Wednesday 6th April (Penong – Elliston)

There was quite a bit of rain during the night but not all that cold.  Was hoping that it cleaned the car and van but no such luck, they still look filthy.  On the road by 9.00am and there is blue sky to the West and grey skies to the East which is the way we are heading.  Hopefully no more rain as we call into Ceduna to do a spot of shopping as all of our veggies are gone due to going through quarantine today. 12.30pm and it is still dull with no sun and fairly muggy but thankfully no rain. We have ventured off the road to have a look at Venus Bay which is approx. 5kms out of our way. The caravan park there was filled to the brim and the carpark at the boat ramp had heaps of cars with trailers on the back so guessing there are a lot of people out there fishing.  There were also lots of people on the pier fishing.  I had thoughts that this was going to be just a pretty scenic place to have a look and instead there were so many people around I was stunned. I doubt that there would have been room for our vans if we had wanted to stay. Hope they are all catching fish…… We have just passed a spot on the map called Colton, nothing there at all except for 2 Cemeteries.  One named “Colton Cemetery” and the other named “Colton Catholic Cemetery”, I would have loved to have counted how many graves were in each of them as there is absolutely nothing here. Into Elliston caravan park for a few nights at this stage, paid for 2 but think we may be here for 4 or 5, I guess that will depend on how many fish are caught.

 Fishermen in their Kayaks trying to catch King George Whiting.

Tuesday 5th April (Penong)

We have decided to stay 2 nights in the Penong Caravan Park before heading down to Elliston on Wednesday morning.  Going to bypass Streaky Bay as we could only get 2 nights there, so instead we are going to Elliston for 5 or 6 nights – Gee I hope the fishing is good for the guys.  We have had a dull and drizzly day today but not cold.  It would have been much better to get a downpour so that the caravan & car could get a bit of a tub and make them look clean again.  Went for a walk into the bustling town of Penong this morning, a garage/roadhouse, general store & pub, that’s it…….

Monday 4th April (Glimpses of the Sea – Penong)

Once again another glorious day to continue our journey towards Penong.  Last nights camp was nice and quiet and during the night I opened the window to take in the magnificent clear star filled sky.  Stunning, so many stars and it felt as if you could just reach out and touch them. Where we camped there were no trees so the landscape was typical of the Nullabor, just little shrubs and nothing the block the view, we were also only 800 metres from the cliffs down to the sea so we could hear the roaring of the waves during the night. Not even windy so an added bonus.  Morning tea at Nullabor where we caught up on some phone calls and then on towards Penong where we are hoping to get down to the water at Point Sinclair. There is a jetty at Point Sinclair and 22kms of dirt road to get there and when we were there in 2009 you could get a caravan right down to the waters edge. Would have been a stunning place to stay BUT we have been advised by the locals that the road is very, very corrugated so it is into the Penong Caravan Park for us for 2 nights. As we passed through Nundroo I took a couple of pictures and put them on Facebook just to make Maree feel all warm & fuzzy.... We are booked into Streaky Bay Wednesday & Thursday nights so we can go straight there from Penong.  I think the guys may try a bit of fishing on Tuesday down at Point Sinclair, Barry tried earlier tonight but no luck.

 Nundroo Roadhouse

 

Sunday 3rd April (Observatory Turn Off – Glimpses of the Sea)

We had a big cook up this morning cooking all of our veggies before we reach the border.  If they aren’t cooked then we have to hand them in. On the road at 9.00am and we will lose more time today as we start getting closer to the East. Lost 45 minutes yesterday and still have a few hours before we are on the same time as the Eastern States.  Crossed over the border today and just before getting there we passed two huge "wide loads" forcing us to pull over to the side of the road. Tonight our campsite is 15kms from the SA/WA border and once again behind a truck stop. There are camp sites right along the Bunda Cliffs but they are much too exposed and I feel we may be blown to pieces if we camp there.  On the other side of the road we still managed to get Glimpses of the sea, hence the name for my campsite. 

Saturday 2nd April (April Fool Rest Area - Observatory Turn Off)

7.00am and we are woken with a telephone call from Harvey.  Glad to hear that both Harvey & Yvonne are both much better now and have the caravan out ready to take off on a holiday towards Coffs Harbour & beyond.  Managed to cook ourselves some bacon & eggs for brekkie and on the road by 9.30am.  We have plenty of time to get across the Nullabor as we are booked into Streaky Bay for 2 nights from Wednesday.  Then hoping to head down to Elliston for 4 nights before cutting across the Eyre Penninsula towards Whyalla.  Not a breath of air and the sun is shining with an expected top of around 26 degrees – glorious. On the way across to Caiguna we saw lots & lots of camels on the side of the road, didn’t see any on our way over so a bonus on our return.  Stopped at Caiguna for lunch and had a chat to a lady in a New Age caravan from Chelsea heading towards the west and very excited to know that they were going to see some camels on their travels.  We have found another terrific camp spot off the road at "Observatory Turn Off" again right behind the truck stop.  Tonight there was the most magnificent sunset.  This is only the second terrific sunset I have managed to capture, the first being at York.