Day 21 – 3rd February 2018 – Nullarbor to Cocklebiddy

Day 21 – seriously… 3 weeks already??  Where has it gone?  This is a pic of the sunset over the Nullarbor Roadhouse last night.  Again a beautiful show.

We packed up camp at the Nullarbor Roadhouse this morning, but before we left we played the Golf Links hole there.  I had read about a crow that steals the golf balls and they suggest to spray smelly stuff on the ball to prevent it.  I thought it was urban myth……  I was wrong.  This hole looked more like a typical hole on a golf course, as in you could determine where the fairway was and where the green was (fake grass).  Usually on a golf course you would experience some challenges such as sand bunkers and water.  But the Nullarbor Golf Links course has other challenges and items of interest.  Walking up the fairway we crossed what we think was a road intersecting the fairway.  A little further up there was a Wombat warren, with multiple mounds and holes and a low concrete wall ran across the fairway.  There is also the infamous crow.  I managed to find all the challenges on this fairway.  Plus more.  There are also warning signs everywhere about caution due to snakes, so I decided not to go looking under any bushes for my miss hit balls.  I was pretty nervous retrieving it from the wombat warren too.  Glad to say we made it through unscathed, and it also wasn’t raining today when we played, so that was a nice change.

At one point I decided to hit a few practice balls along the fairway, and then it happened.   A black looming figure appeared in the sky, lurking ominously.  Watching.  Waiting.  Then the moment presented itself and it swooped at speed toward my ball, grabbing it in it’s beak and making a fast getaway to a location, not too far from the fairway and out into the scrub.  Col tried running out there (he ignored my calls of ‘Beware of the Snakes’), he wanted to see the Crows hiding place and how many balls it had collected over time.  But the Crow was sneaky and Col was unable to locate the hiding spot.  We tried to entice the Crow to come after a few other balls, but it seems it only likes to do it for shock value.  One is enough.  So heed the warnings my friends if you do decide to play this hole.  Spray the ball with smelly stuff or have your video camera ready.

So off we went on our adventure and stopped at a few lookouts along the Eyre Highway overlooking the Bunda Cliffs.  There are some truly amazing places and worth the time to stop and appreciate.

We reached the Border Village in no time and it caught us both a bit by surprise.  I had wanted to stop here as my Grandfather, Jim Sitters who recently passed away, had been the manager here back in the 80s.  I had heard many stories about this place and wanted to stop and take it in.  One such story was, after Jamie Lee Curtis had finished filming ‘Road Games’ nearby, she came into the Border Village Roadhouse and ordered a case of Dom Perignon for herself and her film crew.  As you can imagine it is not something that is well stocked on the Nullarbor!   Grandpa had to order it in, and he had some funny responses to his request to order when trying to place it.  This is just one of the many great stories.  So I stopped and grabbed some pics and am sad that I can’t take them back and show him.  Ask how much it has changed since he was there.  But that is life.  I felt a little closer to him after being there, although sad that he has now gone.  These photos will be of more interest to my family.  I said to Col that I would like to stay here on our next trip.

The rain had settled in again so we decided not to play any more golf today. We did stop for a short rest at the Mundrabilla Roadhouse, great service and great hot chips!  They also had a pizza oven (but not as good as Nige’s).

We kept driving until we reached Cocklebiddy (love that name).  It was an interesting drive in the rain.  Sometimes when a road-train passed it dumped so much water over our cars that we were temporarily unable to see!  The deep puddles were also grabbing and pulling at the caravan tyres, causing it to swerve unexpectedly.  The good thing is it kept the Roos, Camels, Wombats and Emus at bay.  We only passed a couple of small, cute dingos.  We decided to stay at a free camp tonight, just outside of Cocklebiddy.  It is pouring and there are massive puddles forming around us.  We will hopefully be able to leave tomorrow and off to Norseman.  This is Col going out to wee….