#roadtrip – Over 50 Aussie female solo traveller USA road trip and beyond

Kimba South Australia

Driving back to Adelaide for New Years Eve I found a night stopover in Kimba. What a cute little town. It claims to be the the town in the Middle of the Australian east and west coasts. First had a rest stop in a place called Wirulla, population 104.

They have a “secret”. A dry jetty which was erected as a joke but is the 5th tee on the Nullabor Links golf course. Said to be the longest golf course along 1365 kilometres of the Eyre Highway across Western Australia and South Australia on the Nullabor Plain.

Wudinna is the home of a granite sculpture celebrating the spirit of farming life communities ” The Australian Farmer”. 17 years in the making by a father and son team Marijan and David Bekic represents the sun, grain crops, sheep farming and commemorates the early settlers.

Kimba from the aboriginal word for “bushfire”. Population around 600. Has “The Big Galah” which marks the halfway point between East and West coasts of Australia.

The town also provides low level Radioactive Waste storage. The facility provides 25 ongoing jobs for the community.

Lovely silo art.

Local art

Edward John Eyre was an English explorer, the first to cross Australia from Sydney to Swan River in Perth Western Australia. The sculptures located at Whites Knob Lookout represent Edward Eyre and his indigenous tracker Whylie.

Mallala has a population of around 900 and is home to an impressive World War 1 Memorial in the centre of town

It also has an international Motor Sport Park.

I arrived in Adelaide on 30 December and the previous evening I was notified the Masquerade Gala to be held in Glenelg was cancelled due to COVID19. So, after another marathon drive for 6 hours, I returned my hire car, went and had a rest at a friend’s home before getting an 8pm flight back to Sydney to celebrate New Years Eve in my home town. May 2022 bring the world some normalcy and better health.

Ceduna/Nullarbor/Head of the Bight

I had a marathon day today. Drove over 600 km exploring a place I did not imagine I would drive alone. The Nullarbor means treeless in Latin. Although I found the changing landscape not as barren as the name suggests but is ever changing. Although I am aware this is the Eastern part of the Nullarbor and it gets more and more arid further west.

Leaving Ceduna I stopped off at Penong for the windmill museum.

Along the way I snapped some cute Christmas decorations at the entrance of several properties.

Roadsigns and you know you are in the outback

The Great Australian Bight. I had no idea the Bight would be so turquoise and violet. Breathtaking. At the bottom of the centre of Australia.

Nullarbor Roadhouse

would not be the Nullarbor without a roadtrain

Ceduna

What a pretty place!! A population of around 2000 friendly people. Great feed at the Ceduna Foreshore Hotel Motel Bistro. Lovely beach. Only problem is that it is soo windy at this time. I understand that it is not normally this windy. Walking along the jetty is very scary. There is a railing on only one side and down at the end, there is no railing at all and I was too worried I would be blown into the ocean. Taking photos I thought my phone would blow out of my hands. The water is so clear with changing colours.

Some indigenous pavement art

Fossiking for treasure for my daughterinlaw

What a sunset!!

Port Lincoln

3 days in Port Lincoln over Christmas with my son’s inlaws. They live in Point Boston, 20 minutes out of Port Lincoln. There is nothing here but a few locals and a private beach. The beach is 20metres from their home.

I am staying in a quaint motel called First Landings complete with a four poster bed.

Walk into town

Whyalla to Port Lincoln

Whyalla is a steelworks and mining town and parts look a little old and disadvantaged but the area near the jetty has lovely old homes. I did a quick drive through and a little stroll. I love the smell of the beach in this part of the world. Even when low tide, it is a clean ocean smell. It is very windy and I wonder if this is why there are no people on the beach.

Next stop was Cowell. Known for their crabs. Apparently it is so easy to find blue swimmer crabs. When I have more time I would like to explore this. I stopped off to snap a photo of the silo art.

I bought a lovely pair of earrings in the Jade Shop. Cowell has the largest deposit of Jade in the world. The mine is run by Japanese but you can pick up some locally made jewellery from the Jade Motel where the stones are cut, polished and set on site.

Then on to Arno Bay to check this beachside village.

Tumby Bay silo art.

Adelaide to Whyalla

On my way to Port Lincoln for Christmas and I have broken up the trip a little. First stop was Lochiel to see the Pink Lake (Lake Bumbunga). Lochiel has their own legend or a sense of humour with their own Lochness monster known as the Loch-Eel.

Next stop was Port Germein to walk what was once the longest wooden jetty. I had a blustery 3 km walk on a very hot day. I should have stayed overnight in this quaint fishing village. Perhaps on the way back to Adelaide.

View from the Sea end looking back to shore 1.6km away

On to the Arid Botanical Gardens. I had a very quick stop here as I didn’t have much time but the gardens had a very particular scent I would liken to herbs and pine trees.

On the way the Port Wakefield tank art required a short stop.

Overnight stop at Whyalla. Very, very windy but the cabin I am in is very warm. I am too tired to check the new jetty in town but I did capture this pretty sunset.

South Australia

Almost 2 years into the Covid-19 pandemic and a month ago Australia opened to the rest of the world. I was working with the Public Health Response in NSW and so excited that I planned my second retirement. Who knew a week before my retirement a new variation, Omicron, would start causing havoc and uncertainty. New testing and restrictions in place, but no lockdowns. Yet. Everyone testing crazily to ensure they are well enough to spend Christmas with family and friends. I was invited to my daughter-in-law’s for Christmas in Port Lincoln. I said a bittersweet farewell to my work colleagues at The Response, I felt guilty like I was abandoning them at a new level of uncertainty. But I might go back if the world shuts down again. I booked my flight to Adelaide, booked a car so I could do a road trip to Port Lincoln and beyond.

72 hours before leaving Sydney I had the obligatory PCR test. Even though the day before I had a negative RAT test at work. All up so far during COVID-19 I have had 14 negative PCR tests. So I arrive in Adelaide and needed to do the test required within 24 hours of arrival. The testing queue was so long at the airport, my Adelaide son, Luke, took me to a drive through for testing.

After an hour of waiting and then advised there would be a further 5 hour wait, I headed back to the airport and stood in line for a much shorter 1.5 hours.

Traffic queue for covid testing

Then back to my room to “isolate” until the negative result. South Australia has a booking system for COVID-19 testing so while “isolating” I started looking for where to have my Day 6 test in the Port Lincoln area. Nothing. Port Lincoln is over 6 hours drive from Adelaide. It meant I would need to “isolate” for 2 days until I got another negative result, once I was able to find somewhere to have a test. Not looking good for my time with my daughter-in-law’s family. I know when travelling there are always pitfalls and you cannot get too upset with things going wrong. The important thing is how we react to these things and how to fix them. That is what I have learned to be a “traveller”. You have to have a plan A, B and C and if needed D. So on Day 2 of this trip, the best news from the South Australian Premier “no more Day 1 and Day 6 tests”. Yay!! No need for plan B!!

I did not lose any time in going outside to enjoy this fabulous city. It is small compared to other Australian cities and world cities but it isn’t small in its beauty. Luke and I went off around the city on scooters.

Scootering around Adelaide was a lot of fun. I was apprehensive at first and very frightened if there were people around. So I would stop and wait until they passed. But after 30 minutes, I had a lot more confidence. It is a great way to zip around, although stopping to get my travel pics is a little annoying. Great way to zip from your hotel to a restaurant. No need to find parking. Just leave it where you stop. A little pricey at $30 for one hour, although you can pay $30 for a whole week.

Some of my favourite photos were around University of Adelaide.

Love locks on the University of Adelaide footbridge

Rundle Mall has all fancied up with Christmas.

These piggies have been in Rundle Mall every time I visit

Port Lincoln to Ceduna

The decision to drive to Ceduna came about as this would be the closest I will get to seeing the Nullarbor Plain. The road runs along the Great Australian Bight stretch of land on the southern part of Australia which is flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia with the Great Victoria Desert to its north.

The drive from Port Lincoln to Ceduna is 4 hours but it took me 7.5 hours with some stops along the way.

Lake Hamilton Eating House. I cannot imagine the adventurous people who stopped by here to rest in the 1800s. I am exhausted driving from Port Lincoln to here with air conditioning.

Cummings Monument. I parked my little Yaris at the carpark 500m from the monument. Luckily I did. The holes on the way up would have ripped my chassis off. There are warnings not to get too close to the edge and I was too frightened to look over to see the wreck, if you could see it, as the wind was blowing a gale, as it has been since I got to Port Lincoln. Hoping the wind will die down.

Sheringa Roadhouse reminded me of Route 66.

Lochs Well Beach. Bumped into some lovely Colombian people.

This spot has a very safe wooden stairs down to the beach. The beach is very treacherous and not recommended to swim.

Elliston is another lovely beach stop well known for salmon.

Murphys Haystacks are a unique form of pillars and boulders dating back 100,000 years ago. How does something like this end up in such a landscape?

Eyre Waterhole is a free rest area for campers. It is the historic site where early explorer Edward Eyre camped. The Eyre’s Waterhole was an important water supply for the explorer and the local aboriginal people. It’s also known as Cooeyanna Well. The water doesn’t look too refreshing at the moment.

Streaky Bay on the western side of the Eyre Peninsula. Another lovely seaside village.

Smoky Bay population 200. Beach, bay, oysters and quiet place for relaxation.

Left Port Lincoln at 9:30am and arrived at Ceduna at 5:00pm. Resting tonight. Contemplating what my plans will be over the next few days. The South Australian government have implemented restrictions. 10 people permitted in a home, no dancing or singing in indoor venues. Waiting to hear if the masquerade ball in Glenelg will be going ahead on New Years Eve. Watch this space.

Easter Road Trip End

27 April 2019

I left Griffith at 9:00am and arrived home at 4:00pm. On Thursday 18 April 2019 I left work at Rozelle and started this road trip to the Outback. I have completed 2,800 kilometres (1,740 miles) in 9 days. I am very pleased with what I have seen on this trip. I was actually more frightened doing this trip than the USA road trip. Here in Australia we have very remote areas which I did not experience in the USA. There are not as many vehicles on the road and I was without GPS and phone reception for 2 days at one stage. Not even the hotel I stayed in at White Cliffs had any internet. Lots of rough roads, water over the roads in areas which had the first rain in 2 years, quirky characters in the remote roadhouses along the way, magnificent colours of landscapes which change from dry red earth of Broken Hill, pinks of the open mine in Cobar, to the lush green of Mildura, the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers and the beautiful grazing land of the Riverina.

The last couple of stops were firstly Barellan, a small country town of 390, the home of Wimbledon Champion Evonne Goolagong, with a giant tennis racquet in her honour.

Of course it is defined by its pub, the Commercial Hotel.

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Temora is known as the friendliest town in NSW and famous for their air shows. I didn’t see any air shows but here is one of their pubs and one of their churches.

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People think I am crazy doing this on my own, but I am enjoying solo travel so much. It is exciting and addictive, as it gets the adrenaline and endorphins pumping. The more I travel the more I take in and want to explore the smaller towns. I would do so much more in each town if I planned differently, but I didn’t give myself much time to plan as I decided to do this trip a few days before I left.

I have audio books which keep me entertained and awake and thank my local library for providing this free service.

Home now and ready to go back to work until I go off on another odyssey.

Easter Road Trip last leg

26 April 2019

Balranald has cute frog sculptures around town.

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As I approached to stop at Hay, I decided to go through to Griffith. Griffith has a colourful history with a large Italian population who influenced the area’s wine, fruit and vegetable industry. I had dinner at the Griffith Returned Services Leagues Club and had this pumpkin soup in a bowl as big as a basin.

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This Fairey Firefly aircraft is a monument outside the Griffith Returned Services Leagues Club.

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Next time I go to Griffith I will take a walk around the Hermit’s Cave area.