Western Australia – Here we come!

Our four days in Ceduna were spent running around. The hospital, shopping, washing, car and van washing and the local pub. The food was so good there, we ate at the pub twice. Ceduna seemed quite nice, (they let us buy alcohol so that was a bonus). We stayed at the Shelly Beach caravan Park, about six kilometers out of town, and I think that was the pick of the three parks there.

Our last detour in SA took us to a little fishing village called Fowlers Bay, it offers a great jetty and whale watching charters. A great place to disappear in.

The next few days took some precision planning. I asked Peter if he wanted to be in SA or WA for his birthday, on the 22^nd. He said, “Both.” 😉

So, we left Shelly Beach, Ceduna on the 19^th and stopped for the night at a roadside camp, about fourteen kilometers west of Penong, famous for its many, (and the biggest) windmills. Sorry, no photos we didn’t stop.

The night of the 20^th was spent at Bunda Cliffs, at the beginning of the Great Australian Bight. OMG! Talk about an outlook, this was awesome. Sheer cliffs down to the ocean as far as you could see.

And how lucky were we? Not more than thirty meters from the cliff were some whales. I think they were Southern Right Whales. We’ve seen our share of Humpbacks, but never these before. There were more out there, we could hear them and see them in the distance, but these were so close, it was amazing. If we hadn’t had a schedule we would have stayed there longer.

It wasn’t just the whales that made this stop special, we had an amazing sunset and a sunrise that was well worth braving the cold to experience. We also met a lovely couple (you know who you are) and that always makes a place more memorable.

We camped ten kilometers from the border on the night do the 21^st our very last night in SA. We arrived in South Australia on the 10^th July 2022, 13 months and 12 days ago, (or 407 days) but who’s counting, so, we had to celebrate our last night. We found a great spot, and some firewood (thanks to whoever left it), and we reminisced over our time here. We also got a little drunk, but that’s another story. 😊

True, there were some things that we could have done without, but…we would not have explored South Australia the way we have had these things not happened, and what a wonderful state it is. We have thoroughly enjoyed it and, truth be told, a little sad to be leaving. But…WE ARE LEAVING!

Now, where was I? That’s right the 21^st. We woke up, made a coffee to go, and went. We drove up to the quarantine check point and border at 09:22, and by the time we had cleared the check point and crossed the border, it was 07:52. How cool is that, we’re time travelers!

Yes, I know. For all of you sticklers for accuracy, the time change is actually somewhere between Ceduna and the border, so technically we crossed the border at 07:52, but I couldn’t get my “Time travel” comment in if I’d stuck to the facts, and I’ve been itching to do that.

And here are the first WA roads we travelled. I know! Isn’t it thrilling!

I did mention in passing that we washed the car and van before we left Ceduna, that’s why I picked all the dirt roads. This one was more sand than dirt, but it was taking us to a special spot for Peter’s birthday breakfast.

After breakfast we got back on the road, it was still early, eleven-ish, and as nice as our brekky spot was, we wanted to go further. But not before stopping to enjoy the view from one of the Great Australian Bight Marine Park lookouts. I know I’ve said it before, but my photos really don’t do this scenery justice. The scale is immense and you just can’t capture it in one shot. I hope it gives you the idea though.

Finally, we made it to the wonderous, the mysterious, the amazing Nullarbor. The vast Treeless Plain.

Or is it? I’ll let you know soon.

So, Peter got his birthday wish. We woke up in SA, and travelled into WA where we celebrated his birthday (a few kilometers west of Eucla) with fluffy pancakes, ice cream and maple syrup for breakfast, (we had no fruit because of the border crossing). From there we drove another 50 kilometers to our camp for the next few nights.

I mean what’s the rush – we’re here now.

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!