A lengthy Chinese banquet in Esperance on our last night out provided the opportunity for all to relax, and to recall our amazing journey now nearing completion.

Expecting the heat to be blistering on a journey timed just one month later, the chosen dates were intended to avoid the slippery conditions of occasional winter rains on the fine red desert dirt.  In fact, we had experienced the Nullarbor at its wettest in recent times.

Convoy driving on the bitumen with the camaraderie of radio contact between vehicles, out through Lake King, Norseman, Caiguna, Balladonia, then off-road to Eyre, along the Telegraph Track between Eyre and Israelite Bay, along the top of Baxter Cliffs & under Wylie Scarp, along the beaches and across the salt pans through to Esperance via Duke of New Orleans Bay and Condingup. Team challenges of isolation with no outside contact for most of the 15 day trek through empty places including Cape Arid National Park, Nuytsland National Park, Cape Le Grand National Park, and Fitzgerald Biosphere.  The peace and beauty of empty roads, empty horizons and empty oceans to sooth the soul. The personal challenges we faced of limited water, fuel and vehicle space, flooding rains in one 3 inch deluge. Wonderful random weather extremes we experienced which set the mood each day, with vivid lightening and banks of racing clouds, warm winds and rolling seas, starry nights and balmy beach days.  Above all was the joy of following an offshore frontal cloud bank which never threatened our journey, but travelled along side us on our beach runs. 

The passing landscapes were so diverse no album of photos could depict the infinite variety.  Caves on the Nullabor Plain, caves in the cliffs of the Great Australian Bight, sand mountains of the Bilbunya Dunes, sand drifts of the winter beaches below Wylies Scarp, lakes of dry salt, and still others filled with fresh filtered rain water. The plants and wildflowers in infinite variety always told secrets about the ever-changing countryside. Bird calls at first light to signal daybreak, the blessing of bright bush stars at bedtime. The ruins of days gone by, signs of the endeavours of pioneers and the brief glimpse into that world now lost forever.