Daisy Bates and the train that never came

Fowlers Bay to Nullarbor Station Roadhouse via Ooldea.

Woke up to sunrise over Fowlers Bay, then saw a dolphin jumping around close to shore and a whale further out! Not quick enough on the camera so you will have to trust me!

Fowlers Bay sunrise from our cabin verandah

Self catered toast for breakfast and still on time for 830am departure. Through Coorabie and then a splash of fuel at Nundroo.

The turnoff for Ooldea isn’t far down the road, and we passed the 70,000km mark in the car soon after.

To find Ooldea on a map, look for Yalata (west of Ceduna), and then find the railway line above there. Thats Ooldea. Some maps may even have the Daisy Bates memorial marked. Really good maps will have the Daisy Bates memorial and the Joining of the Railway memorial marked😉

Having had our fair share of difficulties on the unsealed 65 km section of this road in the sidecar last year (see blog post in Exmouth pages) i was a bit more prepared.

Well, thats overstating it. We left earlier and the road was in much better knick , and the mighty Mitsubishi ASX was in its element😁

In no time we found ourselves looking at where Ooldea once was. Today it’s a Telstra tower, a railway crossing and the Daisy Bates memorial. Oh, and the departure point for meeting the tours of the Maralinga Nuclear Bomb test site,😉

4.5 kms west is the cairns celebrating the 100th anniversary of the joining of the railway line. (2017)

After taking it in and giving every opportunity for an actual train to come by ( to no avail) we departed back down the 65 km of dirt and 80 of seal to return to the highway.

Must’ve seen 20 of these guys, they can be quite quick to disappear at times.

Only saw 2 vehicles on the dirt section, both returning from deliveries to communities further along the road.

A quick celebratory ice cream at Yalata, good to see it open now for not just fuel but also food, drink etc, and also caravan park and cabins. Next time.