And I would say ‘yes’, pretty much, although here at the Baxter Rest Area near Caiguna there are some trees around us. We had a bit of a slow start this morning, no reason, just taking our time with our various vanlife tasks. There was shopping to do as well as getting water and emptying the toilet, so we didn’t think we would get very far and planned a stop about 200 kms from Norseman.
At the IGA we were in for a shock. The town had lost electricity. Stephen spoke with the manager who decided to let us in so we could purchase non perishables. This was very kind and we proceeded to get a lot of the items on our list, going around the aisles with her with her head torch and my iphone torch. We had to pay cash and Stephen had exactly $100. Buying a newspaper went slightly over, but she said $100 would do. We were very grateful to have been able to get so much of what was on our list and thanked her profusely.
As we drove around there were a lot of emergency vehicles and men in high viz. standing around doing nothing in particular, and doing it very well (thanks Gilbert). I don’t know what the plan was.
The water tap and dump point worked as expected and we drove out of town having accomplished most of our tasks.
We got to Ballidonia at about 1.00 p.m., filled up with fuel and had a takeaway steakburger each. It seemed too early to settle at our campsite just five kilometres further on, so we changed our plans and aimed for the Baxter Rest Area about 114kms further along. This gives us a slight chance of getting to Eucla tomorrow, if we really put our minds to it. It’s about 400kms away.
We stay at two caravan parks on the Eyre Highway, Eucla and Penong. Our excuse is access to washing machines and showers, which saves using our own water that has to last until we get to Ceduna. But, we’ve grown fond of both these options. This is our 4th trip over the Nullabour and we really enjoy each stage of the journey. I’ve finally let Stephen sit in the driver’s seat today and having two drivers makes a difference.
Stephen drove the van for this drone clip. If it doesn’t show up properly it’s because WordPress is still processing it and you will need to come back later to watch.
