On Sunday, we drove from Port Lincoln to Ceduna, making a few stops along the way. First up was Locks Well Beach, an untouched stretch of sandy beach that is 60 meters down from the parking lot. It is unfortunately not safe for swimming but well-known for being a good spot to catch salmon. We just enjoyed the view and walked a bit along the pristine beach.

From there we drove a bit until we reached Woolshed Cave. Another spectacular sight!

Our final stop along the way was to Murphy’s Haystacks, some random rocks in a field that was actually pretty cool to see. It was also extremely hot out that day, so we didn’t stay long!

Then we drove a bit more to Ceduna, where we stayed one night at Highway One Motel, which was cleaner and better than expected. Ceduna is the beginning of (when driving west) the Nullarbor Plain and the end of civilization as we know it. LOL We walked down to the jetty for what I read somewhere is “Australia’s best sunset” but it wasn’t that spectacular. We’ve been pretty spoiled with amazing sunsets on this trip!

On Monday, February 16th we set off on the long drive along the Eyre Highway through the vast, arid, and largely treeless limestone landscape stretching about 1,200 km between Ceduna and Norseman that is the Nullarbor Plain and the coastline of the Great Australian Bight.  That evening we spent the night at the Border Village Roadhouse in a little two-bedroom cabin. Before we left Ceduna, Steffen and Olivia signed up for the Nullarbor Links challenge, collected their golf clubs and stamp card and were excited to tackle the world’s longest golf course.

The golf course turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it forced us to take regular breaks and was a great way to break up the drive. We stopped at these windmills, had lunch at Nullarbor Roadhouse and saw plenty of “road trains“. (By the way, the “Last Shop” sign is a bit misleading because there were plenty of cafes/restaurants and gas station type stores along the way but no major grocery store and no shopping of any kind.)

On Tuesday, February 17th it was time to drive again. This time we drove to the Caiguna Roadhouse, about 350 km away. We started the day with the golf hole at Border Village Roadhouse and then drove along, everything going very smoothly. We had decided to take the following day off because of the number of drive days we had in a row. There is literally nothing to do at Caiguna Roadhouse and it was a bit more run-down than we would have liked, so it was a little hard to really relax there. The girls did get some schoolwork done, and Steffen was able to get a whole day work done, which was good. But in hindsight, I would not have spent that extra day there.

On Thursday, February 19th we were on the road again to our final middle-of-nowhere destination, Norseman. The drive started off with the infamous “90-mile Straight” and a quick stop at the Caiguna blowhole where we spotted two snakes curled up. Eek. The road photo shows that first curve that shows up after 145.6 kilometers! We stayed in a little Airbnb in Norseman. It was a nice house but the neighborhood felt a littler off. We grabbed dinner at a nicer restaurant in town (so nice to eat fresh food after a week of ramen and gas station food) and then were ready to head out the next morning. Steffen finished up two holes of the golf course and handed in the clubs for his final stamp. (We did not get to finish the course because we headed south from there and the last four holes were north, the more direct route to Perth.)

On Friday, February 20th we drove the (relative) short distance to Esperance where we spent a few days enjoying the breathtaking beaches and life in a town. More soon….