Not as much to write home about today.
We didn’t sleep particularly well which was surprising as the bed was comfortable and the motel quiet. We were both awake at 5:30am and decided there wasn’t any point in hanging around so got up, packed, had breakfast and were on the road by 7:20am. As Eucla is in WA we’d had a time change so it was actually previous days 6:30am.
We left Eucla which is on the plateau and dropped to the flats to ride to Madura. Not much to see. The flats were scrubby and to the north the escarpment to the plateau ran parallel with the road all the way to Madura.
Coastal flats and the escarpment
And straight roads
We stopped for a cup of tea and petrol at Madura. The Roadhouse is halfway up the escarpment and as you leave you break out onto the plateau and there is a spectacular lookout back the way we’d come.
The view from Madura Lookout
After Madura we didn’t see much other than scrub, lots of smelly road kill and low woodland. Surprising given its called the Null-arbor. I feel an intensive harvesting operation is called for to reinstate the integrity of the Plain’s name.
Next stop was Cocklebiddy which as roadhouses go was pretty average but did have a diverse group of residents.
Results of the 2018 Census
After Cocklebiddy more of the same to Caiguna for the last petrol for the day and then onto the longest straight in Australia.
Did I mention the roads are straight?
The 90mile straight wasn’t in fact as boring as we’d thought. The road was undulating and again there was low woodland which made for some interest. My Advanced Motorbike Rider Trainer, Mick always told me ‘plan your corners’. Plenty of time, in fact an hour and a half, in this case.
After the straight we rolled a further 30kms into the Balladonia Hotel Motel. We arrived quite early given the early start but still covered a respectable 523kms over the day.
And that was the end of day 8.
Bikarbor 