Newman is a good place to fill up as this is the cheapest fuel for the next 700kms, it's also a friendly, interesting town with a nice atmosphere and well worth an overnight if you have the time. If you need supplies, this is the place to find them as there are a few small supermarkets and other useful shops. We found a nice little pastie shop, got ourselves some lunch, filled the car and then hit the road.
To start with the scenery is little different, the roads are straight and wide and clear, but a hundred kms in things get drier and more baron. Further in and the road starts to stretch out in long straight lines, the trees become fewer and you find yourself looking forward to the next car coming the other way so you can wave at them as you pass. About 300kms in you reach “Australia’s longest straight road” which is 145km of dead straight road. Thankfully there are ups and downs to stop your eyes crossing but the sign in itself is well worth a stop and a photo.
Continuing on west we needed a bit more fuel, and a truly eerie spot is a place called Madura, home to an excellent roadhouse, a motel and a very small town. After miles of driving on the flat the road all of a sudden drops over a cliff and cruises down to what was once the sea bed. This is where the edge of the Australian continent was raised out of the sea, it's a remarkable sight and is a very visual indication as to what little intricacies this part of Australia holds. From here the light was fading and we decided to stop for the night at Mundrabilla roadhouse around 100kms on, and pretty much slap bang in the middle of our journey. 2 days in and we still weren't out of Western Australia!
Mundrabilla is a homely roadhouse with a basic motel and a camping area on hard gravel. We gave up trying to pitch our tent in the dark and simply slept in the car. The toilet block lights were a Mecca for beetles of all sizes that seemed to be doing a merry dance all around, a quick walk into the bush reveled lots of different creepy crawlies but little else so we tucked up for the night after a rather basic supper of dried pasta and sauce.
Sleeping in the car isn't exactly and ideal way to look after your back, so next day, slightly the worse for wear we headed off. This is where the real Nullarbor starts to appear, as you near the border with South Australia at Eucla the true meaning of Nullarbor (Treeless plain) becomes apparent. Here also the searing cliffs that join Australia to the Great Australian Bight are to be found, and whilst most people blast through, there are many places to stop en-route and view over the towering cliffs to spot for whales and sea birds. Whilst there is life out there, the lack of rain means that very few nutrients are brought from the land to the sea, and the Leuwin current has long since shed it's remaining nutrients on the South West coast so what life does exist in and out of the sea is eeked out.
