Day #1
Adelaide to Kimba
Uneventful except for 1/2 hr delay at the Port River bridge waiting for the tall ship to pass through. This and we've been on the road for all of 5 mins.!!
Made it to Kimba caravan park early. It had power and water but required a shower in the cell block - my first since arriving in Aus. A photo op. at the BIG GALAH on the way out with hopes it isn't the highlight of the trip!
Day #2
Kimba to Cactus Beach - via Streaky Bay
We are heading to Perth ... and beyond!
Took a 20km detour to drive via Streaky Bay and (more-or-less) along the coast that was (more-or-less) worthwhile. In the distance we couldn't decide if the "white bits" were sand dunes or clouds on the horizon.
... the "white bits"
... turned out to be beautiful sand dunes!
At Penong it was a 42km detour as we turned left towards Point Sinclair (and the coast) and the "white bits" turned out to be pretty spectacular sand dunes. We stayed nearby at Cactus Beach the place of legends according to Jane & Barry & cousin Karen.
... so many sunset pics - hard to choose!
It's a surfer's paradise so we watched the surfers and a pretty spectacular sunset and slept with an amazing breeze flowing through the open back doors. No power, no water, NO shower! Our first "off-grid" stop.
"Off-grid" - our version! Cactus beach
... aaaah - the serenity!
not ice on the river ... it's salt!!
Early start (even earlier than the surfers!) and to save time decide to buy coffee at Penong & eat brekkie while sipping said coffee. Said coffee turned out to be INSTANT, lukewarm and $4.00. Hmmmm - it's gonna be a long day!
Chomping on our apples with 400kms before the WA border an out they go! We managed to eat all the apples then gave away our one last apple to the cyclist*. The dried apricots are OK so we should be good!
Hmmmmmm….
It turns out that apples aren't the only thing you can't take into WA - here's what we had to THROW out:
12x potatoes, 1xbroccoli, 2x(lovely ripe) tomatoes, 2x(lovely ripe) avocados, 2xlettuces (1 old 1 very new) 1xshrivelled lemon (hid the good one) and our pot of honey. The 2xbananas should have gone but she missed them and I couldn't be bothered offering them up. IF we had read the signs correctly and IF we had known we could have; cooked the broccoli & potatoes, made a salad of lettuce, tomatoes and avocados and tossed it with honey-poppyseed dressing and we would have saved ourselves a lot of $$s
*Nullabor means no trees so we thought the drive across it would be pretty boring …
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| ... say no more! |
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| Watching out for these eases the boredom! |
Well for our trip there was a HOT (40c) constant gale blowing all the way (from Kimba). The walk out to see the cliffs at Head of Bight (the start of the Great Australian Bight) almost blew us out to sea and the sand shaved off those last few hairs from my legs…
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| Head of Bight - it's the start of the Great Australian Bight - this is where the wind almost blew us away and it was 42C ... hard to tell from this photo! |
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| Hmmmm - this was the rain that was coming toward US!! |
It was this wind that stopped the poor cyclist in his tracks at the next lookout. No shade at all save for the sign that he took refuge under… he was on his way to Perth and … well… I wonder how he is now.
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| me driving (bracing against the winds) just before the rains came! |
The wind picked up (if that was possible) and the rain came… pelting across the road to the point that even though I was only 5 mins into my driving stint I had to give up. Who knew that rain sent the kangaroos out? Out they came , but very well versed in the rules of the road, they stopped on the side of the road (all 12 or so we saw) and then hopped away or across as we approached.
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| well-behaved kangaroos |
There were countless more in the bush as we became experts at spotting them.
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| ...and the rain stopped ... but not the wind! |
The sight of the overturned Maui van (similar to ours) was cause for great concern and so we limped (joseph agreed to limp) along at 80kms to stop at the first "town" that had a caravan park. Desperate as I was to stop, Cocklebiddy just didn't do it so we soldiered on - eyes peeled for the emus (there were a few), the kangaroos (not so many now) and wandering cattle (that's what the sign said!) to the delightful Caiguna. We couldn't go any further so Caiguna it was - at least it had power and showers! The lady at the food counter said the wind was unusual (and that is all she said!).
