Cook, Nullarbor.
Hey folks, I'm still in the process of collating all my pictures and journal stuff (or you can more correctly read that as "Frostilicus has been a lazy shit and hasn't bothered to get started as yet on The Great Trip Blog Project of 2006"), but anyway, I've uploaded some pics of a very remote place on the Nullarbor.
The place is a virtual ghost town by the name of Cook. It's located 130km east of the Western Australian/South Australian border, and is 1523kms from Perth. It is the only place on the Nullarbor that the Indian Pacific passenger railway makes a designated stop, and the town sits on the longest section of dead straight railway track in the entire world, which is 478kms in length. (nearly 300 miles for all you Imperial people) The only other times that the Indian Pacific stops in this vast expanse of desert is to let passing freight trains through at railway sidings.
Cook was built in 1917 when the Trans-Australian Railway was built, and acted as a support town for the railways for 80 years. In 1997, the privatisation of the railways deemed that Cook was no longer useful as a support town, and the population, which had been declining in recent years, dwindled to the now just 2 (or 4, depending on who you talk to) permanent residents. Cook has a "crossing loop" that can handle trains up to 1800m in length, and is now a place only where freight trains and the mighty Indian Pacific take on water and/or fuel on their respective journey's across the Nullarbor Plain. In it's day, it also boasted a hotel, school, shops, a bush hospital (which has signs outside it reading "If you're crook, come to Cook!"), a swimming pool and probably the Nullarbor's only golf course, that has not a single blade of grass on it.
To the West... Perth. To the East... Sydney.
Cook - Queen City of the Nullarbor
This metal box had a different painting on every side of it... in particular this one is urging Cook residents to get sick... lol. (The reason being they needed more sick people in order to keep their hospital)
If you're crook, come to Cook! :D
The distance marker signs painted on the metal box. Just 130kms left of South Australia and just over 1500kms from our destination of Perth.
Well, it sure isn't the Nullarbor Hilton...
Just a stones throw from the railway line are the "Historic Jail Cells of Cook", which are, essentially, 2 very small corrugated iron sheds that look more like outhouses than anything else. What amused me was the fact that the jail cells were locked with padlocks. Obviously Cook still has a very high crime rate with it's 2 residents... *tongue placed firmly in cheek*
What's been painted on this chunk of limestone reads: "Cook Gaol House Rock"
This bare stretch used to serve as a runway for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. It lies between the railway line, hospital and the rest of the township of Cook.
This sign is in the middle of the runway. Like the rest of the signs in the town that have been here for years, it has been weathered by the harsh dry conditions of the Nullarbor.
A roughly 6 foot tall limestone obelisk also stands in the middle of the disused runway. It's dedicated to the 5 men each that came from Western Australia and South Australia to plant 600 trees at Cook in the 1982.
Obviously seeing as there is a lot of desert out there and not much water, only a few of the 600 planted trees have survived...
Curiously, this sign seemed to be sticking out of what used to be the town swimming pool...
And here's the swimming pool. Or, at least, it once WAS a swimming pool. It's now just a filled in, grassed over area, and to be honest, if I hadnt noticed the ladder sticking out of it, I wouldn't have even KNOWN it was the swimming pool.
These are the signs that grace the abandoned 2 storey school building:
And here are the school rules for one and all to see...
Fadedly written on one building was a sign that designated one of Cook's hotels, the "Trans Arms Hotel, Nullarbor Plain, Cook"...
the hotel was also muralised with some nice artwork:
Various signs from various places along the Nullarbor... Incidentally, Mundrabilla is nearer to the coast on the Great Australian Bight, and like the Nullarbor Roadhouse, there is nothing there except for the roadhouse, and a lot of flat white limestone. One thing that amuses me about Nullarbor Roadhouse is that it is the location of "The Big Whale", of course if I was going to put a whale anywhere, I'd stick it in the desert, too.
At the school there is a mural dedicated to Murray Sims. Murray Sims was a railway worker who served in Cook for 28 years until his death. He is Cook's longest serving railway worker, and the school playground is named after him.
Another shot of the RFDS runway:
Up against one of the many abandoned tin sheds, there were a couple of drums of aviation gasoline, as well as a rusted out truck with very flat tyres. I didn't get a photo of the truck, so you'll just have to take my word for it, but I did get a picture of one of the drums.
What follows is probably the most breathtaking sight I saw during my entire trip across Australia. Now, if you're like me, you're strange in what you find to be exotic or interesting, or even beautiful. When you see a block full of nothing in the city, it's pretty much a matter of "oh big deal, there's nothing there." But when you get into (or out to) the outback of Australia, the fact that there's so much nothing is what is beautiful about it. And sometimes a bit scary. I can't say I'd like to be marooned out there, but I digress.
The very name of the Nullarbor is derived from the Latin "Nullis Arboris" meaning "no trees". It was named as such because the Nullarbor itself is actually a huge solid chunk of limestone, some 260,000 square kms in size. Very few trees grow on it due to the climate, as it lies in what is called the "Arid Zone", meaning there is little to no rainfall. The only thing that does grow on the Nullarbor is saltbush, which is not much higher than ankle height, and the occasional shrub.
This trip marked my second crossing of the Nullarbor. My first was back in 2001 by car, travelling along the Eyre Highway along the Great Australian Bight. It's one of the only places I've seen where you can see desert on one side for miles, and look to the other side of your car, and see a few hundred metres of desert, and then the ocean. The coastline of the Nullarbor is unique in that there is no beach as such, more a several hundred foot drop to the ocean below.
I have come to regard this picture as my favourite picture from my entire journey. It was taken in Cook, at the very back edge of the town. I stood here for a few minutes, and soaked it all in... The beauty of the landscape before me, the fact that there literally is nothing around for miles, and one other thing I hadn't heard since my last time on the Nullarbor.
Absolute perfect beautiful silence. The kind of silence that's described as "deafening". Not a bird to be heard, nor a bug. Not even the wind could be heard. Just perfect, dead silence. Serene and crushing, all at the same time.
After walking back to the train, I caught up with one of my fellow passengers who had purchased a certificate from the Souvenir shop...
I was especially amused by the "3 million flies"...hehe.
Hope this gives you all enough to drool over until I get my act together and sift through the remaining photos from my trip... more soon I promise!
Enjoy,
~Frostilicus~ :)
The place is a virtual ghost town by the name of Cook. It's located 130km east of the Western Australian/South Australian border, and is 1523kms from Perth. It is the only place on the Nullarbor that the Indian Pacific passenger railway makes a designated stop, and the town sits on the longest section of dead straight railway track in the entire world, which is 478kms in length. (nearly 300 miles for all you Imperial people) The only other times that the Indian Pacific stops in this vast expanse of desert is to let passing freight trains through at railway sidings.
Cook was built in 1917 when the Trans-Australian Railway was built, and acted as a support town for the railways for 80 years. In 1997, the privatisation of the railways deemed that Cook was no longer useful as a support town, and the population, which had been declining in recent years, dwindled to the now just 2 (or 4, depending on who you talk to) permanent residents. Cook has a "crossing loop" that can handle trains up to 1800m in length, and is now a place only where freight trains and the mighty Indian Pacific take on water and/or fuel on their respective journey's across the Nullarbor Plain. In it's day, it also boasted a hotel, school, shops, a bush hospital (which has signs outside it reading "If you're crook, come to Cook!"), a swimming pool and probably the Nullarbor's only golf course, that has not a single blade of grass on it.
To the West... Perth. To the East... Sydney.
Cook - Queen City of the Nullarbor
This metal box had a different painting on every side of it... in particular this one is urging Cook residents to get sick... lol. (The reason being they needed more sick people in order to keep their hospital)
If you're crook, come to Cook! :D
The distance marker signs painted on the metal box. Just 130kms left of South Australia and just over 1500kms from our destination of Perth.
Well, it sure isn't the Nullarbor Hilton...
Just a stones throw from the railway line are the "Historic Jail Cells of Cook", which are, essentially, 2 very small corrugated iron sheds that look more like outhouses than anything else. What amused me was the fact that the jail cells were locked with padlocks. Obviously Cook still has a very high crime rate with it's 2 residents... *tongue placed firmly in cheek*
What's been painted on this chunk of limestone reads: "Cook Gaol House Rock"
This bare stretch used to serve as a runway for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. It lies between the railway line, hospital and the rest of the township of Cook.
This sign is in the middle of the runway. Like the rest of the signs in the town that have been here for years, it has been weathered by the harsh dry conditions of the Nullarbor.
A roughly 6 foot tall limestone obelisk also stands in the middle of the disused runway. It's dedicated to the 5 men each that came from Western Australia and South Australia to plant 600 trees at Cook in the 1982.
Obviously seeing as there is a lot of desert out there and not much water, only a few of the 600 planted trees have survived...
Curiously, this sign seemed to be sticking out of what used to be the town swimming pool...
And here's the swimming pool. Or, at least, it once WAS a swimming pool. It's now just a filled in, grassed over area, and to be honest, if I hadnt noticed the ladder sticking out of it, I wouldn't have even KNOWN it was the swimming pool.
These are the signs that grace the abandoned 2 storey school building:
And here are the school rules for one and all to see...
Fadedly written on one building was a sign that designated one of Cook's hotels, the "Trans Arms Hotel, Nullarbor Plain, Cook"...
the hotel was also muralised with some nice artwork:
Various signs from various places along the Nullarbor... Incidentally, Mundrabilla is nearer to the coast on the Great Australian Bight, and like the Nullarbor Roadhouse, there is nothing there except for the roadhouse, and a lot of flat white limestone. One thing that amuses me about Nullarbor Roadhouse is that it is the location of "The Big Whale", of course if I was going to put a whale anywhere, I'd stick it in the desert, too.
At the school there is a mural dedicated to Murray Sims. Murray Sims was a railway worker who served in Cook for 28 years until his death. He is Cook's longest serving railway worker, and the school playground is named after him.
Another shot of the RFDS runway:
Up against one of the many abandoned tin sheds, there were a couple of drums of aviation gasoline, as well as a rusted out truck with very flat tyres. I didn't get a photo of the truck, so you'll just have to take my word for it, but I did get a picture of one of the drums.
What follows is probably the most breathtaking sight I saw during my entire trip across Australia. Now, if you're like me, you're strange in what you find to be exotic or interesting, or even beautiful. When you see a block full of nothing in the city, it's pretty much a matter of "oh big deal, there's nothing there." But when you get into (or out to) the outback of Australia, the fact that there's so much nothing is what is beautiful about it. And sometimes a bit scary. I can't say I'd like to be marooned out there, but I digress.
The very name of the Nullarbor is derived from the Latin "Nullis Arboris" meaning "no trees". It was named as such because the Nullarbor itself is actually a huge solid chunk of limestone, some 260,000 square kms in size. Very few trees grow on it due to the climate, as it lies in what is called the "Arid Zone", meaning there is little to no rainfall. The only thing that does grow on the Nullarbor is saltbush, which is not much higher than ankle height, and the occasional shrub.
This trip marked my second crossing of the Nullarbor. My first was back in 2001 by car, travelling along the Eyre Highway along the Great Australian Bight. It's one of the only places I've seen where you can see desert on one side for miles, and look to the other side of your car, and see a few hundred metres of desert, and then the ocean. The coastline of the Nullarbor is unique in that there is no beach as such, more a several hundred foot drop to the ocean below.
I have come to regard this picture as my favourite picture from my entire journey. It was taken in Cook, at the very back edge of the town. I stood here for a few minutes, and soaked it all in... The beauty of the landscape before me, the fact that there literally is nothing around for miles, and one other thing I hadn't heard since my last time on the Nullarbor.
Absolute perfect beautiful silence. The kind of silence that's described as "deafening". Not a bird to be heard, nor a bug. Not even the wind could be heard. Just perfect, dead silence. Serene and crushing, all at the same time.
After walking back to the train, I caught up with one of my fellow passengers who had purchased a certificate from the Souvenir shop...
I was especially amused by the "3 million flies"...hehe.
Hope this gives you all enough to drool over until I get my act together and sift through the remaining photos from my trip... more soon I promise!
Enjoy,
~Frostilicus~ :)
posted by FrostilicusFrost at 12:07 pm
1 Comments:
Delicious I say!
If you could make that post into a pizza, I would definately eat it!
Nice work, #2346...
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