” – and we heartily agree. We drove past, around and in front of some of the worst fires Australia has ever seen. We remain committed to prayer and humbled that God’s grace sustains.
We are grateful to our family and friends for following our blog and for travelling with us on this adventure. There is only one thing better than having an adventure, and that is sharing that adventure with those we love.
Until next time…
Ciao.   




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