carcajou

Just as an FYI for holiday plans -

Being overshadowed by everything happening in the Eastern States, there are a series of bushfires around the WA town of Norseman. The town itself is not under threat but all of the roads in/out of it have been shut for about the past week and a half and that is projected to continue for about another week, as tomorrow is bringing "catastrophic" fire conditions to the southeast of WA.

This means the road across the Nullarbor to South Australia has now been closed for an extended period and this will continue. My understanding is there is a roadblock up at Caiguna. The Kalgoorlie/Esperance road is also shut as is the Hyden/Norseman road, with the latter perhaps earmarked for an extended closure beyond the others.

The part from Norseman to Esperance has been sporadically opened but mostly just to let people out of Norseman in a southerly direction.

Norseman is also not a big town and the influx of stranded travelers has put the town's infrastructure under severe pressure.

Those of you in Western Australia may have noticed at the supermarkets signs up about some produce being limited in quantity due to supply disruption because of bushfires - this is in part due to the Nullarbor Road being shut which is preventing freight from coming across.

So if you are planning a crossing, expect lengthy delays, monitor conditions closely and consider deferring travel.