Murra-wi-jinie Caves – Nullarbor

Murrawijinie cave ent 1

At the Nullarbor Roadhouse, that sits roughly midway between Ceduna and Eucla on the Eyre Highway, you can turn north and take a dry-weather dirt track for about 10k’s to the Murra-wi-jinie caves. These are some of the caves of the great limestone karst that is the Nullarbor, or the Oondiri Plain, to use the traditional name of our English pre-history. They are a true wonder of the infamously straight, thousand kilometre Highway. Wild caves which few enough people even known about. Continue reading

The Nullabor Links – Golfing the Longest Course in the World

golfThe game has begun, actually it begun the day when The Man hit off at Kalgoorlie on the Nullarbor Links Golf course. He is playing the longest golf course in the world… some 1,365klm long, running as it does alongside the path of the Eyre Highway. It is going to take anything from a few weeks to a few days to complete the course. For us it will be more weeks… than days.

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People of the Nullabor – Mundrabilla

Dawn over NullaborMost Australians believe the Nullabor, known historically as the Oondiri, is a desert wasteland. In general one sparsely populated with people who would choose to live elsewhere, and they couldn’t be more wrong. The Oondiri is a fascinating place, with a human history that stretches back 18,000 years at the very least. Descendant’s of the ancient tribes who once sparcely populated the waterless plain are now mostly settled in desert towns such as Norseman and Kalgoorlie. They wander the plains no more and this is a choice they make, as do we the vast majority of us. Continue reading

The Oondiri – Travelling the Nullabor

Nullabor crossing mapThe Nullabor, the name has always irritated me because it is such an enigma to what you actually find. The vast ancient region was named in August 1865, while an explorer was travelling from the east across the Hampton Tablelands, along the most arid of sections. E. A. Delisser in his journal named both the Nullabor and Eucla. This was how the largest limestone karst in the world received its European name. Its meaning is found in the Latin Nullus Arbor (It seems Delisser spelt it Aus’ style) the meaning is however ‘No trees/plants’. This is simple a misconception as the vast region is most certainly not treeless.

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Across the Nullabor – Oldies at Large

9781476083568-frontcoverTo travel Across The Nullabor is an aspiration and the adventure of a lifetime for many Australians. It is a tour we have done a few times, quite a few, in the last decade or so and it is a tour that I love. Currently we are parked up on the edge of the Nullabor preparing to do the trip again. It is 1500klm of adventure along the longest stretch of straight road in the world, any bend becomes a talking point. I once wrote a small travelogue on our first adventure … it was just so much fun and it has continued to fascinate me each time we embark out from the edge of the Nullabor.

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Caves of the Nullarbor – Sanctum

Before we venture into an area I like to indulge in research. Discovering the delights and the possibilities of a region is one of my favourite things. Research usually sets the stage often for a wonderful adventure and I like to dig into history and the promise of the many different places we travel to. I rarely share my research as it is building … mainly because it is an incomplete work but on the rare occasion I come across research that is just too good to keep all to myself. So it is that I’m gunna break my usual practice and share something of this wonderful adventure with you, ahead of time.

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