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The CrossingThird day on the Eyre Highway

A Sensible Stopping Point

The cold walk out of Fraser Range became 51.2 kilometres of hills, kangaroos and some downhill run-walking. Best of all, I finished exactly where we could stop for the night.

Date8 June 2015
Journey dayDay 24
Gary beside a B60 road marker on the Eyre Highway on Day 24
B60. A tiny green sign, a useful progress marker, and another excuse for a roadside selfie.

The morning started cold and slow near Fraser Range, with the Eyre Highway looking as though it had all the time in the world.

Our Nullarbor plan was to keep moving without rest days and make the daily distance more manageable. Mid-40s if possible. Of course, sensible still had to negotiate with the next useful place to stop.

The early photos are mostly dark silhouettes, trees and the sort of sunrise you appreciate once you’ve stopped resenting the hour. The first session was just over 18 kilometres, and by mid-morning we had our first official live kangaroo picture.

It wasn’t exactly a wildlife documentary. More proof-of-kangaroo than portrait-of-kangaroo, but it counted.

We weren’t on the treeless plain yet. There was scrub, trees, hills, morning light, wide verges and a country that kept changing in small ways. By lunch, the cold start had become a clear, warm day. We had been up around 400 metres before dropping into thicker bush, with enough downhill for a bit of run-walking.

Walking more than fifty kilometres is one thing. Convincing yourself that some of it is almost running, and therefore somehow quicker, is another.

Lunch arrived with 33 kilometres done and about 17 still to go. Cundeelee rest area was at the end of them, and if I reached it on foot we could sleep where I stopped. Dinner could already be underway and there would be no return trip in the morning.

The five sessions were 18.4 km, 9.7 km, 5.2 km, 9.2 km and 8.8 km: 51.2 kilometres altogether. Ben and Ols kept food, water, breaks, laundry, the van, the sleeping spot and my morale working around me.

I reached Cundeelee rest area on foot, climbed into the van and knew that the next morning I could simply step back out again.

Videos From The Day

Hearts Across Australia on YouTube

End of Day 24 thoughts

End-of-Day 24 thoughts from my final walking session about being out there, the crew, and why HAA was happening.

Open on YouTube

Images From The Day

Dark sunrise silhouettes over trees near the Fraser Range
The day started cold and slow, but the sky was already starting to do useful things.
Yellow warning sign reading forklifts walking pace only
Walking pace only. At least someone was setting realistic expectations.
Gary in a bright yellow-green beanie beside the track after sunrise
The beanie was doing its job, even if the colour was still negotiating its identity.
Open scrubby hillside under a clear blue sky near the Eyre Highway
Still not the empty plain people imagine when they say Nullarbor.
Eyre Highway stretching ahead under blue sky on Day 24
By late morning the day had settled into blue sky, long bitumen, and another set of sessions.
Long straight view along the Eyre Highway in the afternoon
The afternoon view: simple, exposed, and very good at reminding you how far 17 km still is.
Eyre Highway in late afternoon light with trees on both sides
Late light on the Eyre Highway, with the stopping point getting closer.
Last glow of sunset through trees at the end of Day 24
Cundeelee rest area meant we could stop where we slept. That mattered.

View the full day gallery