Streaky Bay to WA Border

 Today is the day I'll find out if the WA border police will allow me to enter.

Yesterday I spoke with the WA COVID Hotline, and I told them how I was holidaying on the Gold Coast, but travelled to Melbourne via the Brisbane airport.  The chap on the phone told me that since the lockdown was announced after I had begun my journey of transporting my daughter's car, I should continue on to travel to the border - some 600km away from Streaky Bay.

So that's what I did.

7:30am Sunday morning in Streaky Bay means there's nothing open.  What? No coffee and banana bread?

I soldier on to Ceduna without my early morning fix.  Its only 115km away, but a much bigger township.

When I arrive it feels like the whole town is fast asleep.  No cafe open here either.

So I wandered around aimlessly taking the odd pic.  Here's the Ceduna foreshore:

In my wanderings I found the Tourist Information office.  A lady was cleaning the windows.  I asked her when the office will open because I want to sign up to play the 18-hole Nullarbor Links golf course, the longest golf course in the world spanning 1,365km.

The window washer tells me the office doesn't open till 10am - that's over an hour away.  

It turns out the window washer is actually the business owner.  No surprise - I think she was the only person out of bed in the township at 9am.  Anyway, she gives me the options for coffee and breakfast, and kindly tells me that she'll hand me my golf clubs and golf card as soon as I've satisfied my need for coffee.

So back to the Mogas Roadhouse where they made a really nice cup of coffee and an egg and bacon burger.  

I'm back at the Tourist office at 9:30, and 5 minutes later, I'm teeing off on the first hole of this mighty course with hired clubs.

Strangely enough I was the only person on the course.  

I got to the par-5 green in 5 shots, and finished with an 8.  I 3-putted on this sand scrape green.

There are two holes at this spot.  The second is a par 4, and I scored 7.

Not a good start.  

I blame the hire clubs.  I have a few more excuses, but I don't want to bore you.

The next hole was the Windmills hole at Penong.  That was 75km from the two Ceduna holes.

Another par 4 - I had a 6.  Getting better!  

Here you can see the tee-off box at Penong.  The direct line to the flag is straight between the two trees on the right of the picture.  Not a big gap.  A gap I couldn't fit through with my tee shot!

It took me 4 shots to get on the green and then 2-putts.  This green was made out of that material they lay on tennis courts.  It was lightening fast after the sandscrapes on the Ceduna holes.

Onwards towards the Nullarbor plain.  The wheat fields have disappeared, and there's now miles and miles of scrub.

80km from Penong is Nundroo.  That's where you play the Wombat hole.  A par 5, 520m hole.

This course is tough.

I bet you're wondering why they call it the Wombat Hole...

Whatever.

I had to put myself down for another 8.

This course is tough.

Onwards to the next hole, at the Nullarbor Roadhouse. That's another 140km away.

Along the way I stopped for a pic to give you a feel of the country side for about half of this leg of driving.

You drive along the Eyre Highway.  It gets quite close to the edge of the country.  You'll be familiar with The Great Australian Bight I suppose.

The other half of this drive is the Nullarbor Plain... and I fully comprehend where it gets its name from - No trees!

Here's a quick pic of the surrounding flora towards the coast.

Close to the Nullarbor Roadhouse is a place called Head of Bight.  They have built a viewing platform so you can get to see the cliffs up close and personal.

This is looking West:

This is looking East:

And here's a closer look at the cliff faces.

Eventually I arrived at the Nullarbor Roadhouse hole.

You can see the fairway is quite sparse.  I was glad I was using hired clubs!

Another 8 on this 538m par 5.

Next stop... WA Border, just 184km away.

I'm getting nervous now.  Have I driven all this way for nothing?

No wonder my golf game was crap!

I stopped along the way to sneak onto the coastline again.  It is special to experience the vastness of it all.

So they call this the Border Village.  It's marked by a huge kangaroo holding a jar of Vegemite.

The sign posts tell you how far away the major cities of the world are.

Melbourne is 1,910km away.

Before I go on to meet the border police, I have to complete the golf hole here - its a par 3.

5!

Gee this is a tough course.

So off I now go to meet the border police.  Quite a pleasant experience on the whole.

I presented my G2G pass, the permit that provided me with the go-ahead.  I explained to the policeman how I'm transporting my daughter's car to her because she has just been appointed to a new position.

I also explain how my journey started on the Gold Coast but that I travelled through Brisbane Airport to get to Melbourne to pick up the car.

I showed him my Negative COVID test result taken on 8th Jan on the day I entered SA.

His reaction was very relaxed and kind and asked me to sit back in my car with the aircon running given that it was about 40 degrees.  He needed to discuss the situation with his Inspector because I had travelled through a COVID zone within the last 14 days.

After about 10 minutes he came back to me.

He explained how he and his Inspector contacted the COVID Control people.

On inspecting my permit they decided that I was trying to game the system - the transport/cartage pass I had been given was not for people taking family member vehicles.  And in addition, the hard border that is in place was an additional barrier for me.

Both the policeman and I were disappointed that I had travelled all this way to be turned away.  My application described all the detail about the reason for the trip, but nobody reviewed my application so this news came from left field.  I was just given an automatic approval because I had selected freight.

When I asked about my options, he said I'd be free to cross the border on the 23rd January if I presented proof that I had been in SA from the 8th to the 22nd Jan.

So... That's easy.  If I want to continue the journey, I just have to find something to do for 10 days in SA and return back here.

Alternatively, I can just turn around and go home after enjoying a most enjoyable drive halfway across Australia,

Oh but wait... maybe I can't get back into Victoria because I've been to Queensland, a red zone?

Which would mean I MUST stay in SA for the next 10 days no matter where I go next.

Decisions, decisions.

Meanwhile I better find some accommodation.

There's a facility called Border Village with plenty of cabins right there at the border on the SA side.  

I convince the staff to give me a room for the night (that was another battle, but I need to finish up this blog.

There's a group of blokes about my age drinking on the veranda.  I join them for dinner, late night drinks, and lots of important discussions.  It turns out they are para-gliders, and they come here to  take advantage of the updrafts from the cliff faces.

Well after a wonderful night of important discussion, I'm roped in to join them for Para-gliding in the morning.  One of the chaps has a passenger seat model.  I started off protesting, but... they wore me down.

I'm locked in to begin my 10 days of SA enforced habitation with a view of the border from up above.  I hope the border police don't recognise me up there - they might think I'm trying to get in illegally.

Anyway... I'll let you know how it all goes in the next blog.  I'm super excited about the photos I'll take.