Fri 16/05/14 Set off at 10am to begin our crossing of the Nullarbor Plain. Might fall behind our schedule a bit as we did not factor in the golf originally. We purchased a driver, a 3 iron, and a putter that were in the 'on sale' bin at Ceduna Sports shop and are using golf balls the kids found in the scrub on the first two holes at Ceduna Golf Club (very professional approach); should be great fun and will help break up the drive. Today played Hole 3 at Penong, small town known as "the town of 100 windmills". Hole 4 at Nundroo Roadhouse....BASIC is the word we'll use to describe this spot, it was hot and oh my goodness THE FLIES TRIPLED here and just about drove us crazy. Once leaving the trees behind not far after Nundroo, the humidity and accumulating dark clouds added to the vast emptiness of the plains....really quite impressive. Only traffic was random passing of road trains and caravans heading in the opposite direction...caravaners give you a wave, truckers not so much. Stopped at Head of Bight Whale Watching Centre....still the maddening flies....hundreds of southern right whales come up to the coast between May and October to calve; apparently two were in but we didn't see them. Arrived at our pitstop for the night at Nullarbor Roadhouse around 5pm. Kids wrapt to find "Tron" pinball machine in the bar where we had a hearty dinner and watched the Swans smash the Bombers...bad luck Mikey....and chatted with a nice gentlemen travelling east with his wife from Perth.

Sat 17/05/14 8am tee-off at Nullarbor Hole 5 -"Dingoes Den" - so called for a reason; luckily mother Dingo and pups didn't surface during our game. Fairway covered in fluffy/spiky stinging catepillars - pull your socks up high! Packed up and on the road by 9am. Stopped in at Bunda Cliffs viewing platform - amazing rock formations - worth the look. Kids disgusted to see a midle aged man (audi driver) ignore the "unstable edges - stay on the path" signs and climb through the safety fence to take photos. Excellent example of what NOT to do, considering a French tourist met her end by doing this a few weeks ago. Mummy driving today...light rain and overcast but warm. Lunched / golfed at Border Village Hole 6, where Kaaren demonstrated the "boomerang shot" - ball strikes rock hidden in fairway shrubs and riccochets back to exactly where it started! Kids are noticing the pattern of young international folk working in the roadhouses - sparked a discussion on backpacking / working holidays. Crossed the border quarantine check point and on to Eucla, WA, where we drove to the sand dunes to see the Old Eucla Telegraph Station Ruins.....Hole 7 is at Eucla Roadhouse but somehow we missed it ... the Eyre Highway is not "U-Turn friendly" with a van on the back, so too bad too sad - had to average scores from first 6 holes. On to Mundrabilla Roadhouse for Hole 8 (also a par 4 ) and had holes 7 & 8 both stamped off. Mundrabilla was the first hole that we have had someone in front of us (or around at all), which of course meant that Michael hit his best shot so far and had to shout "fore" as his ball nearly clunked one of the grey nomads on the green! Whoops! Hole 9 at Madura Roadhouse....no-one around so kids had their usual putting comp on the green. Fair bit of roadkill along this stretch - roos, emu, steer, eagles, fox...however have not spotted any camels or wombats per the warning signs. Pitstop at Cocklebiddy Roadhouse for the night. One night stops = car stays hitched & only partial setup - no annexe etc - which means the inside of the van has taken on a rather gypsy'ish' quality with all our gear having to remain stuffed inside - patience and good humor required. Kids caught up on their journals in the dining room before dinner. Owners friendly, food was good and a mesmerising, orange full moon was rising as we headed back to the van for some shut-eye.

Sun 18/05/14 Up early and chatted with Alex, a man undertaking a charity bike ride from Perth to Sydney to raise money for a friend who became a quadraplegic after a diving accident - his webiste is coast2coast-2014. Cocklebiddy Hole 10 - looked simple, open treeless fairway, but low serrated tussock grass and prickle bushes resulted in several lost balls. Caiguna Roadhouse Hole 11, kids discovered "RoadKill" jerky and "Camels Balls" sour bubblegum....which provided tasteless joke material for the rest of the day. Kiddies have also re-named each other - Lukas is 'Racquel' - he was given a female name as penenance for calling the girls "Trish" and "Trudy" - They have an enduring attack of the sillies at the moment and seem incapable of sensible behaviour, which is slowly eroding our patience. Balladonia Roadhouse Hole 12 was our lunch stop and is where parts of the "Skylab" satellite fell from to earth from orbit; took a peek in their small history museum. Pitstop for the night at Fraser Range Sheep Station. Really nice spot. LB&A wrapt to find another family with kids there - Jackson, Charlie & Madeline - they doing a whirlwind 4 week trip from Swan Hill VIC to around southern coast of WA and back. Minecraft and Star Wars was the commonality and all kids were engaged in deep discussion very quickly. Station had an awesome pit fire going and once giblets were in bed, M&K spent a relaxing evening chatting with two very well travelled grey nomad couples by the fire - 80y/o Heather & George do a trip every 2nd year for 6 months. Paul & Maree are late 60's and are on a 6 month trip also. Lots of tips and recommendations - very nice people.

Mon 19/05/14 Flat car battery this morning; not cool. Jump start fried our jumper leads so had to borrow heavy duty truck leads, then all good. Played Fraser Hole 13 while a couple of emus and lazy red kangaroos looked on. K made par on this hole - go Kazza! -might make up for some of the more tragic scores elswhere. Horrible bindies from bushmelon vines everywhere - on the fairway, on the green, EVERYWHERE. Heaps of the bloody things stab and stick in the soles of your shoes. Had to pick them out of the kids boots with small rocks them tend ourselves before getting in the car; sharp as! On to Norseman which is at the end of the Eyre Highway, so technically our Nullarbor crossing completed. However not spending the night here, so driving not over for the day. B sat on the statue of "Norseman", the horse the town is named after, and we visited the tin camel statues that represent the camel roadtrains from days of old. Made sangas at the vacant golf club then played Holes 14 and 15 - more horrible bindies and a crow that tries to take your ball. Off to Kambalda for Hole 16 - in mining territory now; mines vehicles everywhere - here Brodie cut her finger on a piece of quartz and Kaaren had a bit of glass stab into her finger from a doorhandle....luckily handbag has morphed into a medical kit that covers most minor conditions - paracetamol, demazin, bandage, scissors, pocket knife, cremes for bites, stings, burns, cuts, belly bug bags, bandaids etc...so after removal of said glass splinter and first aid applied to both cuts, we golfed on! Arrived at Kalgoorlie-Boulder around 5.30pm and had to setup in the dark with tired, hungry children - not ideal.