Streaky Bay to Esperance

Streaky Bay to Esperance

We departed from Streaky Bay after a night of very heavy rain and wind. Again glad we were not in a tent! About 80 km along the Eyre Highway we called into Smoky Bay, a small township with a large oyster industry, and of course, facilities for fishing. Also called into Ceduna. We had been told there were a lot of problems with the local aborigines, but the town looked very clean and quite pretty along the foreshore with pines planted along the parks. We think the fact that these areas are now “alcohol free zones” has had a lot to do with the cleanliness.

We pushed on to Fowlers Bay with overcast skies and frequent showers but it was not raining when we arrived. Settled into a very comfortable 2 bedroom motel apartment and tried to walk out on the jetty, but rain squalls put us inside. Fowlers Bay is a very historical seaside village, and was named by Matthew Flinders when he was on his voyage on the sloop “Investigator” in 1802. It had been previously seen by the Dutch navigator Francois Thyssen in the mid 1600’s but he had obviously not thought it worth settling. In 1840 the explorer John Eyre made his base camp in the sand dunes and set out for Albany, some 1500 km away in 1841. There are monuments both to Matthew Flinders and John Eyre. Once an active port serving as the hub of the Far West Coast, the township of Fowlers Bay fell into decline in the 1960’s and for more than 20 years, and was virtually a ghost town. The population is presently 14, although it did get up to 20. Reg, our host said they were worried if the population doubled, they would have 28!!
The motel is powered by generator and water is either from tanks or hoses from the soak holes.

Fowlers Bay is also a fishermen’s base and today, 28th, we set out along some of the 4WD beach tracks to see Scotts Bay, Mexican Hat Bay, and Wandilla beach, with some helpful local knowledge from Reg. Again the coastline is very dramatic. Heinz was very pleased at the way the car handled the track conditions, some rough, some sandy. At Wandilla there was a lone fisherman out near the rocks. Certainly getting away from it all!

We left Fowlers Bay and started on the track across the Nullarbor, destination Eucla. Yes, it is a long road but we took the opportunity to visit the many lookouts along the way. The Nullarbor roadhouse and petrol station has the most expensive fuel we have experienced so far – $2.02/litre for premium unleaded. The road travels very close to the coast and at each lookout the scenery was very dramatic. The c liff faces in most places are quite dangerous as the escarpment is eroded from the elements, and you can’t tell just by standing on the top. It was showery when we arrived in Eucla, but next morning we were able to go down to see what was left of the Eucla Telegraph Station and a few other places of interest.

We stopped at Mandura for lunch, the only “mountain” on the Nullarbor and then pressed on to Cocklebiddy We had read about the Eyre Bird Observatory and Telegraph Station, and found the turnoff about 16 km from Cocklebiddy. The gravel road to a certain point was a bit rough, but quite manageable, and then we reached a point at the entrance to the Nuytsland Nature Reserve where we had to contact the ranger, who advised us it was okay to come in in the Kluger. We were so pleased we had made the trip as the heritage listed Eyre telegraphic station has been restored by volunteers, and now is the site of the Eyre Bird Observatory, Australia’s first bird observatory. This is still an official weather station reporting three times daily to the Bureau of Meteorology.

We had a very relaxed and informative time there. The observatory is manned by volunteers, who stay for 3 months at a time. They were in the process of handover so we met both couples. We had a very entertaining and comprehensive tour of the station, including the museum. Later we drove down to the beach. A weekly count of shore birds and seabirds on Kanidal Beach is part of the activities. The station hosts guests from time to time who are invited to take part in the studies carried out. Well worth a visit if anyone travels across the Nullarbor.

Whilst there we learned that the track (listed as 4WD only) from Balladonia to Codingup, near Esperance would be quite suitable for our vehicle, so that pleased Heinz and we were able to test the vehicle yet again. We left Cocklebiddy Motor Inn and travelled to Balladonia, which included 146.6 km of straight road. Kept an eye out for the wedgetail eagles and saw a few, including one which flew close to the car. After checking at Balladonia we decided to give the track a go, as it was going to save some 300 km. The first 75 km were a bit corrugated but the car handled it well and then the gravel road improved, with the last 40 km good bitumen. We had a picnic lunch about 110 km down the track and pushed on to arrive mid-afternoon to find our accommodation at Duke of Orleans Bay. We were told about this also by our hosts at the Eyre Bird Observatory. What a find!!!

We had a real treat at Duke of Orleans Bay and were able to discover some of the beaches, driving the car along Wharton Beach, and taking a few of the walks to other beaches. All the beaches have turquoise blue waters and very white sand. We were in a part of the Great Australian Bight coastal area, and the Recherche Archipaeligo, unspoilt beaches with white sand and 105 islands off the coast, only 5 of which are able to be visited, as we found when we arrived in Esperance mid afternoon.

At many places we stopped we found monuments to John Eyre, who apparently arrived at Esperance more dead than alive – apparently he had been close to death many times – and it made us appreciate what he had achieved.