Day 10: Thu 28 Mar 24 - Bunda Cliff (Camp 2) to Madura Pass

Thu 28 Mar 24 - Bunda Cliff (Camp 2) to Madura Pass (350km)

Total Trip Towed: 2,624km Total Trip Driven: 2,698.6km Total Trip Avg Fuel:16.4 l/100km

14 Deg at the Bunda Cliffs with winds blowing off the scale overnight. By 07:40 at day break the winds subsided to a gentle 20km/h. It was a foggy morning, clearing to a magnificent clear 27 Deg and sunny day with only moderate winds at Madura.

Apologies upfront for all the photos, it was an amazing day with wonderful vistas at every turn, and I couldn't help myself, and I thought I should share. I merged all of my photos from the IPhone, Drone and Digital Camera, and I can't remember exactly where I took each of the coastal photos, so descriptions are a bit light on detail.

After a very restless night being buffeted by the wind, we finally stepped outside after sunrise at 07:40. By the time we caffeinated ourselves and got mobile, it was 08:45 before we left the clifftop camp. First stop was Scenic Lookout No 1 about 25 km away. There is no camping allowed here, but it has amazing views of the Great Australian Bight. As the views are to the east, an afternoon visit would be better. Next on the list of stops was about a 3km detour off the highway along Koonalda Track to an amazing sinkhole - the Clay Dam Cave. It was an easy drive in along a narrow dirt track with plenty of room to turn around at the end (thankfully). Definitely worth the drive in to see this impressive sinkhole which is too dangerous to climb down. We continued on our way west along the highway turning off regularly to several lookouts for views along the Bunda Cliffs and over the Great Australian Bight.

We eventually arrived at the WA border where we cleared our quarantine inspection, before proceeding 13km through Eucla and down a rough old dirt road to the Old Eucla Telegraph Station Ruins. I wanted to also walk down to the Old Jetty Ruins, but it was about a 4 km round walk along a sandy track and across sand dunes, and as Noel wasn't keen, I decided to save it for another time so we could continue on our way. By now we were unsure of what time it was as we had gained 2hrs at the SA/WA border and our phones adjusted to the Australian Central Western Time zone (Eucla Time), but a little later, we gained another 30 minutes for Australian Western Standard Time (Perth Time) zone which i didn't think would happen for a few hundred more kms.

Because we gained so much time today, we decided to make the most of the daylight and push on to Madura where we re-fueled at the roadhouse before making our way up the Madura Pass to the Free Camp at the lookout. It's a great spot for an overnighter or two, and apart from a few trucks occasionally climbing the way up the pass nearby, it’s surprisingly quiet. It also has great views across the plains. We weren't planning on arriving in Norseman for two more sleeps, but tomorrow we aim to cover the remaining 530km to arrive earlier on Good Friday. There were many highlights today, and only one disappointment - Noel didn't see a camel again today. We are both feeling very tired tonight, so now it's sleep time.

Sunrise at Bunda Cliff Camp 2 - Waking to much calmer conditions after an "EXTREMELY WINDY' night.

Bunda Cliffs

Track into the Sinkhole

At the edge of the sinkhole - apparently there are many others in the area, one in particular that we intended to stop at, but could not locate

At the edge of the sinkhole

Sinkhole

Track into the Sinkhole

The Sinkhole

Bunda Cliffs

Coastal View

The Nullarbor

Coastal View

Excellent Highway

Coastal View

Entering WA

Quarantine Checks entering WA

Old Telegraph Station a few km out of Eucla

Remains of the Old Telegraph Station disappearing under the encroaching sand dunes.
Click here to read about the history.

Remains of the Old Telegraph Station

Noel taking a turn at driving along the Nullarbor for about 1/12hrs. The road across has been excellent, but in WA the highway has exceeded expectations.

Photographer in the passenger seat for a change

The sign reads 'No Parking Across the Golf Course'. Hole 9 called Brumby's Run in Madura on the Nullarbor Links Golf Course, an 18 Hole course spread over 1365km along the Nullarbor Plains