A long hard slog.....

The Eyre highway, 1250 miles of two lane road between Norseman and Ceduna- with virtually nothing in between.
But we first had to get to Norseman, around 300k north, named after a horse in 1898 I believe. Don't know the significance!
But camels seem to be the big thing around here, as we enter the town there is a roundabout with aload of them going round and round!
It seems at one time it was the only way to get around the area, and to get supplies in to Norseman, 8 afghans could drive up to 70 camels from the coast some 220 miles up to here, and they would often go without water for up to eight days. A big bull camel could carry up to 12 hundredweight (600kg) so they were very cost effective.

Here in Oz we can't believe it is almost Christmas, the weather is all wrong for it. However in Norseman we see a Santa sleigh and we are reminded of all the hard work that my fellow Rotarians are doing at this time, and indeed that we did this time last year. Sorry- I would rather be here!

Lunch there, and then onto the Eyre Highway and the Nullabor. Nullabor- nul arbor- no trees. Well not quite, there are a few areas where all there is is low scrub, but there are a few trees around. However one can see what they mean...
For a long distance the ground is solid rock, with only a thin covering of sand and gravel, so very little can grow here. It is also notable that there is very little roadkill, which inevitably means that there are very few animals around.
This road is surprisingly busy with road trains, but perhaps less surprisingly when we realised that there are only two routes into Western Australia, and this is the only route between the capitals Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. There is a rail connection, which runs some 200k north of the road, and that must also take a lot of freight across the desert.

There are points of interest - we travelled the 90 mile straight, we could have tied the steering wheel down and slept all the way in cruise control if it wasn't for the road trains!
Also from time to time we would come across a dual purpose patch of road, the Royal Flying Doctor Service uses the road as a landing strip when they have an emergency in the area, how they stop the traffic I'm not sure, but it must work.
We camped for the night by the roadside, as many in Oz do when they are travelling. Not a very nice campsite, the toilets were not inviting, no showers, no water even, so we were glad to move on in the morning.

The Nullabor boasts the longest golf course in the world, with a hole in each roadhouse and small town for 1365 kms from Kalgourlie to Ceduna. Some holes are 200 kms apart! It's an 18 hole course, par 72, and it takes over a week to complete. Quite a different way to take a golfing holiday!
Tonight we are on a decent campsite with decent showers, the first one for days, so we are taking advantage as we don't know when or where the next one will be!