Nanambinia Station

Campground: Nanambinia Station
Facilities: Toilet, Shower, Camp Kitchen, Tent Camping, Use of the Old Homestead building.
Good stuff: Camping in a slice of rural history that you can just walk straight in.
Not so good stuff: May need to reassess using the shower… It was covered in mice dropping while we were there and is just a 2L bottle attached to a showerhead.
Price: Free

Today was one of those days… See how far we feel like going. Coming from SA meant that we were up bright and early ready for a new day after a decent night’s sleep- good old state time zones... Also it was Kyle’s birthday so a less distance heavy day was only fair.

Lookout of road heading towards Eyre Bird Observatory

The drive to the lookout towards the Eyre Bird Observatory was much the same as others we had done previously. Straight road, followed by more straight road and similar vegetation to the previous 100’s km. The journey to the lookout point was a well-graded dirt road and the view towards the observatory was impressive. Definitely a 4WD low range job from the lookout to the observatory proper, however we decided to save the trip for another day.

Damn right WA!

From the Eyre Observatory turn off, the Eyre Highway just goes on and on and on. We pulled in to Cocklebiddy with Kyle’s excitement growing to see the NASA Skylab museum… However it turned out that he had got confused and it was at the Balladonia Roadhouse, another 180km down the road. Now that he was no longer in a sulk from ‘poor Australian signage’ we were on our way to check out the Balladonia Museum.

In between Cocklebiddy and Balladonia you get to experience the longest stretch of straight road in Australia at 146.6km. That is pretty much all that can be said about it, imagine a boring stretch of road and then make it 90 miles long… yawn. Next stop was the Balladonia Roadhouse. This was the highlight of all the roadhouses along the Nullarbor Plain. The Roadhouse has a little museum that tells you about the local history, geology and the infamous NASA Skylab that fell down in pieces around the Balladonia area. Well worth it to stretch your legs and have a toilet stop.

We planned to get to Nanambinia Station that was 35km or so south of Balladonia and with all the facilities you would need for free… Not sure what to expect, we pulled up outside the property. The homestead looked lived in; jacket hanging up, cockies hat and boots on the floor of the homestead veranda, net curtains in the window along with washing up liquid. We weren’t sure what to do so we drove around the house. Swaying our minds between whether the place was abandoned or an aged property we headed into the house. Thankfully, there was a good old sign saying that we can stay at the place. Phew! We weren’t going to get attacked by a random crazy! Inside of the house was a little confusing; it smelt musty like old furniture but everything looked lived in with food around, clothes in the wardrobes, a handbag hanging on one of the doorknobs. You felt like you were stepping into someone’s home. Kyle loved the place so this was our campsite for the night. Now it was time for Port, Cheese, Crackers and Fruit Cake. Oh, and our leftovers reheated up on the wood-fired oven. What a way to spend your 28^th Birthday- Happy Birthday Kyle!

Birthday Celebration!

A bit of a rewind: Balladonia Road complete with underwear/ clothes gate!

Nanambinia Station