Yackandandah to Lake Ballard (north of Kalgoorlie)
September 8, 2023 and we left Yackandandah in our Crosstrak off-road van and headed west. The weather on the day we packed was foul: wet, wild and windy. The front passed through and our first night’s camp at Koondrook was calm with a tranquil view of a Murray River backwater. It was cold enough for sleeping bags though.
Our second day’s destination was Wyperfeld National Park. The countryside was green, fields of canola a garish yellow. The kilometres clicked by and we were eventually established in Casuarina Campground in the northernmost part of the park. It felt like the journey had properly begun.
The expanses of wheat and canola continued after Wyperfeld with colourful Gazanias on the road verges. Our third night was in Burra, South Australia, a sports’ ground camping experience where dog walkers liked to chat. These typical conversations will occur frequently, Where are you from? Where are you heading? What do you think of your van? Some of the other vans are BIG!
The sun was really shining as we headed towards Port Augusta. A coffee stop in Melrose, biking central and somewhere to revisit, then shopping in Port Augusta and on to Kimba. A hot tip from a Burra camper directed us to the best free camp in South Australia at Kimba. The facilities were great and all they asked for was a donation. We treated ourselves to a meal in the Kimba Hotel.
Onwards, Kimba to Streaky Bay and a view of the ocean. We had a great spot for lunch in glorious sunshine and settled on a commercial van site for the night. The night was very very windy.
We battled strong winds all the way from Streaky Bay to Head of Bight. Thankfully the wind subsided in the evening as we were free camped in a very desolate and exposed area just off the highway. Our intention was to drive down the side road to the Head of Bight to watch the southern right whales in the morning. This we did. Fantastic views of cliffs, ocean and whales and their calves. The females nurture their calves here in the sheltered waters before starting on the long journey south to Antarctica. We were fortunate to see several mothers and calves swimming and feeding directly below the walkway.
We were only about 15 kilometres from the Nullarbor Roadhouse, our next destination, so after spending the morning whale watching we established ourselves in an isolated corner of a very open campground, ate a picnic lunch then drove inland to visit a cave system, Murrawijinie Caves. The caves weren’t extensive but the largest one had a wall of aboriginal paintings.
The section of road after the Nullarbor Roadhouse is 146 kilometres straight with not much to see. When the road comes close to the ocean cliffs you can visit a few viewpoints and look back at the cliffs, a bastion against the swell of the Southern Ocean. We had a night at Cocklebiddy Roadhouse in another bleak spot before a final day on the road to reach Kalgoorlie. Our soundtrack was a talking book – Working Class Boy – Jimmy Barnes.
After shopping in Kalgoorlie we drove north to the old mining town of Menzies then on to Lake Ballard. Lake Ballard is a salt lake and the natural gallery for 51 sculptures by Antony Gormley all derived from laser scans of Menzies inhabitants. There is a free campground on the edge of this vast salt lake and the viewer is required to walk on the lake and visit each figure. The setting and carbonised steel figures are surreal, particularly striking at sunset and sunrise. We were able to enjoy both.
The next part of our journey will take us through wildflower country – Southern Cross to Kalbarri and Shark Bay.
Beverley Lello 