W.A.

Sun 25th

 We slowly drove out from our camp – it was barely a track with big rocks and sharp stones to negotiate – not one of the officially designated roadside camp spots. Once on the highway we had an easy run on the long, straight road. For a while we travelled with another group of five vans. They were on their way to Leonora to go gold prospecting. They didn’t seem interested in sharing the spoils. One of the women said she had found a 14 carat nugget in the caravan park. At Border Village we were thoroughly searched for contraband fruit and vegies. Luckily we had cooked our vegies in advance, but they took our oranges, lemons, cucumber and tomatoes – no more salads for a while. In all there were 3 holes of golf played at different places – Border Kangaroo at Border Village, Nullabor Nymph at Eucla and Watering Hole at Mundrabilla.  The one at Eucla involved a drive of a few km on a dirt track to a big oval with the golf hole, shooting ranges for guns and archery as well as roofed areas, toilet, barbecue. (Not as flash as it sounds) I didn’t think there’d be enough locals at Eucla to either use or maintain such a facility. We called the road out a steeple chase because there were several water obstacles to go through. At night we camped in a designated campsite 26 km east of Madura and even found enough wood for a campfire. Near us was a long drop toilet. Mick helped a bloke fish his sunglasses out with a bit of wire. He had leant forward to lift the lid when his glasses fell down the hole. Mick was holding the torch and trying not to look. The bloke said, “It looks gruesome down there.”  They managed to get them out and Mick suggested that he might need someone else to wear them for a while after they were cleaned up. “Not me!” said his wife. Usually city slicker Mick won’t even go into one of those toilets. He either hangs on till we get to a garage with flush toilets or goes bush with a shovel.