Nullarbor Plain

Nullarbor - derived from the Aboriginal words Nullus and Arbor meaning "No Trees".

Crossing the Nullarbor Plain was a journey in itself. 

I've actually been wanting to do the Nullarbor ever since I was in Grade 5. There was a new boy in our class who told us during "Show and Tell" on his very first day that he had come across the Nullarbor Plain from the mining town of Parapurdoo. Our Teacher asked him a million questions and I could tell by his enthusiasm that it was a huge deal.

So I was pleased to give the Pianoman a break from behind the wheel and drove the entire stretch myself as a warm up for the two weeks I'd be driving solo after he was to fly to Tasmania from Adelaide.

It all went smoothly in case you were wondering :-).

It was two whole days of nothingness. No trees. The odd Roadtrain or fellow traveller. But otherwise nothing.

However, the coastline was another story. The Great Australian Bight was spectacular!

We've been reading Alison Lester's "Are we there yet?" so the kids were really excited to see where the coastline looked like a huge bite had been taken out of it. 

It really did have that appearance.

"Look at the teeth marks!", Blue Eyes exclaimed.

There were a few places you could stop and stretch your legs, Whippets legs included.

Since reading this book, there has been quite the confusion with the kids who thought it was named The Great Australian Bite rather than Bight. "But it looks like a Bite", they'd say. "Yes, it does but this is a different Bight. Sounds exactly the same as Bite but spelt differently. It's just a coincidence", I'd say. "What's a coincidence?". 

It's quite funny because I was also confused about the same thing when I was younger and it was years before I realised that it was a Bight rather than a Bite. So whilst Alison Lester can be 'blamed' for confusing the kids, I blame my confusion on the 80's game "Oz Quiz" that we used to play all the time. The board had a picture of the Bight with Sharks and Chattering teeth so I thought it was The Great Australian Bite. 

Did anyone else used to play this?

So we finished the Nullarbor and spent a few glorious days at Streaky Bay before we headed off to Adelaide to kiss the Whippet and the Pianoman Good-bye at Adelaide airport.

To be continued soon.......

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!