7 August 2013 - Heards Hill, near Eucla, Western Australia

Caiguna, Hub of the Universe

We set the alarm this morning, with a view to getting the most from the day since we were to lose at least three quarters of an hour before nightfall. We soon found the pull off to the Blowhole, not sure how far we would have to drive to view this marvel or what to expect when we saw it. The truth is that it is not really much at all, but a rather barren bottomless hole, something like a giant rabbit hole.

It is quite interesting to learn about it even if it does not look particularly impressive. The blowholes on the Nullarbor have been formed by weathering through to underground cavities. The cave below here has clearance heights of about half to one and a half metres. All caves breathe, but these on the Nullarbor breathe more vigorously than any others in Australia. Air movement at one such cave entrance has been measured at 72 kph.

There are about twenty or so very large cave systems on the Nullarbor and in some cases there are many kilometres of spacious passages below the surface. I have seen some very impressive films on the subject however am not keen to investigate further myself. If I had been meant to explore caves, I would look more like a rabbit. The Nullarbor is the driest karst area in the world, thus drawing speleologists from all over the world.

I did not bother to photograph the entrance of this blowhole; without a good description I would never be able to remember what it was.

Soon we were at  Caiguna, about halfway between Norseman and Eucla, and about 1,100 kilometres from Perth. We played another hole without great drama and continued once more on our way.

The Cocklebiddy Hole

We passed through great plains of grasslands, and although we saw no cattle or sheep, the land could only be grazing land. Hay fever kicked in and I was reminded that I am actually allergic to grass, although can normally forget all about it.

We passed numerous road trains and then a string of cyclists, most likely the same ones we had seen at Coolgardie about five days ago. Chris had chatted with a few of them and learned they were cycling around Australia to raise money for some charity. What masochists! Playing golf along the Nullarbor Links Course has nothing on cycling across the same stretch of road!

Sixty four kilometres on we played the course at Cocklebiddy, one I enjoyed immensely and one where Chris lost his fourth ball, this time down a rabbit hole. In fact much of the course was like an open cast mine of rabbit warrens. And that which was not, had the hardest possible surface; the balls bounced like pongo sticks.

Most welcoming

Cocklebiddy lies on the southern edge of Western Australia’s vast sheep grazing belt. Within the area are several large scale sheep grazing operations, some larger than a number of European countries. With limited rainfall, sparse stocking rates at about 8 to 10 sheep per square kilometres are the norm. During its pioneering years Cocklebiddy was the site of an aboriginal mission. Today however, all that remains of the mission are its stone foundations.

In recent years Cocklebiddy has gained an international reputation as a site for one of the world’s largest cave systems. Ten kilometres to the north-west of the Cocklebiddy Roadhouse lies Cocklebiddy Cave. In 1983 a French caving expedition created history by exploring the cave to an unprecedented distance of 6.4 kilometres. 

This record was later broken in 1995 by an Australian, bettering the 1983 record by a mere twenty metres, Cocklebiddy’s cave system is unique in that it extensively penetrates an aquifer that lies 90 metres below the Nullarbor Plain. Within Cocklebiddy Cave are a number of vast limestone caverns, rock falls and saline subterranean lakes that extend for several hundred metres. I imagine it was these I saw on television, and these I would rather leave for the cave nutters.

Ninety kilometres further on, we pulled up onto the rest area at the top of the Madura Pass, from where we enjoyed expansive views down across the Roe Plains.

Originally Madura was settled as a pastoral homestead in about 1876. Its early history is rather sketchy however for many years the area was well known for producing quality polo and cavalry horses for the British Imperial Indian Army.

At the time stock horses were employed in various British campaigns on India’s rebellious Northwest Frontier. Later known as “Walers”, these horses were bred at Madura by an ex-Army Officer who overlanded them to Eucla for shipment to foreign ports. During World War II, Madura was a site of importance to Australian Army engineers who were intent upon upgrading what is now known as the Eyre Highway.

And then, Madura was the only known site with free flowing bore water throughout the Eucla artesian basin. To obtain this supply the Western Australian Government financed the drilling of a borehole to a depth of over 300 metres. Whilst Madura’s brackish water was perfectly suitable for grazing stock, it nevertheless needed to be desalinated for human consumption.

Tee-ing off at Madura

We had lunch, then pulled the full jerry cans down from the roof of the landcruiser and decanted the diesel into the main fuel tank, before driving down off the Hansen Tablelands to the Madura Roadhouse. This, the roadhouse sits at 117 metres ASL; I was unable to find the altitude of our lunch stop that much higher up.

The very short golf course at Madura was right across in front of the roadhouse, in front of the parking area for the road trains, very tricky!

Another one hundred and fifteen kilometres brought us to Mundrabilla. According to our bibles, gathered brochures and the road signs, this was the place to buy “cheap fuel”. Forever gullible, we filled up. Yeah, right - $1.94 a litre!!!

The Mundrabilla Roadhouse and Station are situated on the Roe Plains framed between the scenic Hampton Tablelands and the coast. The plains are about forty kilometres wide and extend for about 250 kilometres from near Eucla in the east to Twilight Cove near Eyre in the west. The Roe Plains were a source of sandlewood in the past that was harvested and exported to the Far East, an operation we have learned of over and over as we travelled through Western Australia.

Mundrabilla was named after one of the first sheep stations to be settled on the Nullarbor Plain. In November 1872, two brothers, Thomas and William Kennedy, with William McGill and his twenty one year old wife, trekked 800 miles from Albany with 800 ewes, four bullocks and eight horses to select grazing land. The Government were giving out grants for leases for up to 100,000 acres of Crown land. The Kennedys and the McGills settled at Mundrabilla Homestead where they found good grazing land and sufficient water for their stock. Annie McGill died in childbirth in 1879 and Thomas Kennedy was later speared and finally died from the wound. What a hell hole it was, really.

Our camp for the night

Today the roadhouse established in 1968 is located thirty kilometres from the original station settlement. Both are still thriving businesses today.

Another fifty kilometres on or so, we pulled into this bushy area on the side of the road. There are lots of tracks through scrubby trees, all quite charming or at least was until Chris backed into one of them. We are now sporting a hole in the back of the caravan although he has managed to make it watertight with a compound used for the same purpose on the front of the van where a stone went through north of Port Hedland.

Outside the massive sky above the treeline is full of stars. This cannot yet be the real Nullarbor with so many trees about!