Knowing we had only 300 km to drive, we had a lazy 10:30 start. The drive west was very easy, with a stop at Nundroo for a fuel top up, and a few stops at the various iconic road signs for photo opportunities (‘Nullarbor, East End of Treeless Plain’, and ‘Wildlife, next 150km’).

We all thought it was very funny that someone has stuck googly eyes on the animals. Gotta love Australians.

We had chosen this spot to camp to explore the limestone caves, three in total. Finding them was a matter of being furnished with a hand drawn map from a German backpacker working the till at Nullarbor roadhouse. We stopped at Cave 1, then after consulting Wiki Camps; moved on to the ‘proper’ campsite at Cave 3. This consisted of a turning circle in the dust, and a meagre attempt at a camp fire.

We walked the 800 m back to Cave 1, climbed down the one and only tree branch (also mentioned in Wiki Camps) into the collapsed cave and explored the nooks and crannies with my mountain biking lights.

As we walked back to camp, I was sure we would be joined by others. But thankfully, the Nullarbor was ours that night, and we watched the sun gradually set over the licking flames of a desert camp fire in my new and improved stone fire-place.

With the moon just rising in the west, I took some shots of the brilliantly clear desert night sky. It’s fascinating to interrogate and wonder at the incredible colours and sheer number of visible stars from long exposure photos.

All too soon it was time for bed. I woke the next morning to find Kris and Sam awake, they had been up and had watched the sunrise (at a very civilised 7:24am!). I think it hit Sam just how fast the earth turns when you have a reference point.

The next morning we were joined by lots of small birds that nest in the caves – very cute.

Nullarbor Campsite