The Crossing Madura to Carlabeencaba Rockhole
This Is a Long Road!
After dropping down from Madura Pass, I pushed through a hard, windy 52.5 km day in a lower, fresher version of the Nullarbor, with motorists stopping, cookies arriving, and a rest-area dinner at the end.
Coming down from Madura Pass changed the whole feel of the crossing again.
The day before had ended with that huge view near the pass. Day 34 started in the country below it. I was back on the same Eyre Highway, but it did not feel like the same place. To my left was the ridge, scarp, bluff, whatever name best fits it, sitting up where I had been the day before. To my right the land dropped and opened out, with the coast still about 40 kilometres away but somehow present in the shape of everything.
At one point the watch had me at about 13 metres above sea level. I had been less than 50 kilometres from the coast for a while by then, but this was the first time it really felt as if the country was tapering down toward the edge of Australia.
It was a different Nullarbor. Not easier, exactly, but different.
The worst of the dead-kangaroo stench had eased, which was a genuine mercy. The morning was cool and overcast, with a freshness that had been missing for a few days. After the grim smell of earlier stretches, that alone changed my mood.
But I would be lying if I said the day was easy.
We had a late start, and the afternoon turned into straight, open highway with wind sweeping across what I described at the time as moor-like landscapes. There is a kind of exposure in that. Nothing dramatic has to happen. The day just asks you to keep moving when everything is wide, grey, and pushing back.
So that was the job: keep moving.
In the video I recorded that day, I summed it up neatly: “This is a long road!”
It was.
What saved the day from becoming only a hard 50K push was the people.
It was one of those unexpectedly social days. A bloke stopped to say hello and take photos with his camera. Then Brian and Fay from Perth stopped on their way back west, and I had a lovely time chatting with them. They also very kindly made a donation, which meant a lot out there.
Later, another couple did a U-turn and came back down the highway. The man, who I think was American or Canadian, asked if I was walking across the Nullarbor. Once I explained that I was walking and running from Perth to Brisbane, he seemed pretty pleased with the answer. They offered me a couple of home-baked choc chip cookies.
The cookies were amazing.
That sort of kindness kept happening on HAA, and it never became ordinary. On a day when the walking was hard, those little interruptions changed everything. The country was still huge, the distance was still there, and my body still had to do the work, but someone stopping a car, asking a question, making a donation, or handing over a biscuit could put warmth back into the whole thing.
By sunset I had pushed the day out to 52.5 kilometres, with 1425.6 kilometres behind me.
The overnight logistics were not quite as neat as walking straight into camp. We drove about three kilometres back down the highway and parked up at Carlabeencaba Rockhole rest area for the night. That was logistics, not a gap in the crossing: the finish point still mattered, and the next walking day would pick up from where this one stopped.
Dinner was rice, a sauce of some kind, and corned beef.
After Madura Roadhouse the night before, that was a fairly sharp return to campervan cuisine. Still, after 52.5 kilometres, a late start, a windy afternoon, and a day full of strangers being kind, I was not going to be too precious about the menu.
Some days were memorable because of one spectacular view. Day 34 was memorable because the country changed, the day got hard, and people kept appearing at exactly the right moments.
Videos From The Day
This Is a Long Road!
A roadside check-in from the long, windy stretch after Madura Pass, where I was feeling the lower country, the wind, and the very obvious fact that this was a long road.
Open on YouTubeImages From The Day
