Some Nullarbor locals
It’s not quite blog time but as I will be at the Melbourne International Three Day when it is blog time, I thought I would split this one into two parts.
By the time you read this we will on our way, making the long trip across the Nullarbor, just Mum and myself, plus two horses and two dogs! Covering up to 1000km a day the trip to Werribee takes roughly four days. Tomorrow we set off from Woodanilling in the southern part of WA heading to Fraser Range station. Fraser Range is another 100km or so past Norseman, the old location for WA quarantine.
The racecourse at Norseman is a handy spot to stay overnight, but as we are based in the country the first day isn’t as big as our fellow Perth travellers, so we keep on trekking until Fraser Range station, where a lot of the old quarantine yards were located to, from Norseman, when the quarantine station moved to Kalgoorlie.
The yards at Fraser Range Station
After overnighting at Fraser Range station we then have a big day, crossing the border into SA and through the Nullarbor roadhouse and onto Ceduna Racecourse. This part of the trip feels like the longest as we are chasing the clock, and passing through two time zones, eventually losing 1.5hours.
Ceduna racecourse has three meets a year and the rest of the time they earn a little pocket money by opening their yards and showers to us crazy horse men and women who drive the Nullarbor. Once you reach Ceduna you feel a little closer to civilisation again. The next day leaving Ceduna you pass through Kimba, the ‘halfway across Australia’ point.
For us on this trip we are heading from Ceduna to Hahndorf to stay at Kirby Park for a few days rest before doing the final day to Werribee. Once through Port Augusta the route varies greatly depending on where the destination is!
Until next time – when all the West Aussies land in Werribee, with some 17 horses making the trip across over the next few days, travelling the Nullarbor certainly has become part of the routine for us over in the West!
