Balladonia, Western Australia, Australia
Yay!! We are back in WA and it is a nice feeling! It's great to travel, but there is no place like home! And it is nice to be back in a State where the sun comes up at the right time and sets at the true 'clock time' of the day. Crossing the SA - WA border when travelling west, meant we gained 2 1/2 hours very quickly. We left Border Village at 8.30am and even with a good going over at the check point, we were still in WA by 6.20am. The guy at the checkpoint took my garlic and honey. It is okay to bring garlic into SA but not into WA.We have had a great day today. The weather has been lovely and the golf has improved. We have both even had a 'Par' today. Peter's favourite hole is the 'Mundrabilla Watering Hole' and mine is the 'Cocklebiddy Eagle Nest'. First up we travelled the few kilometres out to the 'Eucla Golf Course' to play the 'Nullarbor Nymph' Par 4. Eric was out there with the slasher mowing the fairway. He had a nice strip mowed for us too, but we didn't use it! We came across Marg walking along the road.
We thought we had come across the 'Nullarbor Nymph'! She laughed when we were talking with her before we left. "There is no way she is likely to be the 'Nullarbor Nymph'. Her clothes will definitely be on" she said. Peter had a 5 and I had a 7 at this historic Par 4. The story of the 'Nullarbor Nymph' goes something like this: The first report of the sighting was on 26 December 1971 was by professional kangaroo shooters from Eucla. They claimed to have seen a blond woman amongst some kangaroos, and backed their story with grainy amateur film showing a woman wearing kangaroo skins and holding a kangaroo by the tail. After further sightings were claimed, the story was reported around the world, and journalists
descended upon the town of Eucla which had a population of 8 people at the time.The incident was eventually revealed as a hoax, initiated as a publicity stunt. The girl on film turned out to be a 17-year-old model named Janice Beeby. She did appear in a photograph taken later, as an evidence of the Nullarbor Nymph, but the woman in the original photograph used by the media to perpetuate the hoax was Geneice Brookerthe partner of Laurie Scott; he was one of the kangaroo shooter hoaxers. Scott admitted to the Sunday Mail in 1972 that the hoax was created by a passing publicist who happened to be in the Eucla Hotel and
had contacts within the media.The Par 4 'Watering Hole' at Mundrabilla looked like it would be a real challenge. It is behind the roadhouse and curves back towards the road. You can't actually see the green and it is real salt bush country, that would be very boggy after rain. The ball certainly stayed where you hit it! Peter played the hole really well and got his first par. I had a damn 9. Four putts didn't help the cause. Peter found a bar runner at the roadhouse that was a bit of a 'hoot', so that has become his piece of memorabilia. We also found out that the 'Border Village' and 'Mundrabilla' actually work on 'Their' or as they call it 'Our Time'! They are somewhere in the middle of WA and SA time, which is why the signs were on the side of the highway to move forward or back by the 3/4's of an hour. The Par 3 'Brumby Run' at Madura we had played on the way over, so we knew what to expect. I had a 5 and Peter had a 4. My score was a lot better this time. That completed the first 9. Peter had a 51 and I had 67. A few less putts would have helped.The first hole of the second nine was the 'Eagles Nest' at Cocklebiddy. The ladies get a good start here, so that certainly helped me to get my first par. Peter had a 6. One better than when he played it on the way over. Cocklebiddy was our lunch stop on the way to Tamworth and we had lunch here once again. Next stop was 'Caiguna' where we played the '90 Mile Straight'. Both enjoyed the challenge of that Par 4. Plenty of trees to get through before we got to the green. I had a 6 and Peter a 5. We arrived at 'Balladonia' about 4.00pm and it was too late to play both the Par 3 'Skylab', look at the 'Skylab Museum', and then keep travelling. So we decided we would stay the night here. What a challenge that Par 3 was! We had to hit over huge trees to the bulls eye target at the back of the green. Would have helped if the ones before us had put the flag in and not left it on the green. We think it was possibly a family with two young boys. They had come from the west and were heading over to the hole at Caiguna when we left there. They were just having a bit of fun playing a few holes as they travelled across. We are sure there are a lot of people who do just that! I'm sure now we have purchased the card, we wouldn't do the card bit again. Should we travel the Nullarbor again, we would probably play a few holes of golf though. There are certainly a few that I would like to get a better score on! After playing our hole of golf and Peter scoring a 4 and myself a 5, we had a look through the 'Skylab Museum'. We decided we would have a drink at the bar, before going back to cook our dinner. We enjoyed a conversation with a young girl and two young blokes who were playing pool. They came in late towing a dinghy behind a four wheel drive. They had put the dinghy in at Eucla, but had not been dinkum about fishing. They purchased snapper for their dinner and it did look very nice! We were a bit puzzled about the relationship between the two guys and the girl. Peter thought one guy had a wedding ring on. Fancy him being so observant!
descended upon the town of Eucla which had a population of 8 people at the time.The incident was eventually revealed as a hoax, initiated as a publicity stunt. The girl on film turned out to be a 17-year-old model named Janice Beeby. She did appear in a photograph taken later, as an evidence of the Nullarbor Nymph, but the woman in the original photograph used by the media to perpetuate the hoax was Geneice Brookerthe partner of Laurie Scott; he was one of the kangaroo shooter hoaxers. Scott admitted to the Sunday Mail in 1972 that the hoax was created by a passing publicist who happened to be in the Eucla Hotel and
had contacts within the media.The Par 4 'Watering Hole' at Mundrabilla looked like it would be a real challenge. It is behind the roadhouse and curves back towards the road. You can't actually see the green and it is real salt bush country, that would be very boggy after rain. The ball certainly stayed where you hit it! Peter played the hole really well and got his first par. I had a damn 9. Four putts didn't help the cause. Peter found a bar runner at the roadhouse that was a bit of a 'hoot', so that has become his piece of memorabilia. We also found out that the 'Border Village' and 'Mundrabilla' actually work on 'Their' or as they call it 'Our Time'! They are somewhere in the middle of WA and SA time, which is why the signs were on the side of the highway to move forward or back by the 3/4's of an hour. The Par 3 'Brumby Run' at Madura we had played on the way over, so we knew what to expect. I had a 5 and Peter had a 4. My score was a lot better this time. That completed the first 9. Peter had a 51 and I had 67. A few less putts would have helped.The first hole of the second nine was the 'Eagles Nest' at Cocklebiddy. The ladies get a good start here, so that certainly helped me to get my first par. Peter had a 6. One better than when he played it on the way over. Cocklebiddy was our lunch stop on the way to Tamworth and we had lunch here once again. Next stop was 'Caiguna' where we played the '90 Mile Straight'. Both enjoyed the challenge of that Par 4. Plenty of trees to get through before we got to the green. I had a 6 and Peter a 5. We arrived at 'Balladonia' about 4.00pm and it was too late to play both the Par 3 'Skylab', look at the 'Skylab Museum', and then keep travelling. So we decided we would stay the night here. What a challenge that Par 3 was! We had to hit over huge trees to the bulls eye target at the back of the green. Would have helped if the ones before us had put the flag in and not left it on the green. We think it was possibly a family with two young boys. They had come from the west and were heading over to the hole at Caiguna when we left there. They were just having a bit of fun playing a few holes as they travelled across. We are sure there are a lot of people who do just that! I'm sure now we have purchased the card, we wouldn't do the card bit again. Should we travel the Nullarbor again, we would probably play a few holes of golf though. There are certainly a few that I would like to get a better score on! After playing our hole of golf and Peter scoring a 4 and myself a 5, we had a look through the 'Skylab Museum'. We decided we would have a drink at the bar, before going back to cook our dinner. We enjoyed a conversation with a young girl and two young blokes who were playing pool. They came in late towing a dinghy behind a four wheel drive. They had put the dinghy in at Eucla, but had not been dinkum about fishing. They purchased snapper for their dinner and it did look very nice! We were a bit puzzled about the relationship between the two guys and the girl. Peter thought one guy had a wedding ring on. Fancy him being so observant!
All in all we have had an enjoyable day and if the weather is nice, thoroughly recommend playing the 'Nullarbor Golf Links'. It certainly gets you out of the car and you don't just keep driving! We have had our sneakers and socks on and off six times today and travelled 500 kms. 16 photos
2025-05-22