The Nullabor Run 3 – Eucla to Penong

It was late afternoon when we pulled off the highway into a rough hewn roadside rest area within line of site of the famous Nullabor Roadhouse and, (of course), the Telstra tower. We’d just settled in when a white ute pulled up parallel to the van. Uh oh, we thought. However our fears were soon allayed. Our Parks and Wildlife contractor was on the hunt for 15 starlings, last seen in the nearby paddock. His mission? Search and destroy. They are pests and his job is to keep them from migrating to WA. Who would have thought such a profession existed. He was amiable enough but I couldn’t help notice that Mick Taylor look in his eyes. We waved him off, perhaps a little over enthusiastically, and watched his dust trail scatter in the wind.

The winds were still bitter westerlys, and our diesel heater was given a fair work-out that night. The next morning, played another hole behind the roadhouse, grabbed a coffee for us both and a souvenir for Tamika. The history of the roadhouse is fascinating. Started up in 1957, petrol use to be delivered in 44 gallon drums from Fowlers Bay, 175klms to the south-east and then dispensed to intrepid travelers by hand pump. This is a picture of the original Nullabor Roadhouse.

We took a small diversion a few minutes past the roadhouse to what’s known as The Head of the Bight. This is the apex of the Bight and a world famous nursery for whales and their calves. Unfortunately (again), too early. Just a few more weeks and its wall to wall whales. Now, back on the Eyre Highway, the flat plain again gave way to undulating hills and scrub and just an occasional glimpse of the horizon. We knew our trek across the Nullabor was nearing an end when farm land began to appear. Sown paddocks replaced the saltbush.

Our sites were set on the small town of Penong. It had been an adventurous trek for the last six days but we needed a lay day, before our triumphant ride into Ceduna, as Ceasar did before his ride into Rome….well, that’s how I saw it anyway. I suspect however, Tamika sees herself more as the loyal and long suffering Sancho to her Don Quixote.

And no better segue to our arrival in Penong the next morning.

Penong is the windmill capital of Australia, boasting not only a visual display but historical windmill museum, including the largest windmill in Australia. OK, they’re not dragons, but from a distance……. And so it was, barely an hour later, we arrived at the quarantine station where a smiling assassin pillaged our fruit and veg and sent us with our pockets turned out into Ceduna. Our trek was epic, breathtaking and not nearly as dire as the naysayers would have you believe.